Water Profile Help BIAB NEIPA/IPA

[jeffceo24]

Hey Guys,
I'm making the switch to BIAB from extract. I live in southern New England and have well water. My profile is (in PPM/mg/L):

Calcium: 8.5
Magnesium: 2
Sodium: 5.4
Chloride: 12.2
Sulfate: 8
Alkalinity (CaCO3): 25
PH: 5.9

I will primarily be brewing IPAs and NEIPAs. I am expecting to start with around 7.2 gallons for a 10LB grain bill. I have been using the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet but they give wide ranges. Does anyone have any advice for me? Thank you!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

For East Coast IPA:
Add per gallon : 1 gram CaSO4 and 0.5 grams CaCl2 (in the dihydrate state).

For NE IPA:
Add per gallon : 0.45 gram CaSO4 and 1.1 grams CaCl2 (in the dihydrate state).

Lastly acidify the mash to pH 5.4 via lactic or phosphoric acid, or via acid malt.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I should add that the above will not make good beer. Only meticulously proper technique can do that. I wouldn't want to lead you astray.

 

[jeffceo24]

Thanks Silver Is Money. I appreciate the info! I'm new to BIAB but I am pretty meticulous when it comes to brewing. I like to control as many factors/variables as possible to have the best possible outcome.

 

[balrog]

Oooh, that's nice soft water to start with. And I presume well means you don't need Campden tablet for chlorine/chloramines.

And Silver beat me.

Again.

 

[balrog]

I also meant to say take a look at the sticky in the brew science forum on water, and braufessor's thread on NEIPA

 

[jeffceo24]

Thanks Balrog! Glad to hear my water is a good water to start out with. Yep, no chlorine since it is well water.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

My additions as seen above will bring you tightly into the ballpark of 150 ppm SO4 and 75 ppm Cl for East Coast IPA, and the reverse of that for NE IPA. These should be relatively typical mineral levels for each style, though they may seem conservative to some enthusiasts. Calcium should be in the neighborhood of 105 to 115 ppm for each.

This nicely eliminates the issue of wide ranges.

You do not need to be concerned with regard to raising sodium or magnesium.

EZ Water is old and (in my opinion) does not appear to have been actively managed or updated for a good many years now.

 

[jeffceo24]

Thanks Silver, great info. Do you adjust the pH of the water pre-mash or during the mash?

 

[balrog]

you want to put the additions in with the grains to affect the conversion during the mash, so yes, you adjust pre mash, with the predicted amount so that with grains added you will have the desired pH during the mash. IE, you don't adjust just water, or just water and salts, to get 5.4 pH and then add grains; you add salts and sauermaltz/acid and grains, and 20-30m in take a sample and see what the pH is so that next time you know to add more or less acid with that recipe.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Thanks Silver, great info. Do you adjust the pH of the water pre-mash or during the mash?

Pre mash

 

[cire]

Pre mash

Do you sparge? If so, will sparge liquor be treated the same or differently and what influence might that have on pH of runnings and would that matter?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Do you sparge? If so, will sparge liquor be treated the same or differently and what influence might that have on pH of runnings and would that matter?

I do no-sparge batches. If I sparged I would minearalize the sparge water the same way, and also acidify it to pH 5.4.

 

[cire]

I do no-sparge batches. If I sparged I would minearalize the sparge water the same way, and also acidify it to pH 5.4.

Thank you, that's fine for no sparge. I've not used a brew bag in many years and when I did would sparge. I think BIAB isn't as popular in UK as a few years ago, commercial single pot systems taking over that part of the market, even for many previously using 3V systems.

I'm unsure that acidifying sparge liquor to pH 5.4 would result in last runnings being pH< 5.4 from an all pale malt mash.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Thank you, that's fine for no sparge. I've not used a brew bag in many years and when I did would sparge. I think BIAB isn't as popular in UK as a few years ago, commercial single pot systems taking over that part of the market, even for many previously using 3V systems.

I'm unsure that acidifying sparge liquor to pH 5.4 would result in last runnings being pH< 5.4 from an all pale malt mash.

I no-sparge mash in a cooler. If the initial dough-in is mash adjusted to pH 5.4, and then subsequently the batch is fly sparged with what is also pH 5.4 plus minerals, it should stay relatively in a safe zone for pH, whereby tannins will not form. But to completely avoid astringency one must make a reasonably logical cut off of last runnings commensurate with overall wort collection tallying to no more volume than would be collected via a no-sparge approach. Either that, or actively monitor the pH of the last runnings if you truly must squeeze out more wort than seems logical to attempt.

 

[cire]

I no-sparge mash in a cooler. If the initial dough-in is mash adjusted to pH 5.4, and then subsequently the batch is fly sparged with what is also pH 5.4 plus minerals, it should stay relatively in a safe zone for pH, whereby tannins will not form. But to completely avoid astringency one must make a reasonably logical cut off of last runnings commensurate with overall wort collection tallying to no more volume than would be collected via a no-sparge approach. Either that, or actively monitor the pH of the last runnings if you truly must squeeze out more wort than seems logical to attempt.

I've used cooler's in the past and have one still to use as a cereal cooker for high proportion adjunct recipes. When used as a mash tun it had a matrix of interconnected 1/2" copper pipes laid on the bottom and feeding the outlet. Those pipes were laterally cut half through by a standard hacksaw at 1/2" spacing to retain grain while allowing free flow of wort. A Valentine arm would maintain a floating grainbed during fly sparging. I had used a domed false bottom before trying a cooler as a mash tun and soon resumed.

I fly sparge as a rule, close to 100% extraction as a norm. Extraction potential of the grist is calculated in terms of litre degrees and progress is monitored of both runnings and total extracted using a refractometer. As the extract potential provided by the maltster is measured using a Congress mash, more can be achieved with suitable liquor treatment and temperature control, so a target of 100% extraction isn't unrealistic although I give up once in the upper nineties.

It's a matter of continually determining how much more extract is required and knowing the current rate of extraction (gravity of runnings) to then estimate how much more volume by potential gravity is required. It takes time to get the sparging rate right, it's slower than most admit, but once mastered it is satisfying and becomes routine.

pH can rise significantly during sparging, but water treatment solves that problem as it does in the mash. The mash however, is relatively stable compared with the quickly changing environment when fly sparging. What is usual to find is that whatever liquor profile might provide the target pH for a mash, it is unlikely to result in runnings with the same pH if used as sparge liquor once that sparge liquor has transited the grist.