I've done a couple rounds of the same pale ale all grain recipe lately, and it's been getting better slowly, but I'm wondering what I can do to handle water treatment woes.
Recipe:
*10lbs pale two-row malted grains
*1.5lbs crystal 60 deg malted grains
*1.0oz Northern Brewer hops (45 mins of boiling, in a cheesecloth bag)
*1.0oz Northern Brewer hops (15 mins of boiling, in a cheesecloth bag)
*1.0oz cascade hops (5 mins of boiling, in a cheesecloth bag)
*Irish moss (1tablespoon, loose, last 10 minutes)
The first time around, I didn't treat for chlorine at all, and the beer tasted like plastic. The second time, I think I added too much potassium metabisulfite to the mash water and the sparge water, as the final product had a sulfer/rotten-egg like smell, but the taste was ok, if not a little sweet (next time I'll add more hops).
I gave the wort a 2 week femernation before racking it to a secondary carboy, then letting it sit two more days. The carboys I rack into are left to sit for an hour with a concentrated sulfite solution in it to kill any bacteria, and then drained, but the excess/residual sulfite solution is not rinsed out, as I only have tap water on hand.
Acquiring RO or RO/DI water is not possible in my locale.
What can I do to prevent these off tastes from the excess sulfite solution? I learned that 1 teaspoon is enough to treat extremely chlorinated water, so I used the equivalent of 1-third of a teaspoon to treat my mash water and sparge water before I boiled them.
Also, does giving the wort more time to ferment cause the sulfer smell to evaporate out of the carboy through the airlock, or is the beer just plain ruined? I've read about people using forced carbonation to "scrub" the sulfur out, but I don't have the facilities to do CO2 injection. Would adding extra sugar and extending the ferment work the same?
I am just getting tired of my all grain brews being barely drinkable. I've scaled my recipe down using a crate of RO/DI water, and had a pretty good result, but it's not something I can do continually.
Thank you.
Recipe:
*10lbs pale two-row malted grains
*1.5lbs crystal 60 deg malted grains
*1.0oz Northern Brewer hops (45 mins of boiling, in a cheesecloth bag)
*1.0oz Northern Brewer hops (15 mins of boiling, in a cheesecloth bag)
*1.0oz cascade hops (5 mins of boiling, in a cheesecloth bag)
*Irish moss (1tablespoon, loose, last 10 minutes)
The first time around, I didn't treat for chlorine at all, and the beer tasted like plastic. The second time, I think I added too much potassium metabisulfite to the mash water and the sparge water, as the final product had a sulfer/rotten-egg like smell, but the taste was ok, if not a little sweet (next time I'll add more hops).
I gave the wort a 2 week femernation before racking it to a secondary carboy, then letting it sit two more days. The carboys I rack into are left to sit for an hour with a concentrated sulfite solution in it to kill any bacteria, and then drained, but the excess/residual sulfite solution is not rinsed out, as I only have tap water on hand.
Acquiring RO or RO/DI water is not possible in my locale.
What can I do to prevent these off tastes from the excess sulfite solution? I learned that 1 teaspoon is enough to treat extremely chlorinated water, so I used the equivalent of 1-third of a teaspoon to treat my mash water and sparge water before I boiled them.
Also, does giving the wort more time to ferment cause the sulfer smell to evaporate out of the carboy through the airlock, or is the beer just plain ruined? I've read about people using forced carbonation to "scrub" the sulfur out, but I don't have the facilities to do CO2 injection. Would adding extra sugar and extending the ferment work the same?
I am just getting tired of my all grain brews being barely drinkable. I've scaled my recipe down using a crate of RO/DI water, and had a pretty good result, but it's not something I can do continually.
Thank you.
