Water Guru's

[argon]

I too am starting to look at water additions conversely to the OP, Ive not been to happy with my paler beers say 15 EBC and lower Ive done some fantastic malty ambers and dark beers 20EBC and up, however had some clarity issues on a few beers too. Even after Whirlfoc, Cold Conditioning, Gelatine, Polyclar and cold filtering (twice even)

From what I understand, Brisbane Water is pretty good for malty amber beers... which is where Im having some success, at least with flavour profiles but not clarity. Ive grabbed myself some 5.2 Stabilizer to see if that helps and plan on adding a touch of Gypsum (sometimes I remember sometimes I dont) to the mash water. The success Ive had for the malty beers is good and all, but would like to see some more hop presence now and again, especially in some paler attempts.

Any suggestions from some Brisbane brewers (or other aficionados on water profiling) on how they might produce some hoppy pales??

Brisbane Water Profile;
Ca 25.0
Mg 10
Na 32
SO4 46
Cl 61
HCO3 100

 

[Fourstar]

I too am starting to look at water additions conversely to the OP, Ive not been to happy with my paler beers say 15 EBC and lower Ive done some fantastic malty ambers and dark beers 20EBC and up, however had some clarity issues on a few beers too. Even after Whirlfoc, Cold Conditioning, Gelatine, Polyclar and cold filtering (twice even)
From what I understand, Brisbane Water is pretty good for malty amber beers... which is where Im having some success, at least with flavour profiles but not clarity. Ive grabbed myself some 5.2 Stabilizer to see if that helps and plan on adding a touch of Gypsum (sometimes I remember sometimes I dont) to the mash water. The success Ive had for the malty beers is good and all, but would like to see some more hop presence now and again, especially in some paler attempts.
Any suggestions from some Brisbane brewers (or other aficionados on water profiling) on how they might produce some hoppy pales??
Brisbane Water Profile;
Ca 25.0
Mg 10
Na 32
SO4 46
Cl 61
HCO3 100

CaSO4: 1tsp in the mash, 1 tsp in the boil. :icon_chickcheers:

As for your clarity are you getting good break formation? Ca will also help with protein percipitaton during the boil.

 

[argon]

CaSO4: 1tsp in the mash, 1 tsp in the boil. :icon_chickcheers:

As for your clarity are you getting good break formation? Ca will also help with protein percipitaton during the boil.

Excellent... thanks... 1 tsp of Gypsum each to mash and boil will be going in on the next batch. :icon_cheers:

As for break formation... i get fairly a decent break... i have recently upped the vigour of my boil for a couple of reasons; 1 reduce DMS precursors and 2 an attempt for better utilisation from the hops.

The last batch i did i got a wonderfully clear wort into the cube... clearest yet. I had a successful whirlpool that left a reasonable lump of break material in the middle of the kettle away from the pickup tube and left a bit more in the kettle. I also strained my NC cube on pitching which left a good amount of cold break behind. So all this together i think has led to the latest batch (fermenting now) to be nice and clear. Judging from the starter i made from the kettle losses, which were clear of break, my clarity into fermenter was as good as i could have hoped.

last batch was 22EBC so still playing it safe, colour wise... i think i'll gradually work towards a planned Bohemian Pilsner at 7EBC once i see some good results from some mid range colours

 

[kevin_smevin]

Excellent... thanks... 1 tsp of Gypsum each to mash and boil will be going in on the next batch. :icon_cheers:

As for break formation... i get fairly a decent break... i have recently upped the vigour of my boil for a couple of reasons; 1 reduce DMS precursors and 2 an attempt for better utilisation from the hops.

The last batch i did i got a wonderfully clear wort into the cube... clearest yet. I had a successful whirlpool that left a reasonable lump of break material in the middle of the kettle away from the pickup tube and left a bit more in the kettle. I also strained my NC cube on pitching which left a good amount of cold break behind. So all this together i think has led to the latest batch (fermenting now) to be nice and clear. Judging from the starter i made from the kettle losses, which were clear of break, my clarity into fermenter was as good as i could have hoped.

last batch was 22EBC so still playing it safe, colour wise... i think i'll gradually work towards a planned Bohemian Pilsner at 7EBC once i see some good results from some mid range colours

I'd be looking at adding some acid - phosphoric or lactic to you mash and sparge water to counter that high HCO3 content of your water. You'd have to play around with how much to add. A pH meter would be good.

 

[argon]

I'd be looking at adding some acid - phosphoric or lactic to you mash and sparge water to counter that high HCO3 content of your water. You'd have to play around with how much to add. A pH meter would be good.

I plan to add some 5.2 ph Stabilizer as well... as the data sheet says;

52 is a proprietary blend of food-grade phosphate buffers (similar to brewers salts) that
will lock in your mash and kettle water at a pH of 5.2 regardless of the starting pH of your
water. 52 is safe for your mash and WILL NOT add any flavors to your beer. 52 will
provide consistency of pH in any water conditions, but the most significant gains will be
obtained if you are brewing in hard water.

hopefully this will do the job???? Should settle the ph within the correct range.

 

[Fourstar]

I plan to add some 5.2 ph Stabilizer as well... as the data sheet says;
hopefully this will do the job???? Should settle the ph within the correct range.

yep, thats what its designed for.

 

[bulp]

Cal - 104ppm
Mag - 5.7ppm
Sod - 87ppm
Alkalinity as CaC03 - 226ppm
Chloride - 80ppm
Sulphate - 64ppm

Additions to Mash - Chalk 1.8g, Gypsum 1g, Sod Bi-carb 1.9g
And added additions to boil to match water profile above

 

[argon]

yep, thats what its designed for.

sorted :icon_cheers: