Planning my first BIAB - help with confirming numbers?

[rkhanso]

I haven't used my new eBIAB system yet. First time.
I'm planning on making the Cream of Three Crops Cream Ale.
My tap water sucks for all-grain brewing so I need to use RO water and add minerals.

My kettle is wider than it is tall and I think I'll have to do a 10-gal batch the first time to see how it goes. Maybe in the future I can make less, but I'll have to gauge that. For now, I'm wanting to end up with 10 gallons bottled (yes, bottled - not enough $$ for kegging yet).

The brew system:
25 gallon aluminum kettle 17.5" tall x 20.5" wide
5500w heat element run by a homemade Craftbeerpi controller
Homemade false bottom to keep the BIAB off the element
Full-volume mashing. No sparging. Pump and Craftbeerpi to keep mash temp stable.

Losses (I'm guessing a bit here, but I think it's close):
I figure my kettle loss is only about 1 pint, maybe a little more.
I'm using a boil steam condenser, so I think my boil-off rate is about .6gal/hr (lid on during boil)
I have a Counter-flow chiller of about 19' of 1/2" copper pipe. So that's about 1 qt.
I don't know about trub loss.
The above comes to about 1.3 gallons of loss total.


Ingredients:
12-lb Pale Malt
4-lb flaked corn
1-lb minute rice
I have a Ugly Corona Mill so I should be able to grind pretty fine. I'll be my first time using it.

90 min mash at 152F (according to the recipe)
90 minute boil

1oz Willamette hops at 60min
1oz of Crystal hops at 60 minutes

Split the wort into 2 fermenters and use Kosch yeast for one, Nottingham for the other.

I have a homemade JaDeD Cyclone-type CFC to chill the wort before putting in 2 separate fermenting buckets and/or carboys and plan on using Kolsch yeast in one and Nottingham in the other.


For mashing, I'll need 13.2 gallons according to the Priceless calculator, correct? But Beersmith says I need 15.04 gallons. I guess I have different equipment setups for each calculation then. I've never used either one before.

Since I'm starting with RO water, I used EZ Water Calculator to see what I need to add. If I use 13.2 gallons of water as a starting point (but, see just above):
Add:
10 grams of Gypsum
10 grams of Calcium Chloride
10 grams of Epsom Salt
To get 5.54 est. mash pH.
But the Chloride / Sulfate ratio is 0.51. Should that ratio be higher?
I have no clue if those numbers of water additions are proper to use.


Are my numbers correct? Am I missing anything? I'm new to all this calculating....I've only done extracts before.

Thanks for listening.

 

[doug293cz]

I trust the Priceless calculator. I would use less Epsom salt (you don't want much Mg in your beer), and use more gypsum if you need more sulfate. What did EZwater say your Ca, Mg, SO4 and Cl were? You probably should have some 88% lactic acid on hand, and trying to get the correct pH with just salts can give you too much mineral content.

Brew on

 

[rkhanso]

Here's a screenshot of the EZWater calculations. I didn't know how to put in the corn and rice in the grains, so I just put them in as "Other"

I could drop the epsom salt and add some acid. Then the Magnesium is under the minimum suggested range.

 

[doug293cz]

I'm not a water expert, and I don't use EZwater (I use BrunWater) so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Malt already has a fair amount of magnesium, so it is almost never necessary to add any. I quit adding Epsom salts a few brews ago.

127 ppm sulfate seems too high for a cream ale. Usually that level of sulfate is reserved for very hop forward beers like IPA's.

From what I have read, Ca and Mg salts are not particularly efficient at lowering pH, so it is better to use salts to achieve a desired flavor profile, and then use acid (lactic and phosphoric are the most popular) to hit a pH target for the mash.

Brew on

 

[rkhanso]

Man, there are way too many options to use to check water mineral levels. I just used Brewers Friend and think that I've come up with a better water addition recipe - if 13 gallons of RO water is what I need to use. I used all zeroes for the starting minerals for the RO water.

Here's the link. https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/?id=2MY8SXN

Does that look like a proper mixture of minerals/acid for this beer?

BTW - I did just order the supported version of BrunWater. Waiting for it to be sent. I'll try that when I get it.

 

[doug293cz]

Man, there are way too many options to use to check water mineral levels. I just used Brewers Friend and think that I've come up with a better water addition recipe - if 13 gallons of RO water is what I need to use. I used all zeroes for the starting minerals for the RO water.

Here's the link. https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/?id=2MY8SXN

Does that look like a proper mixture of minerals/acid for this beer?

BTW - I did just order the supported version of BrunWater. Waiting for it to be sent. I'll try that when I get it.

Yes, that looks like a much more reasonable ion profile for a creme ale.

Brew on

 

[rkhanso]

I bottled today. Just did a primary fermentation (one batch in a carboy, the other in a bucket) for 3 weeks.
I forgot to get a final gravity on the Nottingham yeast. The Kolsch was 1.010 for a 4.86% ABV. I think they'll taste OK - but not sure if it'll be better than I can buy in the store.

I'm going to bottle condition in the same place I did fermentation - my softener room that's around a constant 65-67F. Is that too low for bottle conditioning?

I'll try a bottle in a week and see how it is.

 

[TwistedGray]

I bottled today. Just did a primary fermentation (one batch in a carboy, the other in a bucket) for 3 weeks.
I forgot to get a final gravity on the Nottingham yeast. The Kolsch was 1.010 for a 4.86% ABV. I think they'll taste OK - but not sure if it'll be better than I can buy in the store.

I'm going to bottle condition in the same place I did fermentation - my softener room that's around a constant 65-67F. Is that too low for bottle conditioning?

I'll try a bottle in a week and see how it is.

Condition temp is fine, give it two weeks.