Water adjunct questions for making a Imperial IPA

[scotty77]

Hello All this saturday I am making an Imperial IPA I am jumping around to see what would give me the best results as for the water profile for making this beer.

Here is the recipie for a 6 gallon recipe. SG:1.087 FG:1.029 SRM:13
IBU: 208.4 ABV:7.7 Cal. 290 per 12oz.
Grain Bill:

maris otter 12lb
Munich 4 lb
Crystal 60L 8oz
Caramunich2 8oz
Corn Sugar (dextrose) 1lb. Late Boil 5 min.
Light Brown Sugar 8oz. Late Boil 5 min.


Hop Schedule:
Centennial 2 1/2oz. Mash 60 min.
Super Galena 1 oz. First Wort 90 min.
BOIL:
Magnum 2 oz. 90 min.
Super Galena 1/2 oz. 75 min.
Chinook 2 oz. 60 min.
Magnum 1/4 oz. 45 min.
Chinook 1/2 oz. 30 min.
Magnum 1/4 oz. 15 min.
Super Galena 1 oz. 1 min.
Centennial 1 oz post 10 min.
Dry hop
Magnum 1/2 oz.
Chinook 1 oz.
Cascade 1 oz. 7 days

Yeast: WLP 001 California Ale


I live in chicago and my water profile is
Ca: 32.7
Mg:11.7
Na:8.5
SO4: 28.9
CL: 15.2
HCO3: 123.2
PH: 8.33

I am trying to stay with in the range for the residual alkalinity for the beer with the SRM of 13 and still have all the hops shine thru. I have been reading that for one to brighten the characteristics of the hops in a beer one has to add a little Na to do such.

Any ideas on geting the water profile right for this brew would be great and any tips for making my first Imperial would be helpful. Thank you all.

 

[scotty77]

with me adding the Na (sodium) it throws my ph and my RA way off course for doing a 13 SRM beer. I really dont want to mess with the water too much, any ideas, tips, tricks would be great.

 

[apratsunrthd]

While I wouldn't suggest completely forgetting water chemistry (especially with your calcium being a touch low), I'm a fan of Occam's Razor.

Most importantly, how does your water taste? If it tastes good, my suggestion is to add about 5 grams total gypsum to your water. This will get your calcium up and help brighten the flavor of your hop contribution. I would NOT add Na in any form.

I personally use Bru'n Water if I have serious concerns about my water chemistry. Your pH is high so it might benefit you in a couple of ways. HOWEVER, please remember this is a spreadsheet. Calculators are all well and good in theory but if you come up with a calculation that says you're going to add some huge amount of any given salt, you'll want to rethink that. Feel free to ask here. I'm happy to help.

Also, you likely already know this, but you'll never hit anywhere near 200 IBUs on a homebrew scale. You might actually benefit (in cleanup and product cost if nothing else) by simplifying your recipe a bit.

 

[scotty77]

ok, yes I use gypsum all the time in my water schedule. I normaly us EZ water calculator spreadsheet. I was just a little worried about when adding the gypsum to the water schedule to bring up the calcium due to it really lowers the RA adding 5g of gypsum it puts it right at the 12 or 13 max srm range. Will that really effect anything with the color/ clairity?

 

[mjohnson]

My understanding is that the RA to SRM comparison is a rule of thumb at best. The idea being that darker malts will provide acidity to the mash and drop the pH. Smart folks in the brewing science folk recommend that you don't put too much stock in it.

Also, be wary of ratios - you can have the ratios right and get terrible effects. 5/10 and 500/1000 are both 1/2.

If you're monkeying with mineral additions, I'd really recommend reading the water primer sticky in the brewing science forum. It'll give you a solid idea of what you're really aiming for.

 

[scotty77]

I know I added a good amount of hops due to all are at least 2 to 3 years old some are the centennial is 3 years old and are pellet. The magnum are 2 years old and are leaf, the cascade and the super galena are fresh. I know that over time you loose ibu's due to long storage, would I still be going way over with the hops to make this a 100 ibu beer?

 

[apratsunrthd]

ok, yes I use gypsum all the time in my water schedule. I normaly us EZ water calculator spreadsheet. I was just a little worried about when adding the gypsum to the water schedule to bring up the calcium due to it really lowers the RA adding 5g of gypsum it puts it right at the 12 or 13 max srm range. Will that really effect anything with the color/ clairity?

If you're really worried about the RA, boil it first. I wouldn't worry about it.

I know I added a good amount of hops due to all are at least 2 to 3 years old some are the centennial is 3 years old and are pellet. The magnum are 2 years old and are leaf, the cascade and the super galena are fresh. I know that over time you loose ibu's due to long storage, would I still be going way over with the hops to make this a 100 ibu beer?

This could be a problem anyway. Smell and taste any hops older than a year. Your pellets will generally be more stable than your leaf. If they taste old or cheesy in any way, don't use them. I can't tell you how many beers I've judged that have been ruined by cheesy flavors from old hops. When you're making a beer this hop-forward, you should really try to use the freshest hops you can get your hands on. You can get away with older hops for early additions, but anything after 30 minutes (maybe even 45), I wouldn't do it.