user 197168
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- Joined
- Aug 27, 2014
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Ok, so thanks to this forum, and mainly the sticky by Yooper at the top of the page, I've gotten into water chemistry. Here in Sydney we have fairly soft water so initially I followed the guide and did the 2% sauermalz and teaspoon of calcium chloride. It seemed to work fairly well.
Then, I caught the water tweaking bug and downloaded EZ water calculator. It was here I noticed my calcium and magnesium numbers were under the recommended range so I started adding epsom salts and gypsum as well. While doing this I was keeping an eye on my chloride to sulphate ratio and adjusting as needed.
Anyhow, an already long story short, I now think I've gone too far. It seems my last few beers are a bit weird tasting. Not terrible, but odd. The IPA I brewed recently seemed very nice in the fermenter, but now it is REALLY bitter. My chloride to sulphate ratio was 0.41, which I knew would enhance bitterness, but I didn't think it would be by this much.
I then read John Palmer's notes on residual alkalinity, which is also included in EZ water calculator (albeit very small), and I really don't get it. I understand the calcium and the magnesium play a part, and I understand that dark malts also play a part, but to me RA seems to be the result of the equation, and then we are trying to work out the parts of the equation from the result.
So if I am adding acidulated malt, surely the alkalinity of my water would drop, would it not?
Anyhow, feel free to forum slap me and tell me to go back to kit beers. Or tell me what I'm missing. Thanks!
Then, I caught the water tweaking bug and downloaded EZ water calculator. It was here I noticed my calcium and magnesium numbers were under the recommended range so I started adding epsom salts and gypsum as well. While doing this I was keeping an eye on my chloride to sulphate ratio and adjusting as needed.
Anyhow, an already long story short, I now think I've gone too far. It seems my last few beers are a bit weird tasting. Not terrible, but odd. The IPA I brewed recently seemed very nice in the fermenter, but now it is REALLY bitter. My chloride to sulphate ratio was 0.41, which I knew would enhance bitterness, but I didn't think it would be by this much.
I then read John Palmer's notes on residual alkalinity, which is also included in EZ water calculator (albeit very small), and I really don't get it. I understand the calcium and the magnesium play a part, and I understand that dark malts also play a part, but to me RA seems to be the result of the equation, and then we are trying to work out the parts of the equation from the result.
So if I am adding acidulated malt, surely the alkalinity of my water would drop, would it not?
Anyhow, feel free to forum slap me and tell me to go back to kit beers. Or tell me what I'm missing. Thanks!