Ok experts!

[fpweeks]

Heres my water analysis. Anyone have some words of wisdom?

 

[ajdelange]

Unremarkable except low in sulfate.

 

[mabrungard]

Quite useable, but the alkalinity might require a little acid or acid malt for pale grists. May not have enough alkalinity to tackle a porter or stout, but it may not be too bad. Its a good starting point.

 

[fpweeks]

So I think my darker beers have turned out quite good, but my pale ales and lighter beers have all had a common taste. Not bad, but lacking a crispness that I would expect.

So I finally decided it must be my water.

 

[ajdelange]

'Crispness' can mean a couple of things. It could mean 'dry' in which case you would move in that direction by using less 'cara' malt and converting at lower saccharification temperature. It could refer to the perception of hops. This, because of your low sulfate, is a good candidate. Add some gypsum to a glass of one of these beers and see if the 'crispness' comes up. If it does, use gypsum the next time you brew. It could refer to mineral crispness (think Export). If this is what you want load up with gypsum and some calcium chloride, favoring the former as chloride tends to soften and sweeten. You could also use some sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate but go slow and careful with these. Finally, 'crispness' could refer to bright flavors. This is insured by controlling mash pH. Even with your relatively low mineral content water some acid would be required to get the pH down to where it should be. Even for some dark beers as the acid supplied in a balanced dark beer is just marginal. But it does move things in the right direction and this is probably why your darker beers are 'crisper'.

 

[fpweeks]

The first thing i tried was playing with mash temps, and i haven't really seen it make much difference. It seems as though from playing around with the EZ Water spreadsheet , i need a little gypsum, and a little calcium chloride, and then i need a little more something to drop my mash pH.

I picked up a pH meter a little while ago, but have not really used it much. When i was originally using pH strips, my mash would typically bin the 5.4 range. After i got my meter, it always seemed high. So i was afraid i had a alkalinity problem, and ordered the water analysis.

So time to re-calibrate the meter and brew!

 

[ajdelange]

When i was originally using pH strips, my mash would typically bin the 5.4 range. After i got my meter, it always seemed high.

That's pretty typical. The strips tend to read low.