4th batch, changing up my water profile

[Hollywood260]

So, this will be my 4th batch of beer I am brewing on Sunday morning. My last 3 have resulted in, how do I put this, Meh.....beer. I've been really lacking (pretty much nonexistent) the hoppy IPA taste in my beers. They are really sweet beers. I am going to run through my procedure the best I can. Without boring anyone. But I am hoping we can figure out what I am missing.

after 3-4 weeks in the primary, 48hr cold crash and I keg my beer and I get a sour taste to it. As the days go on, that sour taste nearly goes away and by the time I am at the bottom of the keg, the beer is great (still no hoppy flavor)....but now I am empty. LOL

I am using RO water, from a local store where I refill my 5 gallon jug.
I am very meticulous about my cleaning and sanitation habits.
I am batch sparging in a 20 gallon cooler, thats been preheated with water.
All 3 batches have hit their numbers, except my last one where I forgot to take my OG reading.
First batch I used Wyeast london 1968, second and third bathes used S04 and all 3 batches the fermentation took off like crazy!
My fermentation temps (room temp) are a consistent 63-64 degrees.
After day 7 of fermentation, I usually dry hop (pellets of amarillo or Citra) the last 4-7 days, which I have to admit, adds amazing aroma!!!

I am thinking of changing up and using my well water through my softener or straight from the well, but I have alot of Iron in my water. I am thinking of using an RV filter.....would that remove any Iron in my water?

I am also looking at adding Gypsum, I have read about it adding goodness to the water profile to help with bitterness and that hoppy flavor.

But what I am lost on is the lack of hoppy flavor (could be my hop schedule) and my sour taste I am getting in the early life of my beer.

thoughts or questions..........?

 

[ballsy]

Have you found a water report for your tap water? I just got in to Bruin water and it's an awesome spreadsheet, I will be treating my water for the first time ever on my Kiwi IPA I will brew this weekend. Adding Gypsum, CaCl2, & lactic acid in order to get my pH where it needs to be, as well as sulfate levels up. Your mash pH may or may not be leading to that "sour" taste you notice (if tannins are being extracted from the pH) & higher sulfate levels help with hops...I would agree you need Gypsum but would urge you to download bruin water (there's a free version) and get acquainted with it b/c it will tell you exactly how much to add to get the right water profile for what style you are brewing. Good luck!

 

[JBOGAN]

Were you at FG when you dry hopped?, How many ounces of each?. Gypsum will help so will bumping up your temp at the end of fermentation while dry hopping. Did you have any flameout additions?. Even after I hit FG I let my IPA's sit for awhile to let a majority of the yeast drop out of suspension before dry hopping it has worked well thus far.

 

[Hollywood260]

Were you at FG when you dry hopped?, How many ounces of each?. Gypsum will help so will bumping up your temp at the end of fermentation while dry hopping. Did you have any flameout additions?. Even after I hit FG I let my IPA's sit for awhile to let a majority of the yeast drop out of suspension before dry hopping it has worked well thus far.

Yes, I ferment around 63-64 for the first few days and then bring it up to around 70 for the remaining few weeks. I don't dry hop for close to 2.5 weeks. I am not checking for final gravity at that time, kind of assuming that after 2.5 weeks the yeast has done its thing and went dormant.

During dry hopping I am anywhere from 3-5 ounces depending on the recipe. makes a killer aroma. I'd almost prefer to smell my beer then to drink it. LOL

I didn't have any Flameout additions. But I have read where guys are doing that, cooling their wort to around 170 and adding a few ounces at that temp for 20-30 minutes. I am going to give this a shot along with gypsum added.

I am not sure where to send my water to get a report on it. Anyone know?

 

[JBOGAN]

I would stick with RO, here is a water profile that is close to my own for IPAs. Found this on beer advocate a year and a half ago. Seems extreme with additions but the end product is always good, you could always tone it down to see where you like it.
Here's my water profile from a recent IPA (built from distilled). You may need to cut/paste/line up the columns to read it...
Calcium Magnesium Sodium Chloride Sulfate Chloride / Sulfate
(Ca ppm) (Mg ppm) (Na ppm) (Cl ppm) (SO4 ppm) Ratio
Mash Water Profile: 150 0 0 76 262 0.29
Mash + Sparge Water Profile: 135 0 0 69 236 0.29

 

[kecclest]

It may be attributed to your water, but you haven't mentioned your hop schedule. With the right schedule and poor hop utilization we can point to water chemistry. Otherwise, it could be due to some other factors(low AA, old hops, etc.)

Off topic - My family lives in Huntington, but I now live near Philly.

 

[tooldudetool]

Are you putting any minerals at all in the RO water? RO water is considered "dead" water, and unless you are brewing soft water beers like pilsner, you need to add calcium chloride and gypsum to give the water some "life" (even pilsners need cacl) For one thing calcium is essential to yeast health and your lack of it may explain the sweetness of your beers as you are not getting proper attenuation. Read the sticky by aj delange in the brew science forum for the basics of how to treat RO water. You mentioned a sourness to your beers, which may be explained by your use of safale 04, you can search on here and find that many people get a "tartness" from that strain when fermented in the low 60s. You should really be using safale 05 to brew an american IPA. Also, yes you should be adding flameout hops to your IPA to get enough hop character. You won't find one brewery out there that doesn't add flameout hops to their IPA. An amount equal to your dry hop addition would be appropriate, four oz or so. You do need to test your fg though, so you know its attenuated correctly, and so you can calculate abv. Cheers!