Shearwater Tas water profile

[Gloveski]

Hi guys can people more in the know have a look at the water profile for my area . Had a few issues with my wife saying my brews were a bit soapy tasting . I have changed my cleaning up and wont really know until the next few beers are brewed (doing one change at a time. Having said that my lattest beer my wife loves which is a lager not an ale that I normally brew

Checked ph of these finished beers and there all about 4.3. My mash ph is usually around 5.2 to 5.4 but my sparge water is about 7.2 . I currently dont do any treatment to my water other than the charcoal water filter.

Anyway I am about to get into pressure fermenting lagers so I wont some advice of anything I would need to do to my water profile

 

[motman]

Without looking at any references, that is a pretty blank slate water profile. You could get away with adding as per recipes assuming distilled water. Better would be to add to beer smith or similar, adding the raw water and target profile. At the least you should add some gypsum to the mash for the calcium. I add 10-12g gypsum for a pale ale for 29 lt apa water for reference.

Hopefully an example water profile attached below for similar tassie water.

Hope this is a useful start

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Hey @Gloveski - I used to live in Shearwater. I had a problem with the water being too neutral to brew a decent hoppy beer. Typical Tassie problem - the water is too clean.

I grabbed the NW Tas water profile from @lagerbomb who is over in Burnie, and worked from that. It seems to be about right for fixing up my issues. Didn't know how to get hold of something closer to home - though Forth to Port Sorell is a strange one. Maybe that's why something from Burnie fixed it up.

IIRC, I needed some Magnesium to fix it up and an acid. I had got into the habit of used acidulated malt before we moved down and continued it by buying some from Hobart when I was down there.

 

[Gloveski]

Thanks mate

Without looking at any references, that is a pretty blank slate water profile. You could get away with adding as per recipes assuming distilled water. Better would be to add to beer smith or similar, adding the raw water and target profile. At the least you should add some gypsum to the mash for the calcium. I add 10-12g gypsum for a pale ale for 29 lt apa water for reference.

Hopefully an example water profile attached below for similar tassie water.

Hope this is a useful start





View attachment 108324

Awesome thanks mate

 

[Gloveski]

Hey @Gloveski - I used to live in Shearwater. I had a problem with the water being too neutral to brew a decent hoppy beer. Typical Tassie problem - the water is too clean.

I grabbed the NW Tas water profile from @lagerbomb who is over in Burnie, and worked from that. It seems to be about right for fixing up my issues. Didn't know how to get hold of something closer to home - though Forth to Port Sorell is a strange one. Maybe that's why something from Burnie fixed it up.

IIRC, I needed some Magnesium to fix it up and an acid. I had got into the habit of used acidulated malt before we moved down and continued it by buying some from Hobart when I was down there.

Thanks mate some food for thought , wish you was still in shearwater would be nice to have someone locally to sample my beers and give me some honest feedback

 

[manticle]

If you're using that water with nothing more than a filter, then the soapiness detected likely has another cause.

I'm in Hobart. Happy to offer my opinion if your beer is bottled and you're happy to post it or drop it off if you ever run through Glenorchy, Berriedale or Moonah.

Not promising I'll uncover what your wife is tasting but I can give it a go.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Thanks mate some food for thought , wish you was still in shearwater would be nice to have someone locally to sample my beers and give me some honest feedback

Had to head back here to sort out some stuff.

Hey, the upside is, you can post about a tiny suburb like Shearwater and end up with a response that's at least based on local knowledge. I reckon wikipedia has less Shearwater specific info.

On a serious note, if lagerbomb is still around, he has a caravan or something at the Port Sorell camping area, and heads down there sometimes - he might be able to help. But Manticle is a far better brew chemist than me, so will do an awesome job of at least eliminating some of the causes. I tended to head to Hobart to pick up quantities of spec malt, packets of yeast and any extra hops - might be worth it for a trip over to Mant's place

 

[ianh]

Hi. I have a similar water analysis here. Basically brew ESB's and Pale Ales. I BIAB and use 5g CaCl2, 4g CaSO4 and 3g MgSO4 per 23 litre batch. Download a copy of the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet to help with the salt additions. Agree with manticle any soapiness is likely to be another cause.

 

[Schikitar]

I'm in Lonny and will be making (for the first time) some water adjustments in two brews I'm doing next week. I'll be adding Calcium Sulphate, Magnesium Sulphate and Acidulated Malt to the next brew. The EZ Water Calculator helped me figure it out but just remember that the amounts and what you need all depend on the beer style and grain bill so I'm not sure there's a one size fits all approach.

You don't mention what your cleaning products/methods are/were, we may be able to assist if you enlighten us? I pretty much just use Brewmans powder wash for cleaning, clean water for rinsing and also StarSan for sanitising - hasn't let me down yet!

 

[Gloveski]

If you're using that water with nothing more than a filter, then the soapiness detected likely has another cause.

I'm in Hobart. Happy to offer my opinion if your beer is bottled and you're happy to post it or drop it off if you ever run through Glenorchy, Berriedale or Moonah.

Not promising I'll uncover what your wife is tasting but I can give it a go.

Thanks mate , the boss is happy with a recent lager and my other keg of ale will be gone by end of the footy tonight (go swans), I have 2 ales that will be next for the kegerator so if she still thinks they are soapy after my change in cleaning schedule I'll shoot you down a few samples . As long as you don't mind pet bottles as I can use my carb cap set up with a jumper from the keg

 

[Gloveski]

I'm in Lonny and will be making (for the first time) some water adjustments in two brews I'm doing next week. I'll be adding Calcium Sulphate, Magnesium Sulphate and Acidulated Malt to the next brew. The EZ Water Calculator helped me figure it out but just remember that the amounts and what you need all depend on the beer style and grain bill so I'm not sure there's a one size fits all approach.

You don't mention what your cleaning products/methods are/were, we may be able to assist if you enlighten us? I pretty much just use Brewmans powder wash for cleaning, clean water for rinsing and also StarSan for sanitising - hasn't let me down yet!

Yeah covered all my cleaning in another thread mate basically left fermenters full of bi carb soda in bewteen brews . I'm not getting the soapy taste myself just the wife .

 

[Gloveski]

Hi. I have a similar water analysis here. Basically brew ESB's and Pale Ales. I BIAB and use 5g CaCl2, 4g CaSO4 and 3g MgSO4 per 23 litre batch. Download a copy of the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet to help with the salt additions. Agree with manticle any soapiness is likely to be another cause.

yep going to have a play with this especially as I am pretty much starting with a blank canvas so to speak

 

[manticle]

Thanks mate , the boss is happy with a recent lager and my other keg of ale will be gone by end of the footy tonight (go swans), I have 2 ales that will be next for the kegerator so if she still thinks they are soapy after my change in cleaning schedule I'll shoot you down a few samples . As long as you don't mind pet bottles as I can use my carb cap set up with a jumper from the keg

Don't mind whatever package is convenient.

 

[manticle]

Yeah covered all my cleaning in another thread mate basically left fermenters full of bi carb soda in bewteen brews . I'm not getting the soapy taste myself just the wife .

Bi carb or per carb?

 

[Gloveski]

Had to head back here to sort out some stuff.

Hey, the upside is, you can post about a tiny suburb like Shearwater and end up with a response that's at least based on local knowledge. I reckon wikipedia has less Shearwater specific info.

On a serious note, if lagerbomb is still around, he has a caravan or something at the Port Sorell camping area, and heads down there sometimes - he might be able to help. But Manticle is a far better brew chemist than me, so will do an awesome job of at least eliminating some of the causes. I tended to head to Hobart to pick up quantities of spec malt, packets of yeast and any extra hops - might be worth it for a trip over to Mant's place

yeah I don

Bi carb or per carb?

Bi carb or per carb?

Bi carb read somewhere early on was supposed to take smell out of fermenter

 

[manticle]

I would stop using that.

What odours are you trying to remove?

 

[Gloveski]

I would stop using that.

What odours are you trying to remove?

Not really sure mate just read very early on somewhere that it was a good idea to use . I have stopped with that process, plastic fermenters will be gone next brewday as going to do pressure fermenting

 

[Gloveski]

Well took some baby steps with water additions with my double brew day this week . I added some phosphoric acid to mash to get my mash ph down to about 5.2 for my two lagers . I also brought some brewing salts but didn't add any , yeah chicken shit I know . As these are only my 3rd and 4th batch using pressure fermenting . I didn't want to do many changes at once . Will also let me get my head around using the water spreadsheets.
I'm doing a few ales after these batches of lager are finished so will look at getting the right balance with them . On a good note SWMBO has been happily drinking my last few beers with no issues with the soapy mouthfeel .

 

[MHB]

I know I've posted this plenty of times but I think everyone should have a copy on their desk top.
Run a search (Ctrl F) for any flavour you are looking for, try a couple of variations (i.e. Soapy Soap...)
I find it very useful. Mark