IPA Water question

[Brewsncrabs]

Brewing a session IPA and trying to get my calcium closer to Brun Water, but cant seem to do it without adding too much chloride. Any suggestions or leave it alone? BTW, I am no water expert.

 

[kev211]

I would say that you are probably fine as is, but if you wanted to bump it up closer to that 140 mark then I would probably add more gypsum. It would also give you a bump in sulfates which would bring those hop notes out more.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

That's what I thought. If I do that, then the sulfates box changes to orange and I am not sure if that is ok.

 

[agrazela]

To hell with box color. Halve your calcium chloride and triple or quadruple your calcium sulfate and you'll be getting closer.

 

[kev211]

The majority of my ipa sulfates are in the orange (the black IPA Im doing this weekend is at 180ppm and most definitely orange). If you hover over the sulfate box it will tell you that under 150 is preferred, but for a highly hopped ipa going over is acceptable. Now I guess a session ipa would be debatable as to whether or not it qualifies as heavily hopped or not but you should be fine.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

To hell with box color. Halve your calcium chloride and triple or quadruple your calcium sulfate and you'll be getting closer.

Thanks. I see what you mean. I do like a hoppy beer, so I will play with that.

 

[h22lude]

To hell with box color. Halve your calcium chloride and triple or quadruple your calcium sulfate and you'll be getting closer.

Agreed. Calcium is good in general for IPAs but gypsum accentuates hop flavor more than calcium chloride.

 

[mabrungard]

Sulfate helps dry your palate. It is that drying that allows hop flavor and bitterness to be more apparent to the drinker.