Help me with my recipe!

[Yukmay]

Hey guys,

Let me start off by saying that I've been lurking HBT for the last six months. I'd just like to tip my hat to the community here; you guys and gals do a great job of teaching newbies such as myself, testing some of the long-used (and often not needed) brewing techniques, and also having a damn good time of it. I, for one, appreciate everything you guys do for the brewing community as a whole. Can't thank you enough HBT!


Well, now that I'm done buttering you up... Help me with this recipe!

I've learned a lot about brewing over the last six months but there are some definite deficiencies in my learning I was hoping someone could clear up.

Recipe:

Irish Red Ale -- (Based on NB Kit)

Malts:
7.5lbs 2-Row
0.75lbs Carapils
0.25lbs Special Roast
0.125lbs Biscuit Malt
0.125lbs Chocolate Malt

Hops:
1.0oz Wiliamette 60min
1.0oz Kent Goldings 30min

Yeast:
WL004 Irish Ale

Mash at 153F for 60min (Thickness - 1.5qt/lb)
Strike with 3.3 Gal of 165F
Sparge with 4.5 Gal of 170F (~176F if no mash-out)
Mash-out - ??? See Q-2
Predicted OG of 1.051 (EE ~80%)
Predicted FG of 1.015
Yeast to be propagated from White Labs vial (Exp: 05/13/11) in 1L of 1.040 starter on stir plate for 24hr prior to pitching.
Fermentation Temperature - 65F

Sounds good, right?

But....it's my first beer with a water report!

Dun Dun Dun....

My water is as follows:
(All values are ppm)

pH - 8.0
Na - 33
K - 2
Ca - 23
Mg - 5
Total Hardness CaCO3 - 78
SO4- 30
Cl - 46
HCO3 - 43
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 - 43

CL:SO4 is 1.5
Est. pH of mash - 5.5

First Question: Should I adjust my water for this beer?

My first thought was to add 1g of CaSO4 and 3g of CaCl in addition to 2 oz of sauermalz.

Giving me:
Est pH of mash - 5.3
Cl:SO4 of 1.94
Cl - 95
SO4 - 49
Ca - 58

Is this really an improvement? Will there be a difference in the final product?
How important is Ca++ in my beer? Is pH adjustment really needed? I've never had problems before...

Question Two: I was thinking about trying to develop a more malty flavor in this beer as can be seen from the water above.

If I were to do some sort of pseudo-decoction where at the end of the mash I took an amount of the mash out, boiled it, and added it back to reach mash-out temps would there be any difference in the character of my beer? How much mash do I remove? Is it non-vorlauf'ed runnings or thick mash?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Jesse

 

[BigEd]

Adding calcium is a good idea. I would simply add gypsum to your water for this beer. As a UK pale ale (which is really what Irish Red is) your hop profile should be supported by a higher SO4 number than Cl. Just add gypsum to get your Ca+ up to about 75ppm and the SO4 will be fine where it lands. Re the grain bill my advice would be to simplify it a tad. Use UK pale if you can and if so drop the biscuit. If using the domestic pale keep the biscuit and bump it to 1/4 lb or more. The CaraPils is optional, if using I would drop it to 1/2 lb. Ditch the special roast and chocolate and replace with one ounce of roasted barley. The IBUs aren't listed but I would shoot for 30-35 with the listed OG of 1.051. Just do a single infusion mash here at a 150/152F temp and don't worry about anything fancy.