Can't get beers hoppy- water profile attached

[awarner322]

Moved to a new house recently. Had a Ward Labs water profile done....it isn't great for bitter beers (from what I can gather). I am willing to just use 100% RO water..or even a split of mine and RO. I was hoping someone could take a peek here and tell me what you would do. ie: what salts would you use and in what quantities to make a bitter beer.

Thanks for any help.

 

[ESBrewer]

I would add some gypsum, maybe just a trace amount of chloride ions and then reduce alkalinity by phosphoric acid to reach mash pH5.4. There is some alkalinity in your water but it should not prevent bittering the beers, I think. Maybe 0.25g per liter gypsum (CaSO4 x 2H20)and 0.05g per liter calcium chloride (CaCl2) so you get more sulphate than chloride and thus more bitterness. Then you need some fresh hops and boil them at least an hour or hour and half. I bet you can make it bitter and hoppy, the water should not be a problem.

 

[PADave]

Calcium is good, need to get the SO4 up. For my IPAs, I target 50 Ca and 150 SO4.

 

[Nate187]

Just curious, what have you made that didn't meet your expectations? How much hops were in the recipe?

 

[thehaze]

Hoppy beers benefit from higher levels of sulphates and a drier finish ( low mash temp. ) and the use of hops. Lots of hops, but it depends on the recipe and what you expect of it.

 

[awarner322]

Just curious, what have you made that didn't meet your expectations? How much hops were in the recipe?

This is the most recent recipe...I have probably made it 20-30 times on my old (city) water with no adds. The water chemistry is not a foreign concept, just one I haven't had to consider much.

Here were my brew notes/salt additions from most recent batch.

Mash 10.3gallons
Cacl2 10.3g
Epsom Salt 2.6g

Sparge 13 gallons
Cacl2 13g
Epsom Salt 3.3g

 

[mabrungard]

That tap water is usable. The magnesium is near the limit, so I wouldn't be looking to use epsom. But the main thing is to boost the sulfate content substantially and to neutralize the high alkalinity so that the mash and wort pH will be tolerable. That water requires substantial acidification to neutralize the alkalinity.

For an IPA or PA, I wouldn't consider anything less than 150 ppm sulfate in order for the beer to finish somewhat dry. I use 300 ppm sulfate all the time and prefer that level.

 

[Rhaop]

Try cutting your crystal malt usage down as well, taking some of the residual sweetness away should naturally bump up the hop flavor and bitterness