Do these salt additions look correct for a pale ale?

[eddiek85]

Hello this is my first time building water from RO and I have used ez water calculator but I am a bit hesitant as to whether I did it correctly or not.

I used another thread in hbt where a guy showed the target water profile of:
Ca+2 -- 140
Mg+2 -- 12
Na+ --7
CL- -- 55
SO4-2 -- 300
HCO3- -- 0

Total water for brew day including sparge = 100L
Base 2-Row = 26lb
Crystal (60L) = 3.63LB

Using the EZ Water Adjustment, I got these additions.
35g Gypsum
11.2 Calc. Chloride
12.6g Epsom Salt
2.8g Baking Soda

Everything on the "Resulting Water Profile" falls exactly within the range of the target water profile and is in the green. But I am not confident that I have done everything properly.

Do these additions look about right for the amount of water and malts I am using?

Thanks very much for the help!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

You don't want to add baking soda. You don't need any sodium ions. You don't need any magnesium ions either, so that eliminates the Epsom Salt.

For 100 liters of water, 36 grams Gypsum and 10.5 grams Calcium Chloride will give you about 200 ppm of SO4 and a sulfate:chloride ratio of 4:1. That should be all you need for a hoppy IPA in my opinion. Are you brewing an IPA? If not, then my advice as seen here is not applicable.

 

[eddiek85]

You don't want to add baking soda. You don't need any sodium ions. You don't need any magnesium ions either, so that eliminates the Epsom Salt.

36 grams Gypsum and 10.5 grams Calcium Chloride will give you about 200 ppm of SO4 and a sulfate:chloride ratio of 4:1. That should be all you need for an IPA in my opinion. Are you brewing an IPA? If not, then my advice as seen here is not applicable.

Hi there, thanks for the reply. No, this is not for an IPA, but for an American Pale Ale.

Here is the recipe that I was going to use it for which I thought was on hbt but turns out is not:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/283770/sierra-nevada-pale-ale-clone

Do you know roughly if my additions are ok for the above recipe at 100L? Btw I'm not sure if it helps, but I added an image above which shows step 4 and 5 of my EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

That is an American IPA, so we are on the same page and my recommendation for 100L water treatment stands as given above. You will likely need some acidification of the strike (mash) water in order to mash within the proper pH range. All that you will accomplish by adding baking soda is that it will make you need to add even more acid in order to get rid if it.

 

[Yooper]

I don't see the predicted mash pH in the screenshot, and that's the most important thing.

Take out the baking soda, and see what the predicted mash pH is. EZ water isn't all that accurate, as least not for me, and has been off often by as much as .3 (high), so I"d also recommend trying bru'nwater and/or brewer's friend, since they seem more accurate in my experience.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

If you provide the separate amounts of brewing water used, for both mashing and sparging, it would be helpful. As Yooper pointed out providing your predicted mash pH will also help. As would the DI pH values of the grains you are using. It has been my experience, that differences in the 'default' grain DI pH values, are a cause of discrepancies between water chemistry calculators.

Case in point, when brewing a second batch of a SMaSH Pale Ale recipe, this time using a DI pH of 5.55 for Muntons Maris Otter malt, I was able to replicate the same mash pH value as the predicted 5.21 pH.

The first time I brewed the same SMaSH recipe, using the 'default' DI pH of 5.77 for Maris Otter malt, the predicted mash pH was 5.39, nearly .2 off from the actual mash pH of 5.21. The beer turned out to be one of my current favorites I will be kegging another 10 gallons tomorrow. My advice to you is to be patient and persistent, be willing to experiment, take copious notes and in time you will be more than happy with your results.

 

[eddiek85]

I don't see the predicted mash pH in the screenshot, and that's the most important thing.

Take out the baking soda, and see what the predicted mash pH is. EZ water isn't all that accurate, as least not for me, and has been off often by as much as .3 (high), so I"d also recommend trying bru'nwater and/or brewer's friend, since they seem more accurate in my experience.

Hi guys. Thanks for the advice I will check out bru'nwater/brewer's friend in the morning. As for now, I have uploaded the photo in the original post of the sparge water and ph numbers. When I take out the baking soda everything is still in the green and the pH drops by .2 points, but the only reason I added it was because I was trying to follow the water profile in the link (in the original post) to the T. Anyway, I don't have any baking soda at home so it'd be better if I didn't have to use it, but will that .2 pH make much of a different? Currently sitting at 5.44 without it.

Can anyone tell me if I seem to have the basic gist of working a water calculator and making additions? I think I am paranoid because on one of my first brews I severely miscalculated the amount of PBW I needed to clean my kettles and ended up w/ a highly concentrated PBW water. Since then I've been a bit on edge about mixing powders into water hah!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Water profiles are not always going to lead you to the promised land. Many if not all of therm are outdated, and many came into being by questionable means, or by guesswork. The absolute worst of them being those purported to bestow upon you the key which unlocks the magic of the regional water of some famous beer style that mystically depends upon it.

 

[Yooper]

Hi guys. Thanks for the advice I will check out bru'nwater/brewer's friend in the morning. As for now, I have uploaded the photo in the original post of the sparge water and ph numbers. When I take out the baking soda everything is still in the green and the pH drops by .2 points, but the only reason I added it was because I was trying to follow the water profile in the link (in the original post) to the T. Anyway, I don't have any baking soda at home so it'd be better if I didn't have to use it, but will that .2 pH make much of a different? Currently sitting at 5.44 without it.

Can anyone tell me if I seem to have the basic gist of working a water calculator and making additions? I think I am paranoid because on one of my first brews I severely miscalculated the amount of PBW I needed to clean my kettles and ended up w/ a highly concentrated PBW water. Since then I've been a bit on edge about mixing powders into water hah!

The profile isn't a target, at least where bicarbonate is concerned. That profile just happened to work ok with the amount of bicarbonate. The best amount of bicarbonate to add (baking soda) is most cases is always 0.

The important thing is mash pH. The ions where the "target" points you are for flavor- sort of like adding salt and pepper. Just like with cooking, there is no point in adding seasoning to a ruined spaghetti sauce. Make the spaghetti sauce, THEN worry about the salt and pepper. Just like with cooking, brewing is the same way. Get a proper mash pH, then add the salts for the flavor impact.

Most profiles just provide an idea of where you could go, or where some other brewers may have found good results. Also, a profile from a famous city is usually worthless- as just because the water in one place in Dublin (for example) may have XXXXX sulfate, it doesn't mean that a famous brewery used that water source, or maybe they treated their water before using it.

I'd suggest a "less is more" type of approach, and the worst that can happen is that it's a little less than you could have added. Adding too much may mean a very harsh and/or undrinkable beer.