I started a thread some time ago after watching that Kimmich video (http://youtu.be/LdfySDN2mF0) where he discussed mash pH. Here it is: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/mash-ph-465320/
I ended up doing two things - one easy thing and one hard thing. The hard thing I did was to brew to "identical" one gallon IPAs where the only thing that I adjusted was the mash pH. One batch had a mash pH of about 5.3 and the second had a mash pH of 5.4. My brew partner and I agreed that the 5.4 batch was the hands down favorite of the two - it wasn't even close.
The easier thing that I did was to email Kimmich about his pH recommendation - was he referencing pH at mash temperatures or at room temperatures (like most homebrewers do). He wrote back saying that his pH statements were referenced to mash temps. Therefore, is recommendations end up being in line with the homebrewers' standard of a pH of 5.4.
I'm curious though about the hardness/sulfate levels that folks are looking at here...
Did you also measure pre-boil kettle pH? This is the key measurement for hops...most of them go into the kettle. Different sparging techniques will result in different pre-boil kettle pH.
Burton-on-Trent water is often listed as being around 750-820 ppm sulfate, and that is kind of the gold standard for water for English IPAs and bitters. e.g.:
How to Brew 1st Edition - mash pH
I think there's a Zymurgy article (Jan/Feb 2014?) where Martin Brungard points out that this water was likely diluted for use in brewing in Burton-on-Trent, but there's a fair few brewers who have tried to use that original Burton well water profile undiluted. It's quite plausible that Heady Topper uses that profile.
But as mentioned upthread, that number could just be for the mash liquor, with the sparge liquor being much lower in sulfate, giving a more normal profile around 350 ppm sulfate in the boil kettle.
I think these are great points. I just have one theoretical question about the Burton on Trent water. What would the brewers have used to file their water all those years ago?
I think these are great points. I just have one theoretical question about the Burton on Trent water. What would the brewers have used to file their water all those years ago?
They could have boiled it to drop a fair percentage of the hardness out of it.
By the way, what did you intend the 'file' word to be?
I take it that you didn't get a chance to read that Zymurgy article? The essence of the article was that the very mineralized water seeps upward from the deep aquifer into the shallow aquifer. All the breweries in Burton are near the Trent River. When those breweries pump a lot of water from their shallow wells, the mineralized water is diluted by inflow from the river. So the levels of ions in their brewing liquor were lower than some of the historic references report.
But as mentioned upthread, that number could just be for the mash liquor, with the sparge liquor being much lower in sulfate, giving a more normal profile around 350 ppm sulfate in the boil kettle.
My immediate thought is he was screwing with everyone. I think this is a great point. We don't know where the total hardness was calculated. If this was just for the mash, then they could blend it with anything they wanted to in order to make a different finished product. Pretty much the only way to find out is by brewing consecutive batches and changing the hardness and fermenting side by side. This makes me want to get my hands on some of their water for analysis now (sending the beer to a lab just feels like cheating. So much of the fun here is the process).
Wouldn't boiling just concentrate the ions as water boiled away and heavy ions stay in the kettle?
That's one way or if you want to use your tap water, you can either find out your water chemistry from your water company or you can have it analyzed at a water testing company. The popular one on here is Ward's testing.How do you get to 750 mg/L of hardness without knowing the water chemistry to begin with?
Are you starting with distilled water and adding to bring it up?
My Las Vegas water report is:
Calcium (Ca+2): 75ppm
Magnesium (Mg+2): 24ppm
Sulfates (SO4-2): 228ppm
Sodium (Na+): 88ppm
Chloride (Cl-): 92ppm
Bicarbonate / Alkalinity: 138ppm
Hardness Total: 285 ppm
What do I need, and how much of it, to bring hardness up to 750 mg/l?
Hi all, just wanted to bring this thread up again in light of the recent talk about S04:Cl ratios in NE IPAs (possibly including Heady) being as low as 1:1. Thinking about trying something like this but nervous to bring my Cl over 200... any thoughts?
The name of that brewsheet is "Brewslave© v3.1". I've never seen software with that name, if it exists, please correct me. It's possible he uses his own internal software.
As sweetcell pointed out in the other thread:
If it was software, this wouldn't happen, that calculation is easy.
If the name of the beer, brew date and batch number were printed on top, why would you then write them by hand at the bottom?
I smell a red herring.
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