Gypsum and Calcium Chloride additions help

[ThomasPaine]

I am brewing a oatmeal pale ale clone from a local brewery who supplied their recipe to my LHBS. I contacted the brewery and asked what they do to the local tap water when they brew this beer. They said that they add Gypsum and Calcium Chloride to bring the PH down to 5.3. I share the same municipal water. This will be my first time making water additions and would like some good advice on how to calculate the precise additions of Gypsum and Calcium Chloride. I have a PH meter. I would like to know how much of each to add per gallon of mash water. should I add to sparge water too. I have looked at a couple calculators that depend on a water report. I just want to fix my ph.

 

[cyanmonkey]

Salt additions aren't JUST for pH. Gypsum helps to dry the beer out and let the hops pop a little more. Both gypsum and calcium chloride will lower your pH.

I usually shoot for about 300 ppm sulfate for pale ales and IPAs which you get from gypsum.

Of course this all depends on your starting water profile. Do you have that handy?

 

[Natdavis777]

Yes, a starting water profile would be needed. Blindly adding salt additions is throwing a dart in the dark. Along with your water profile, we will also need the grain bill to calculate how much acid it will contribute to the mash along with volumes.

 

[ThomasPaine]

Ok, thanks. I'll get on that right now.

 

[iijakii]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128

Look in this subforum for some fantastic information. AJ and Brungard are a wealth of knowledge. Get a water profile and put in your info and add additions based on that. Look up guides on how to use brunwater. Going blindly is likely to be detrimental. You also will want to use acid (acidulated malt or just straight lactic etc) for your pH lowering if you're not going for a huge gypsum contribution flavor-wise like in an IPA.

 

[ThomasPaine]

well, never mind. I found a post from 12/24/15 from someone who lives close to me with a water profile. I will use the calculator online now. As i didnt have a profile, I was hoping for a general reply of; this much gypsum will bring ph of one gallon down to this much kind of thing. I got this i think. Thanks

 

[ThomasPaine]

Its pretty much and IPA (since i add more hops than the Pale Ale recipe calls for), and i am going with the only two additions that the brewer said they use. Since I use the same water the brewer does, I don't think I can miss this one once I get the calculator working. Thanks

 

[mabrungard]

Using calcium and magnesium salt additions to serve as the primary pH adjustment may not work well for those with significant alkalinity. That approach could mean that you would add a lot of those salts to get the pH down. Its best to know what is in your water and use a balanced approach that adds only enough salts to bring the ionic content where you want it for flavor and use some form of acid to bring mashing and sparging water pH down to desirable levels.