Water Adjustments - How much is too much

[MrTCS]

Been a while since I've been able to brew and I'm ready to get back into it. I'm creating the following simple Smash IPA and calculated the salt additions I would need, using RO water. It ended up with Calcium Chloride 3.5 g, Gypsum 11g and 2.5 ml Lactic Acid. This will get me to 120 Ca, 58 Cl, 210 SO4 and a mash pH of 5.34. My question is, is there ever a point of too much for a salt addition, is 11g reasonable?

10.5 Lbs. 2-row
1oz Centennial 60 min
.5oz Centennial 15 min
1oz Centennial flameout

3oz Centennial Dry hop

Wyeast 1056.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

If 210 ppm SO4 is your goal, and your water totals to 7.75 gallons overall (across mash and sparge), then you have made the right additions. I'm about to brew an IPA with water that is very close to yours in mineral content. My water is as follows:

Ca = 115
Cl = 51
SO4 = 206

PS: You may need a bit more than 7.75 gallons of overall water. If you are shooting for 7 gallons initial in the boil, you may be closer to needing ~8.5 gallons of water overall.

I agree with your 2.5 ml of lactic acid.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I must add that I learned from several others in a different thread that 200+ ppm on the SO4 will make for a very dry IPA.

The consensus was for about 170 ppm SO4 as a much better choice. If you have not already made up your water (as I have), then dropping the Gypsum (CaSO4) from 11g to 9g would accomplish this.

If you make this change, bump up your lactic acid to 2.7 ml.

 

[mabrungard]

200 ppm, very dry. I don't think so. 300 ppm is nicely dry to me. The other consideration is that the beer recipe needs to be coordinated with the intended sulfate content. If you have a recipe that consistently seems to full and not displaying the bittering and hops as you would like, then boosting the sulfate is probably a good idea. If the beer is too drying, then back off the sulfate content.

Sulfate is a tune-able parameter that can make a nice difference in your beers. There isn't a single concentration that is appropriate for all beer styles.

 

[jmitchell3]

200 ppm, very dry. I don't think so. 300 ppm is nicely dry to me. The other consideration is that the beer recipe needs to be coordinated with the intended sulfate content. If you have a recipe that consistently seems to full and not displaying the bittering and hops as you would like, then boosting the sulfate is probably a good idea. If the beer is too drying, then back off the sulfate content.

Sulfate is a tune-able parameter that can make a nice difference in your beers. There isn't a single concentration that is appropriate for all beer styles.

Sorry to hijack....Lately I've simplified my water treatments to RO and shooting for a sulfate to chloride ratio appropriate to style while targeting a total calcium level of about 50ppm. Then I add lactic as needed for ph.

when shooting for dryer beers, if one amps up the sulfate from say 70-90ppm to 200ppm, does chloride need to remain at the same level? I.e. On a five gallon pale ale or IPA batch I might do 4-5g gypsum and 2g CaCl...if I did 10g gypsum then should CaCl remain constant?

 

[MrTCS]

Thanks for the feedback! I've read up on water adjustments but nobody really lists example amounts as its so dependent on personal situation, so it's just hard to know what's reasonable when starting out. I do BIAB and will be doing a full 7.75 mash.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Thanks for the feedback! I've read up on water adjustments but nobody really lists example amounts as its so dependent on personal situation, so it's just hard to know what's reasonable when starting out. I do BIAB and will be doing a full 7.75 mash.

How many gallons do you expect to have at the start of the boil? End of the boil?

The grains will soak up about 1.3 gallons on first guestimate. Are you properly padding the water to allow for equipment losses due to dead spaces?

I still think 7.75 gallons is going to prove to be insufficient.

 

[mabrungard]

when shooting for dryer beers, if one amps up the sulfate from say 70-90ppm to 200ppm, does chloride need to remain at the same level?

No. If the objective is to dry the beer finish, its not necessary to maintain the chloride level in proportion to the sulfate level (ratio). This is especially important when bringing sulfate levels to high concentration as in pale ale brewing. If the chloride level is also brought to high concentration, the beer is more likely to have 'minerally' flavor.