Chloride to sulfate ratio in session IPA

[ajdelange]

And to every ratio hater, obviously the ratio alone is meaningless,

The ratio alone is meaningless to ratio accolytes too - they just don't realize it.

.. but the relative levels (aka ratio) are important in what you're trying to accentuate.

Clearly two times as much sulfate as chloride will produce a different beer than three times as much but how different depends on the level of chloride. Beers with chloride at 1 mg/L Cl- and 2 mg/L SO4-- wouldn't be much different from beers with chloride at 1 and SO4-- at 3. Different story at 100:200 vs 100:300 and different story again at 200:400 vs 200:600.

There is nothing wrong with use of the ratio if you include one or the other of the concentrations. Thus to say something like "I prefer a ratio of 1:5 with the choride at 10 mg/L" is fine. The point is that though the effects of chloride and sulfate may not be completely decorrelated they are not completely correlated either so there is more than 1 degree of freedom and you need two numbers. Your choice as to whether that's two concentrations or one concentration and the ratio.

 

[stijn26]

That's called recirculation. Not the same thing.

Hm I see, another thing I learned today. I think I will (re-)introduce a sparge to my process then. Recently I didn't do it anymore because all the water fitted in my mash tun (biab).

 

[dmtaylor]

cohumulone's bad reputation was set by a single experiment using a completely unrepresentative ~100% humulone vs ~100% cohumulone, which led to people tasting 21 IBU versus 34 IBU, which they could perceive.

Bitterness quality is something that's still being researched but the beta acids seem to play a part, particularly their oxidation products. It's maybe no coincidence that eg Target has twice the beta acids of Goldings, and has a noticeably harsher bitterness. Some people like that, personally I prefer a softer bitterness.

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you! I forgot about beta acid. Maybe that is what we all really ought to be talking about.

Cheers!

 

[cbier60]

There is nothing wrong with use of the ratio if you include one or the other of the concentrations. Thus to say something like "I prefer a ratio of 1:5 with the choride at 10 mg/L" is fine. The point is that though the effects of chloride and sulfate may not be completely decorrelated they are not completely correlated either so there is more than 1 degree of freedom and you need two numbers. Your choice as to whether that's two concentrations or one concentration and the ratio.

I agree completely. I understand that many of the comments against a general ratio argument are geared to the many novices that have inquired about this subject with emphasis on ratio only, judging by the emphatic responses by yourself and several others. I know that the actual concentrations are what matter, so I'll try to be careful not to convey the wrong message that might be misconstrued by the novice.