Water Help

[Ryat66]

I am putting together some water profiles for common styles that I intend to brew, I use Martin's Bru'n Water spreadsheets. With that said, I have done some pretty extensive reading on IPA water profiles but still need some help. So, here is a profile that I am working on for an IPA I would like to brew in the next few weeks:

I have gathered from others that IPA's benefit from a mash pH around 5.4, Bru'n water is telling me that I can expect a room temp pH of 5.5 or using the -.3 rule of thumb, a mash pH of 5.2, lower than I desire. Correct me if I'm wrong but that means I would want to see a room temp pH of 5.7 on Bru'n Water. Is that accurate? If so, what can I do here to achieve that pH? TIA

 

[mabrungard]

For hoppy beers, an appropriate room-temperature pH target is 5.4. Bru'n Water reports room temp pH. Forget about mash temp pH.

 

[Ryat66]

For hoppy beers, an appropriate room-temperature pH target is 5.4. Bru'n Water reports room temp pH. Forget about mash temp pH.

Thank you for the response Martin!

With the pH bit in mind, I simply played around with different salts to arrive as close to the Pale Ale Profile as possible, I am still learning the specifics about each salt and it's characteristics. Would you make any changes or use any different salts to achieve this profile or just go ahead and brew, record pH readings and adjust things after tasting the resulting brew?

 

[finsel]

Hi,

My cent..:
When I started to play with water the first thing that I was looking is the PH. What I have discovered is usually the Malt set the PH to the best value auto//. And when I need to down little more the PH I use the Weyermann Acid Malt:

"Weyermann® Acidulated Malt is perfect to adjust the pH level in mash or wort. There is a simple formula to calculate the dosage of Acidulated Malt: You have to use 1% of Acidulated malt to reduce the pH by 0.1. (Example: 3% Acidulated malt reduce the pH leve in mash by 0.3). "

Then I bought a RO and this makes my life really better. The RO make the water soft and anything that you put in the water will reflect in the PH quickly as far the Malt components. So the PH is no more a problem to me, just the minerals etc.

Since then I was creating water recipe for each style and this makes my beers better. For the APA I developed good values so I do recommend this .

Target Water:
Name: IPA -3
PH: 7,00
Calcium: 100,00 ppm
Magnesium: 5,00 ppm
Sodium: 2,00 ppm
Sulfate: 180,00 ppm
Chloride: 53,00 ppm
Bicarbonate: 5,00 ppm

And I use BeerSmith2 to calculate how much CA, etc should I drop in the water to target the water IPA3.

Example:
80L of RO water I add
Gypsum

23,3g
salt 0,4g
epsom 3,6g
CaCl 8,4g
Chalk 0,7g​

This values will math with the APA3 W. profile.

Another tip is:
If I need to provide a better ph conditions at beginning of the mash, I drop the components ( Chalk, etc, etc) that increase or reduce the PH only and at end of the mash I drop the remaining components.
For example :
In German Wheat beer to produce more ferulic acid the better PH is 6.0 but I know that the Malt down the PH to around 5-6, so I drop 1st the components to increase the PH like Baking soda, Chalk... and when the mash raise the temperature to the next ramp like 50oC that I need a lower PH I drop the others components that down the PH ( ions ).

Recipe APA dry-hop - great one: http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/3684/galaxy-pond-pale-ale

Cheers!
Frank