harpo
Well-Known Member
I did a AG brew on Jan 3. An American amber. My water is pretty low in just about everything, so this was my first attempt at water adjustment and I think I went overboard. I will try and post the raw data from what I used, I just don't have it at work. Here is the raw format from the water calculator BobbyM recommends and video logs showing my starting water:
Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 15.4
Mg: 2.7
Na: 7.5
Cl: 7.9
SO4: 22
CaCO3: 15
PH is 7.58 out of the tap.
Up until now, my pale ales have been really tasty, and my more maltier beers have lacked something. I decided to jump into water adjustment, as my processes are more or less under control. Mash temps are good, and efficiency is between 68-70% as long as my crush is good.
The American Amber batch I brewed on Jan 3rd I believe to be an awfully inferior grain crush, as my normal LHBS was closed over the holiday and I had to go to the backup LHBS, with no experience with their mill. Nevertheless, I was supposed to get 1.045 as an OG, and only ended up with barely 1.035, even with boiling for 90 minutes. My pre-boil gravity was low too.
I decided to RDWAHAH and let it ride. It spent until Jan 9th in primary, normal fermentation activity. It then was racked to Secondary on Jan 16th. FG at that time was 1.009.
The question? The SG sample smells wierd, and tastes like urine. The smell doesn't say to me that it is a bacterial infection, and my system from when it leaves boil kettle to ready to tap the corny keg is all sanitized and enclosed.
Now, this attempt at water adjustment I put all my additions into the mash and the boil kettle, and (unknowingly, because I didn't read all of the suggestions with the spreadsheet to NOT use 5.2 adjust) added 5.2 adjust as well to the mash.
Did I make a urine specimen with all the junk I added? The batch i brewed last Sunday I only added my adjustment additives to the mash, no 5.2 adjust, and nothing to the boil. I hope I did better.
Anybody know if I should just pitch it? Or rack it and carb it and see if it tastes like urine but cold and carbonated?
Thanks.
Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 15.4
Mg: 2.7
Na: 7.5
Cl: 7.9
SO4: 22
CaCO3: 15
PH is 7.58 out of the tap.
Up until now, my pale ales have been really tasty, and my more maltier beers have lacked something. I decided to jump into water adjustment, as my processes are more or less under control. Mash temps are good, and efficiency is between 68-70% as long as my crush is good.
The American Amber batch I brewed on Jan 3rd I believe to be an awfully inferior grain crush, as my normal LHBS was closed over the holiday and I had to go to the backup LHBS, with no experience with their mill. Nevertheless, I was supposed to get 1.045 as an OG, and only ended up with barely 1.035, even with boiling for 90 minutes. My pre-boil gravity was low too.
I decided to RDWAHAH and let it ride. It spent until Jan 9th in primary, normal fermentation activity. It then was racked to Secondary on Jan 16th. FG at that time was 1.009.
The question? The SG sample smells wierd, and tastes like urine. The smell doesn't say to me that it is a bacterial infection, and my system from when it leaves boil kettle to ready to tap the corny keg is all sanitized and enclosed.
Now, this attempt at water adjustment I put all my additions into the mash and the boil kettle, and (unknowingly, because I didn't read all of the suggestions with the spreadsheet to NOT use 5.2 adjust) added 5.2 adjust as well to the mash.
Did I make a urine specimen with all the junk I added? The batch i brewed last Sunday I only added my adjustment additives to the mash, no 5.2 adjust, and nothing to the boil. I hope I did better.
Anybody know if I should just pitch it? Or rack it and carb it and see if it tastes like urine but cold and carbonated?
Thanks.