getting very discouraged with this hobby, pls help...

[C-Rider]

. Yeast being left too long in trub CAN cause fusel alcohols- or too much yeast as well..

Old wife's tale in home brewing. I've left beer in the fermenter at 63* for over 6 weeks with no sign of fusel alcohols

He dry hopped for 1o days not 3 weeks.

I'd ferment for 3 week min and then dry hop like a week.

 

[cobrem]

I'm starting to scratch the surface of understanding water for brewing myself, but I'd look at the salts first, and then the mash ph. With the calcium chloride and salt, you're adding more chloride which is offsetting some of the effect of the sulfates in the gypsum (which are supposed to enhance the hoppy goodness). This may be throwing off the flavor a bit. (You can test this by pouring a good commercial IPA and putting in a touch of salt - it kinda ruins it.)

Secondly, the astringency may be due to a high mash ph, which can be addressed by diluting with distilled water, salt additions and/or acid additions. Since you have the water profile (I think I saw it in the posts above), you can plug those into brewing software or Palmer's spreadsheet on howtobrew.com to get in the right direction.

Worst case, go with some Poland Spring - they post a fairly comprehensive water report on their website. This could be a good starting point for building a water profile if your local source doesn't provide much info. If you go that route, you will need to add something with calcium to get up to at least 50 ppm (gypsum and calcium chloride work here), otherwise your fermentation will suffer.

 

[brewkinger]

Agree with all the advice thus far.
Like mentioned, change one thing at a time to better pinpoint the cause(s).

I would focus ONLY on the water profile at this point. Plug your base profile into a good calculator ( I like Bru'n water)
Have you ever brewed a batch of that same IPA using plain old tap water?
Yooper adds a good thought with the chlorine / chloramine issue.
The addition of all those salts could definitely give a mineral taste as well, thats a fair amount of sodium in there.


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[podz]

Did you expect to be winning beer contests after only 1.5 years of brewing?

By the time guys get drafted into pro football, they've already been playing at the competitive level for 8-10 years.

So, seriously, just get back to brewing and stop worrying about the judges at this early point in your experience.

 

[eric19312]

Ok, so I'm drinking one now and I can honestly say the judges are correct. I think I was suffering from "ugly baby" syndrome and just wanted to like it cause I made it, but knew in the back of my mind it had some off flavors.

It is bitter, with an upfront sweetness and is hot. I just needed someone to tell me what I'm tasting because it's hard for me to distinguish the off flavors.

What do you think of my water profile in my previous post?

Could my 10 minute dunk sparge be causing the astringency? What I do is dunk the grain bag a few times, let it sit for 10 minutes and during that time, give it a dunk once in a while.

Another major issue I've had with my IPAs is they are nice and straw colored at the time I transfer to my secondary and by the time I bottle, it's turned to almost and amber color. Thinking it was oxidation from racking, I decided to forgo the secondary for this batch. I think it helped a bit in keeping the intended color, but not the overall taste.

I hear people saying how there beer is just as good or better than commercial beers but mine isn't even close.

Hey Pelican good on you admitting the judges were onto something. IPA is a super competitive category on the homebrew comp and on the commercial bottle shop wall. Last competition I was in there were like 60 IPAs and vs maybe 6 in most of the lager categories. Those lager brewers took home a bunch of ribbons! I digress.

I am also struggling with the style with some coming out great (got a second place BOS in an early batch) and some not (working on second keg of a 10 gal batch now that came out way too sweet).

I think you got lots of good suggestions in here much of it conflicting. My thoughts relate mostly to the sweetness and minerals. I really dont know what they mean by hop astringency...
Sweetness...
...get rid of the carapils
...keep the sugar
...mash the 2-row at 149 for 90 min
I think you get plenty of unfermentable sugars from extract as they are manufactured with lower gravity beers (which need higher unfermentables to get body).

On the minerals your additions sound ok if you were using all tap water. Your water looks pretty similar to mine and those additions don't sound crazy to me. The calcium chloride might be related to the sweetness but the addition is modest. The table salt is probably not needed. You should probably be adding the minerals to the mash right? With your very light grain bill it could be helpful for controlling pH which might be related to the astringency.

I am not sure what to say about the hotness. I am guessing a fermentation issue. Seems you did everything right there in terms of using good yeast, making a starter, controlling temperature, etc. Perhaps oxygen. Perhaps your temp control is not as good as you think. With the sugar and the starter the fermentation might have taken off pretty fast and spiked the temperature without you noticing.

Thanks for sharing and keep brewing!

 

[J187]

Ok, so I'm drinking one now and I can honestly say the judges are correct. I think I was suffering from "ugly baby" syndrome and just wanted to like it cause I made it, but knew in the back of my mind it had some off flavors.

It is bitter, with an upfront sweetness and is hot. I just needed someone to tell me what I'm tasting because it's hard for me to distinguish the off flavors.

What do you think of my water profile in my previous post?

Could my 10 minute dunk sparge be causing the astringency? What I do is dunk the grain bag a few times, let it sit for 10 minutes and during that time, give it a dunk once in a while.

Another major issue I've had with my IPAs is they are nice and straw colored at the time I transfer to my secondary and by the time I bottle, it's turned to almost and amber color. Thinking it was oxidation from racking, I decided to forgo the secondary for this batch. I think it helped a bit in keeping the intended color, but not the overall taste.

I hear people saying how there beer is just as good or better than commercial beers but mine isn't even close.

First of all, I'm glad you are finding the judges perspective helpful. It's nice that you are objective enough to realize the flaws yourself.

I would definitely get away from the spring water personally... you don't know what kind of minerals and ions are in there. For that matter, it's my understanding that even if you were to find a report, it can vary quite a bit. Stick with constants. Your water with your water report and do any cutting you need or want to do with DI or RO water - and realize you are cutting everything in the water. I would rebrew the recipe and try absolutely minimum water adjustments - adjust to get your PH within range, and try to keep all ion levels low. Pay close attention to anywhere you might be oxidizing during transfers. I supposed the oxidation could also be causing the astringency.

Did you treat your sparge water with salts? The PH of your sparge water could have played a big factor here since you dunk sparged separately from the mash water.

I'd really try to limit the changes to start. I would definitely start by simplifying water profile. Focus on your PH during mash, that would definitely cause astringency if that were too high.

 

[paulster2626]

Well, grains and hops look fine, and after 1.5 years I'm assuming you know how to properly use your equipment. This leaves water as the only thing that seems like it might be a problem.

Does your tap water have chloramine in it? If not, stop using campden tabs. Just collect what you need for the brewday from the tap the day before and leave it out overnight.

Have you made this beer without adding salts before? If your tap water is good, then just use that and tweak accordingly, but make sure you understand WHY you're adding what salt or spring water or whatever. I think you might be doing more harm than good with the spring water and salts and campden. Simplify, and then tweak. That's what I'd do.

 

[paulster2626]

Did you expect to be winning beer contests after only 1.5 years of brewing?

By the time guys get drafted into pro football, they've already been playing at the competitive level for 8-10 years.

So, seriously, just get back to brewing and stop worrying about the judges at this early point in your experience.

WTF?

You can't get drafted in to pro football until you've already had that experience by default simply due to age restrictions. This is a terrible analogy.

This is like saying if you get in to racing RC cars, don't expect to win a race until you've been doing it for 8 years. Ridiculous.

We're brewing beer, not throwing touchdown passes at Soldier Field.

 

[Pelican521]

Again, thanks for taking the time for your posts. I should have mentioned that the spring water I used was Poland Spring (sorry).

And yes, I am unhappy with my beer, and is why I'm seeking help. I could care less of what a couple of judges say, especially if I was happy with it. With the amount of time I've spent reading and researching and all the books I've read along with my brewing practices, I thought I would be making half-way decent beer.

According to the public water profile post of my water company, there is chlorine & chloromines in it but I read the Campden tablet would remove it?

Looking back at my notes on the IPA I did just before this batch with the grain bill pretty much identical (just more DME) I used all tap water and water additions very similar to the current one. I collected 6 gallons and added 1.75 tsp Gypsum, 1/4 tsp Calc Chloride, and 1/2 tsp epsom salt and 1/8 campden tablet and used it for both my mash and sparging (not too far off from my water additions for this batch).

I used the EZ water calculator and tried to match an IPA profile I found online. With my additions to my tap water here are the numbers that it came out with:


Calcium - 101
Mag - 13
Sodium - 18
Chloride - 55
Sulfate - 235

It also calculated a mash ph of 5.52.

My process is pretty dialed in so all the brewing numbers were pretty much identical to this current brew, as I always have a 5.75 LB grain bill. When I say brewing numbers I mean mash temp/sparge amounts and temps/ pitching temps under 70° as well as temp control on my ferm chamber.

Even though it's not the same IPA as this batch (almost identical, just more DME for a higher alc%), it pretty much tastes identical which I'm thinking it the same astringent off flavors which give a "muddy-earthy" taste even though they had quite different hop bills.

I know a lot of focus is looking at my water profile but is there anything in my brewing process that might be off. I mentioned this earlier but could it be my sparging? I sparge at 169° so I don't think it's too hot.

Not sure how to handle the oxidation issue either as I don't keg and don't have access to anything to purge CO2 with. That's why for this batch I thought I'd skip the secondary for the first time to try and keep it to a minimum.

Any other ideas? I'm at a loss...

 

[mmb]

Did you expect to be winning beer contests after only 1.5 years of brewing?

By the time guys get drafted into pro football, they've already been playing at the competitive level for 8-10 years.

So, seriously, just get back to brewing and stop worrying about the judges at this early point in your experience.

WTF?

You can't get drafted in to pro football until you've already had that experience by default simply due to age restrictions. This is a terrible analogy.

This is like saying if you get in to racing RC cars, don't expect to win a race until you've been doing it for 8 years. Ridiculous.

We're brewing beer, not throwing touchdown passes at Soldier Field.

Quite. There are new brewers on here that have brewed more batches in 1.5 years or taken brewing more seriously than most brewers ever do.

 

[mmb]

Again, thanks for taking the time for your posts. I should have mentioned that the spring water I used was Poland Spring (sorry).

And yes, I am unhappy with my beer, and is why I'm seeking help. I could care less of what a couple of judges say, especially if I was happy with it. With the amount of time I've spent reading and researching and all the books I've read along with my brewing practices, I thought I would be making half-way decent beer.

According to the public water profile post of my water company, there is chlorine & chloromines in it but I read the Campden tablet would remove it?

Looking back at my notes on the IPA I did just before this batch with the grain bill pretty much identical (just more DME) I used all tap water and water additions very similar to the current one. I collected 6 gallons and added 1.75 tsp Gypsum, 1/4 tsp Calc Chloride, and 1/2 tsp epsom salt and 1/8 campden tablet and used it for both my mash and sparging (not too far off from my water additions for this batch).

I used the EZ water calculator and tried to match an IPA profile I found online. With my additions to my tap water here are the numbers that it came out with:


Calcium - 101
Mag - 13
Sodium - 18
Chloride - 55
Sulfate - 235

It also calculated a mash ph of 5.52.

My process is pretty dialed in so all the brewing numbers were pretty much identical to this current brew, as I always have a 5.75 LB grain bill. When I say brewing numbers I mean mash temp/sparge amounts and temps/ pitching temps under 70° as well as temp control on my ferm chamber.

Even though it's not the same IPA as this batch (almost identical, just more DME for a higher alc%), it pretty much tastes identical which I'm thinking it the same astringent off flavors which give a "muddy-earthy" taste even though they had quite different hop bills.

I know a lot of focus is looking at my water profile but is there anything in my brewing process that might be off. I mentioned this earlier but could it be my sparging? I sparge at 169° so I don't think it's too hot.

Not sure how to handle the oxidation issue either as I don't keg and don't have access to anything to purge CO2 with. That's why for this batch I thought I'd skip the secondary for the first time to try and keep it to a minimum.

Any other ideas? I'm at a loss...

Other than replacing your racking equipment or only using a hose filled with a no rinse sanitizer to rack with so that you don't include any possibilities of aeration in your racking, I would say, reading your posts, that you're very meticulous about your process. I've not known municipal water readings to be all that accurate and would get a second opinion from Ward Labs or another testing outfit. All the "off" mentions beyond oxidation in your posts could most likely be based in water.

How did your PM batches taste before you started adding water additions?

 

[Oginme]

The first thing I would do is to rebrew your recipe (which looks fine), using the Poland Spring water and NO additional water conditioning salts. Get some pH strips or a pH meter to check your mash pH and make sure that it is in the 5.2 to 5.6 range. If your pH is in that area, you should not be extracting any astringent flavors from the malts. Your sparge temperature seems fine, but check the pH of the 2nd runnings to make sure it is within a good range as well (not over 6.0 pH).

I brew with well water which is not too much different from the Poland Spring's analysis. I add very little to my waters for salts and do not try to match any particular water profile So far I have yet to have a drinkable brew and most come out very good (other's comments, not mine as I am too critical of even my best recipes). When I do add salts, I add it for specific effect (raising carbonate levels for a stout, slight increase to the sulfate content for a hoppier result, etc.). I made these changes only after brewing a recipe with my water unadulterated and the additions are very subtle.

 

[Pelican521]

Funny you should mention, I just replaced my bottling wand prior to this brew. I used to brew only with Poland Spring but that was when I was doing extract only.

I do have PH strips and checked my wort (cooled to room temp) and while not as completely accurate as strips are, it was within range.

I'm going to give this recipe another try with some small adjustments based on the feedback so far.
1. replace the carapils with more 2 row
2. use only Poland Spring water
3. remove all water additions except maybe 1/2 tsp of gypsum
4. check and calibrate my thermometers and check to make sure my STC is giving an accurate reading. I was thinking a good way to test this is fill up a container with water/attach the sensor with bubble wrap to the container and drop a thermometer in the water to check.

Come to think of it, I think I used my tap water for most (if not all) of my IPAs while doing partial mashing. maybe there's something there and why I think I'll go the Poland Spring route.

the only other comment that both judges mentioned is the hop astringency, can anyone elaborate how that would happen?

 

[kingwood-kid]

I used the EZ water calculator and tried to match an IPA profile I found online. With my additions to my tap water here are the numbers that it came out with:

Calcium - 101
Mag - 13
Sodium - 18
Chloride - 55
Sulfate - 235

I'd use RO water and salts to build some water that is about 2/3 of what you have above. Some people love sulfates at 300+, but I'd go for 150-200 and focus on controlling your pH for both mash and sparge. As long as your sparge pH is in the right range, the temp doesn't matter. Yes, you can dissolve more tannins in hot water than cold, but they'll only come out of the grain in higher-pH conditions. Were it not so, triple-decocted German beers would be pretty gross.

Do you brew beers other than IPAs? Are they good? If you brew satisfactory dark beers, I'm even more sure it's the water. Stouts can hide a lot of brewing errors, but large quantities of dark malts will fix a lot of pH problems.

 

[Clonefan94]

Do you have a water profile on the spring water that was added. Depending on where it comes from, it can be crazy full of minerals. Spring water should be just that. They have tapped a spring and bottle it straight from the source. Probably has no chlorine in it, but if you added gypsum, you might be way overboosting the mineral content of the water.

 

[J187]

Funny you should mention, I just replaced my bottling wand prior to this brew. I used to brew only with Poland Spring but that was when I was doing extract only.

I do have PH strips and checked my wort (cooled to room temp) and while not as completely accurate as strips are, it was within range.

I'm going to give this recipe another try with some small adjustments based on the feedback so far.
1. replace the carapils with more 2 row
2. use only Poland Spring water
3. remove all water additions except maybe 1/2 tsp of gypsum
4. check and calibrate my thermometers and check to make sure my STC is giving an accurate reading. I was thinking a good way to test this is fill up a container with water/attach the sensor with bubble wrap to the container and drop a thermometer in the water to check.

Come to think of it, I think I used my tap water for most (if not all) of my IPAs while doing partial mashing. maybe there's something there and why I think I'll go the Poland Spring route.

the only other comment that both judges mentioned is the hop astringency, can anyone elaborate how that would happen?

Why spring water? It's a variable. It's a non-constant source of minerals. Why not use your water with slight adj or DI and build it up?

You ever go to a liquor store and see the "mystery six pack"... a sixer in a brown bag and you have no idea what's in it? That's what spring water is to your brewing process.

I know Poland Spring is supposed to be low in minerals, but why pay for water that you aren't sure what's in it, when you can use the water you already pay for and slightly adjust it? Besides, if it's true that PS has almost zero calcium, you'll end up wanting to add to that as it is. You say others have said your water is good... why not roll with it? Do you want to post your water profile here?

 

[kingwood-kid]

Poland Spring posts their full water report on their website. It's almost a blank slate, perfect for brewing since you can tailor it how you want. I'm pretty sure the RO water I buy from my local machine has a higher mineral content than Poland Spring.

 

[Pelican521]

Attached is a pic of the Poland Spring water profile.

Here is my tap water profile:
Calcium - 12.8
Mag - 2.9
Sodium - 17.6
Chloride - 22.9
Sulfate - 18.8
Hardness - 43.9
Alkalinity - 16

Would it make sense to use my tap water for stouts and the Poland Spring for IPAs (with a bit of gypsum)?

I don't know of anywhere that sells RO water, I didn't see it in my grocery stores here.

I'm pretty confused now. I would have to say, the last beer I brewed that was pretty good was an all extract kit and a brown ale (i used Poland Spring water).

 

[brewkinger]

Extract brewing and all grain are 2 different animals when it comes to water profiles.
Extract is kinda fool proof ( if the water tastes good to drink then it will make good beer)
AG depends on the minerals in the water to give the beer it's characteristics.

Not an even comparison.

Your tap water profile is missing some data. pH? Hardness?

I will reiterate for you to look into a water profile calculator and it will help you tremendously.


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[henchman24]

Extract brewing and all grain are 2 different animals when it comes to water profiles.
Extract is kinda fool proof ( if the water tastes good to drink then it will make good beer)
AG depends on the minerals in the water to give the beer it's characteristics.

Not an even comparison.

Your tap water profile is missing some data. pH? Hardness?

I will reiterate for you to look into a water profile calculator and it will help you tremendously.

This.

Your water looks pretty good from what we know. Some minor adjustments to it with gypsum and calc chloride should do the trick without much else. IMO the 2 tsp of gypsum would be way too much for my taste. Just a semi-educated guess without running it through a calculator, .75tsp of gypsum (maybe a touch more) and .5tsp of calc chloride would be pretty close to my preference (yours will probably differ).

With the mash are you adjusting the ph with the salt and not using any acid? I had a beer turn out with a very mineral taste because I did that once and quickly switched over to acids to help with the ph.

 

[J187]

Attached is a pic of the Poland Spring water profile.

Here is my tap water profile:
Calcium - 12.8
Mag - 2.9
Sodium - 17.6
Chloride - 22.9
Sulfate - 18.8
Hardness - 43.9
Alkalinity - 16

Would it make sense to use my tap water for stouts and the Poland Spring for IPAs (with a bit of gypsum)?

I don't know of anywhere that sells RO water, I didn't see it in my grocery stores here.

I'm pretty confused now. I would have to say, the last beer I brewed that was pretty good was an all extract kit and a brown ale (i used Poland Spring water).

Your water not only looks good for either style, but with minimum adjustments. Personally, I'd save the money on Poland Springs. It is really low on minerals, it's damn near Pilsen in a bottle, but regardless, why spend the money? In fact, your water has some useful calcium.

For an IPA, I'd acidify your mash with anywhere from .5-1.0 ml/gal of lactic acid. That will give you a PH between 5.2-5.4 assuming you have no dark malts in your IPA. The only adjustment I'd make is a little gypsum, like .5 g/gal if you had a 4gal mash and 4gal sparge. You'd have to adjust depending on your grist ratio and recipe, but it would be really close to that. That will get you about 44g Calcium, which is perfect since you'll get some malt anyway, and low mg 2.9, again, right on. Sodium well below 100ppm at 17.6 (we didn't add any sodium to the base). Both sulfate and chloride would be under 100ppm, although sulfate would be 90ish and chloride 20 which is nice for an IPA and might slightly accentuate the hops.

For a dark beer like stout, I'd simply skip the lactic, whereas the dark malts should acidify enough to lower the PH to the right range, and instead of getting your calcium from a Gypsum addition, I'd get it from a Calcium Chloride addition - that way you will still get the Ca but rather than adding Sulfate as the other half of the compound, you'll be adding chloride, which will accent the malt rather than the bitter (sulfates).

 

[Savage06]

Leaving a beer on the trub is a demon that has been beaten to death and beyond here. On a homebrewing level autolysis is a nonentity. If you magically manage to have it appear it is EXTREMELY evident. Fusels are from fermentation temps getting too hot.

Timing shouldn't factor in fresher is better in an IPA. You're most likely have water or PH issues of some sort.

I'm not sure less than 1% ABV boost would cause a hot alcohol flavor... and Dextrose is not uncommon in IPA recipes. However... he does mention that he leaves it 3+ weeks in primary while dry hopping. Yeast being left too long in trub CAN cause fusel alcohols- or too much yeast as well.

I wouldn't drop minerals or do anything water related until I hear more about the spring water. Spring water is, as Forest Gump would approve, like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get. That would be my starting point.

With regard to cellaring.... that might be fine for your stout, but this is an IPA he's talking about. The hop aroma and flavor will fade LONG before that. In fact, these are beers best to drink ASAP to some extent. Besides, cellaring his beer for a year isn't going to fix the process that he thinks might be broken.

 

[madscientist451]

I'd try simplifying everything, removing variables. Get rid of DME and sugar, just use grain. Just use 100% Poland spring, no additives, or your local water.
Run a 2.5 gallon test batch to save some costs, tweak it the second time, maybe work on the water profile, run it a third time with a few more minor changes, eventually you'll get dialed in, keep good notes, have fun brewing and drinking.

 

[Heineken]

I am the only judge that matters when it comes to my beer. It doesn't really matter what a judge or anyone else thinks. You can always find people to criticize you and the things you do.

 

[rhythmsteve]

1) don't get frustrated
2) use Campden tablets In tap water to get rid of any chlorine
3) go all grain and dump the DME, I have found that it adds a slight chalky taste, depending on how old it is
4) absolutely make sure of your temp at yeast pitch, I destroyed a stout because my temp was 5 degrees higher, and it came out with a heavy astringent smell


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[jbaysurfer]

I am the only judge that matters when it comes to my beer. It doesn't really matter what a judge or anyone else thinks. You can always find people to criticize you and the things you do.

And many of us do. That's the nature of being competitive. You find yourself wanting validation from more objective sources then your own ego.

 

[Pelican521]

Based on most of the feedback here, It looks I'm taking my mash PH to the wrong side of the spectrum with my water additions and messing up all my beers. I'm not very knowledgable with water chemistry and could use a bit of help (as well as doing some more reading).

Say I was to go with my tap water and my IPA recipe, and as J187 mentioned, need to acidify my mash, how do I do this? My mash and sparge is about 2 gallons each. How much lactic acid would I need for my mash and would I use the same amount for my sparge?

And if I was to add some a bit of gypsum, how would I do this? Would it go in after I collect all my wort from my mash and sparge in my brew kettle?

And how about doing a stout with my water, J187 mentioned to add some calcium chloride. How much would I need for a basic chocolate oatmeal stout recipe?

I'm asking about the stout because that's the other style (and nut browns) I like to brew.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback, very helpful stuff.

 

[Savage06]

Diving into water chemistry is a deep subject...puns aside.

To do it properly you need your source water profile. I am in NYC which is very very soft.

Knowing this and your malt bill with appropriate SRM values of it you can use this calculator, choose a target water profile and play with the salt additions from there and given all of this and your water volumes the calculator will tell you what you need to acidify your mash. You can use acid malt or an acid addition.

You can do all of this here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/

Again it won't be 100% accurate unless you are measuring with a PH meter, but they are fickle to care for and expensive so it most likely won't be your first purchase. Until I pick one up I have faith in the software and math others have done. It won't be perfect but it will get close.

Also I have done trail days at commercial breweries and brewing salt wise they mostly just add gypsum and calcium chloride. If my beer is lighter I will add lactic acid as recommended by the calculator to hit 5.2ph. To this point my beers have been clean and better for the most part.

Based on most of the feedback here, It looks I'm taking my mash PH to the wrong side of the spectrum with my water additions and messing up all my beers. I'm not very knowledgable with water chemistry and could use a bit of help (as well as doing some more reading).

Say I was to go with my tap water and my IPA recipe, and as J187 mentioned, need to acidify my mash, how do I do this? My mash and sparge is about 2 gallons each. How much lactic acid would I need for my mash and would I use the same amount for my sparge?

And if I was to add some a bit of gypsum, how would I do this? Would it go in after I collect all my wort from my mash and sparge in my brew kettle?

And how about doing a stout with my water, J187 mentioned to add some calcium chloride. How much would I need for a basic chocolate oatmeal stout recipe?

I'm asking about the stout because that's the other style (and nut browns) I like to brew.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback, very helpful stuff.

 

[Pelican521]

Ok, so here's an update...

I went ahead and did an ice bath test for my thermometer and it was 5 degrees off! So when I was thinking I was mashing at 152 it was actually 157 and 176 for my sparge temp. Not to mention pitching at 5 degrees higher as well.

Not sure if this will be the magic bullet in improving my beers, but I'm sure it will help greatly.

I'm now in the process of testing my temp controller with my brew bucket filled with 5 gallons of water.

Thanks!

 

[kingwood-kid]

5 gallons of water won't generate heat the way 5 gallons of beer will, so it's not a perfect test. But fermenting 5 degrees too hot is usually a bad idea. Your beer fermented out pretty dry, so it doesn't look like the mash had a large effect, but it will change the beer. Sparging too hot is only harmful if your pH is too high, which goes back to the water chemistry questions. I'm glad you're on your way to improving your beer.