Water adjustment strategy on commercial system.

[CharlosCarlies]

Hey guys and gals,

I normally post this kind of stuff on Probrewer, but actually think many homebrewers have a better understanding of water chemistry based on conversations I've had within the industry. We're about to brew our first production batch tomorrow and have an idea of how we want to manage our water; however, I'm sure someone smarter than me can point out any flaws or better solutions.

When homebrewing, we'd just use a spreadsheet like Bru'N Water and adjust all our brewing liquor in the HLT at the beginning of a brew day. Easy. The major wrench in that plan is that we will now be re-collecting chilling water from our cold liquor tank back into the hot liquor tank to re-use for the next brew.

My plan so far:

1) Treat both cold and hot liquor tanks with acid to reduce our alkalinity to a base level that could relatively easily be adjusted for most beers.
2) Add a balanced mix of Gypsum and Calcium Chloride directly into both liquor tanks just to get a base Ca level of ~50-60 ppm. (our water is low in Ca, SO4, and Cl)
3) Add Gypsum or Calcium Chloride in the boil when a specific flavor profile is desired.

The other question I have: What happens to liquor that's been sitting for an extended period of time at ~180F? Do any minerals start to precipitate requiring additional adjustments?

Phew, that turned into a novel! Much thanks in advance.

 

[abrix]

Do you also use your HLT water for cleaning? If so, I don't know if I would take the time and expense to add acid and minerals to water that would be more effective cleaning if you just left it as-is.

Aside from that, I think it depends more on what mineral profiles you want for the different beers that you'll be brewing. I think the tradeoff is between a simpler regimen that may use more acid and minerals than absolutely necessary, and a more hands-on approach that adds acid and minerals only as needed (i.e. to the mashtun rather than HLT).

 

[CharlosCarlies]

Good thoughts.

We do use the HLT for cleaning; however, it's usually only 1 BBL or so whenever we CIP a tank. You're right we would be wasting a bit of acid, but it takes about 1.5 liters to treat 40 BBL based off my calculations...so the cost is pretty negligible. I think we also calculated ~250 grams each of Gypsum and CaCl, and a 50 pound sack of either is maybe $50-75?

You're right though it would be nice to treat just the mash, but I'm a little concerned (maybe without good cause) that we won't get complete mixing. We have rakes, but compared to a paddle on a homebrew system it just doesn't mix as aggressively in my opinion.

Appreciate the thoughts. We have some stuff to think about going forward.