Burton water salts and American IPAs?

[JBrady]

Hello I want to use distilled water and Burton water salts to get my feet wet with building my own water profiles. The next beer I plan to do will be edworts rye ipa which with the way I'm brewing it will come in at about 75 IBU's. Will Burton water salts make the already hoppy beer too harsh? Or is it ok to use Burton Salts in IPAs? Thanks for any info.

 

[johnnyc]

To be honest I tried to find an answer to a similar question and couldn't find one. It seems most people dislike using Burtons Salts because the ingredients are all in one and people interested in modifying water like to do it one ingredient at a time. Having said that I just added .3 oz of Burtons to an ESB I made and it tasted great.

For IPAs I usually only add Gypsum.

 

[nealf]

I wouldn't go with burton salts they have all kinds of stuff that will up your RA which isn't what you want for a lighter colored IPA. Check out this spreadsheet and aim for Mosher's Pale Ale water profile:

http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

Mosher's Pale Ale:
Ca=111, SO4=337, Mg=18, Na=35, Cl=32, CO3=38, Hardness=352, Alkalinity=31.

 

[Edcculus]

The problem with just adding burton salts is that you don't really know where you will end up. Unless the package states, it might be hard to know exactly what salts at what ratio are in the mixture also. Unless you are building from RO water with the salts, you run the risk of making your chemistry all wonky with a generic burton salt addition. Also, if you don't know your water profile, you don't really know if you actually need the burton salt addition either. On a basic level, I'd get my RA in the correct range for a lighther colored beer, get the yeast health ions up to proper levels, then adjust the chloride/sulfate ratio in favor an IPA. Unless you know your profile, you can't be sure the Burton salts will do this.

 

[nealf]

From the morebeer website:

Burton Water Salts:

Also known as brewing salts, it is a mixture of Gypsum, Potassium Chloride and Epsom Salt. 1 tsp adds 889 ppm per 5 gallons. For Pale Ales in the Burton on Trent style. Burton salts can come in either crystal or powdered form. We ship what is available at the time your order is placed.

30g will provide:
266 ppm Ca
63 ppm Mg
159 ppm Carbonate
631 ppm Sulfate

 

[JBrady]

I would be using distilled water, so I assumed that would give me a burton on trent water profile if I used a pack of burton water salts with a zero mineral distilled water. Is that correct?

 

[JBrady]

For IPAs I usually only add Gypsum.

You only add gypsum to distilled water, or to your existing water?

 

[nealf]

My guess, since johnnyc lives near me, is that he adds gypsum to the tap water. Our water is quite soft and we generally only need to add gypsum for lighter colored ales with a moderate to high hop bitterness.

 

[johnnyc]

My guess, since johnnyc lives near me, is that he adds gypsum to the tap water. Our water is quite soft and we generally only need to add gypsum for lighter colored ales with a moderate to high hop bitterness.

Give yourself a bell!

Did it last night in fact w/ a amarillo/cascade IPA with 68 IBUs

 

[JBrady]

so will i be ok with burton salts and distilled water

 

[Yooper]

so will i be ok with burton salts and distilled water

I wouldn't. I'd do the additions separately- all you'd need is some gypsum, calcium chloride, and epsom salts I believe. You may need some potassium carbonate, though- I'm not an expert in starting with distilled water.

It's hard to guess exactly what is in the Burton salts, and it may or may not be correct in distilled water. They show in the example above that carbonate is added, to harden the water, but no calcium chloride.

 

[pkeeler]

I wouldn't use distilled water, it is missing everything. While most brew discussion focuses on calcium and bicarbonate, there are other trace minerals that are needed. At most, I would do 50% distilled. You can find brewing water profiles for the major spring water companies. I'd start with them, then add salts to get to Burton. However, I think Burton is very extreme, and I would not do American hopping rates with that water. If you are going to do Burton, do an English IPA.