Flanders (or general sour) water profile?

[decktard]

Does anyone have any tried and true water recipes for Flanders Reds?

I'm having trouble finding good information and I'm new to the water chemistry game.

Preferably if you could give me some tips in grams/gallon measurements that would be extremely helpful.

 

[dougdecinces]

IMO, water profile is very unimportant for sours. You will get very little flavor from any ion adjustments. The brett/lacto/pedio will be the dominant flavors in these beers. Just nail your mash pH and use chloramine-free water, and you are golden.

 

[masonsjax]

I've been using the "West Flanders (boiled)" profile from brunwater. As Doug mentioned I don't think it makes much impact in a sour, but I haven't gotten to that chapter in Mike's book yet.

 

[decktard]

Thanks for the info. I was skeptical of Brun water because I don't know if they just show a general regional water or what some of the breweries actually do. For example someone on some thread somewhere mentioned that Rodenbach uses RO water only.

So... I don't want to over-do the salts as I haven't had a sour that tastes "minerally" although using just RO water didn't sound right to me either.

If anyone has a go-to water recipe I'd love to see it. Otherwise... I'll post the water recipe I use and remember in 1-2 years to post my impressions.

 

[dougdecinces]

Like I said, I have never used a water recipe on any of my sours. I blend RO and tap water in appropriate proportions until I get the pH I need.

 

[riceral]

You might try looking here:
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2008/05/with-re-re-release-of-wyeasts-roeselare.html

Mike Tonsmeire, the Mad Fermentationsit and author of American Sour Beers book, usually mentions the water profile in the recipes he writes about on his blog.

Also, look for postings by Oldsock, who is Mike.

 

[ICWiener]

Doug's right. Water profile for sours isn't as crucial as it is for other styles. I use tap water for my sours. If your water isn't too hard, just get rid of the chlorine/chloramines and let 'er rip.

 

[decktard]

Doug's right. Water profile for sours isn't as crucial as it is for other styles. I use tap water for my sours. If your water isn't too hard, just get rid of the chlorine/chloramines and let 'er rip.

I guess I've just made a practice of using RO for all of my beers now based on the chlorine/chloramine issue. I don't want to really pre-boil or add campden... I figure If I'm doing "work" on the water I may as well spend the $3 on RO and put in a small amout of salts.

But if I'm building something up I guess I want to do it right.

 

[ICWiener]

I figure If I'm doing "work" on the water I may as well spend the $3 on RO and put in a small amout of salts.

Fair enough. Go with what makes you comfortable.

I guess perception is everything. I consider tracking down and lugging home a bunch of RO water to be too much work for me, which is why I smash half a campden tab into my mash and sparge water and call it a day.

 

[youreanimpulse]

I also use Campden, but for RO water you could just choose a standard balanced profile and it should work great.

 

[masonsjax]

Get the mash pH right and dont worry about flavor ions.

 

[decktard]

For better or worse... this is my water recipe (from RO):


Mineral Addition (gram/gal)
Gypsum (CaSO4) 0.25
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 0.40
Canning Salt (NaCl) 0.05
Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) 0.50

Looks like that will hit a ph of 5.2 with my grain bill... and is pretty close to the "Balanced Amber" that Brun Water lists.

Calcium (ppm) Magnesium (ppm) Sodium (ppm) Sulfate (ppm) Chloride (ppm) Bicarbonate (ppm)

52.3 10.4 13.2 79.1 75.8 16.0