I used to start all my posts with a disclaimer that I was a newbie brewer. It's been about 7 years now and over 50 batches, so I guess I can't claim that any more....
Anyway, last week I made one of my favorite beers, the 'Bloodmoon IPA' recipe from this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=471019
I've made this recipe four or five times, and it's easily the most popular beer I make among family & friends. Same ingredients each time, same process, same equipment, same conditions: this is an extract recipe with steeping grains; pre-boil volume is 19L, post-boil volume is usually right around 16L; after cooling I transfer to primary fermenter and top up to 19L.
London tap water is -very- hard, so we get water home-delivered in 19L bottles. Great service, and the water tastes great. I've been using this for all of my brews, which have come out generally great.
This time, however, the one and only difference this time versus ever other time I've made this recipe, I didn't have our normal bottled water on hand, but had a case of bottled Volvic water on hand, so used this for the 60-min boil, and used 3L for the top-up water (did not boil before-hand).
That was 86 hours ago, and I still have nary a bubble from the fermenter. I always get some nice bubbly action within 12-24 hours, so I'm a bit stumped as to what's going on. I've double-checked that the seal is OK (it is). I can see what I think might be krausen forming, although not near as much as I'd normally expect to see.
I had checked Volvic's water properties in the past, and had assumed it was perfectly fine for brewing - and in general it is:
pH 7 (neutral)
Calcium (Ca) 11.5
Chloride (Cl−
13.5
Bicarbonate 71
Magnesium (Mg) 8
Nitrate (NO3) 6.3
Potassium (K) 6.2
Silica (SiO2) 31.7
Sodium (Na) 11.6
The one possible issue could be the part in bold: the low calcium reading. My understanding is that calcium levels in the 100 mg/l range are desirable, in part because calcium acts as a yeast nutrient. In as much as nothing else changed in my brewing process my working assumption is that the change in water has resulted in a stuck fermentation.
Anyone have any ideas?
Anyway, last week I made one of my favorite beers, the 'Bloodmoon IPA' recipe from this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=471019
I've made this recipe four or five times, and it's easily the most popular beer I make among family & friends. Same ingredients each time, same process, same equipment, same conditions: this is an extract recipe with steeping grains; pre-boil volume is 19L, post-boil volume is usually right around 16L; after cooling I transfer to primary fermenter and top up to 19L.
London tap water is -very- hard, so we get water home-delivered in 19L bottles. Great service, and the water tastes great. I've been using this for all of my brews, which have come out generally great.
This time, however, the one and only difference this time versus ever other time I've made this recipe, I didn't have our normal bottled water on hand, but had a case of bottled Volvic water on hand, so used this for the 60-min boil, and used 3L for the top-up water (did not boil before-hand).
That was 86 hours ago, and I still have nary a bubble from the fermenter. I always get some nice bubbly action within 12-24 hours, so I'm a bit stumped as to what's going on. I've double-checked that the seal is OK (it is). I can see what I think might be krausen forming, although not near as much as I'd normally expect to see.
I had checked Volvic's water properties in the past, and had assumed it was perfectly fine for brewing - and in general it is:
pH 7 (neutral)
Calcium (Ca) 11.5
Chloride (Cl−
13.5Bicarbonate 71
Magnesium (Mg) 8
Nitrate (NO3) 6.3
Potassium (K) 6.2
Silica (SiO2) 31.7
Sodium (Na) 11.6
The one possible issue could be the part in bold: the low calcium reading. My understanding is that calcium levels in the 100 mg/l range are desirable, in part because calcium acts as a yeast nutrient. In as much as nothing else changed in my brewing process my working assumption is that the change in water has resulted in a stuck fermentation.
Anyone have any ideas?
