Dilution vs CRS help for hefe

[MTW]

Just re read the end of Aleman's post: so I could get away with perhaps 2.5g calcium chloride in my 35L (not 36) of liquor, giving me around 52ppm Ca [I miscalculated the "48" slightly above anyway] and 67 Cl, with sulphate at 49.

That's only 52ppm Calcium, with the chloride pushed to near the top end of Aleman's suggestion.

[Aleman]

GRRRRRR Someone added some stuff while I was looking for my trusty calculator!!!!!

Well, can I check my Calcium chloride calculation with you helpful folk and ask a follow up?

Go On Then

with my tap water at 115ppm CaCO3 on the day (tonight!), with 50% Ashbeck, and CRS added to get down to 25ppm, I'd have around 32ppm chloride, 49 sulphate, and I'm guessing maybe 32 calcium. From Palmer, calcium chloride would add 72ppm Ca and 127ppm Cl at 1g per (US?) gallon. I have 9.2 US gallons of brewing liquor to treat (36L).

If I add 1.5g, I make that 12ppm Ca added, for a total of around 48, and 21ppm extra chloride, for a total of 53ppm (balancing the 49 sulphate pretty close).

calcium chloride (dihydrate) 1g in 1L gives 272.5 ppm calcium and 482.2ppm chloride, So 1.5g gives 408 ppm calcium and 723.3ppm chloride. . . . and in 36 litres that is and additional 11ppm calcium and 20ppm chloride for a total of 43 calcium, 52 chloride and 49 sulphate . . .so your figures check out ok allowing for conversions between US gallons and litres

Staying on the Calcium theme, does 48 still sound a bit low, and if so, should I be willing to push the chloride a bit further in raising it, or start adding a bit of gypsum as well to keep the sulphate it in line?

My personal preference is to aim for a minimum of 60ppm calcium, but will 12ppm have any significant flavour impact??? If you go for an addition of 1.2g of gypsum and 2.65g of calcium chloride you will get 60ppm calcium and 67 sulphate and chloride. an alternative approach giving a 1:1.5 sulphate to chloride ratio would see you add 0.3g gypsum and 3.5g of calcium chloride for 60ppm chloride, 53 sulphate, and 79 chloride.

At this point it really comes down to personal preference. An interesting 'experiment' can be had with a 200ppm solution of gypsum and one of calcium chloride and a 'neutral' beer - like budweiser . You can dose glasses of the beer ( I suggest using a 100ml sample to keep the additions low, and the amount to drink low as well) with amounts of the solutions to approximate the levels of calcium, sulphate and chloride, and taste the beer to see what you actually prefer.

[MTW]

Thanks again! I will get around to doing some taste testing, as you say at the end there.

I've got my liquor treated for the morning now. Seeing your calculations really helped, because I've got the highest alkalinity tap water I've ever measured here at 142ppm CaCO3 tonight, so I've had to rework things a little.

It took 10.5ml of AMS to get down to 24ppm alkalinity after the 50/50 dilution with Ashbeck. I redid the maths and stuck to 2.5g calcium chloride, and I reckon I ended up *somewhere* around this:

Alkalinity (CaCO3) 24ppm
Calcium 61.5
Sulphate 55.5
Chloride 71

Hopefully better than my previous hefe liquors! All set for the morning; WLP300 on the go. Trying to fake a decoction slightly with my grain bill, but we'll see.

Cheers

[Eric]

Eric, perhaps you can explain how filtration makes a beer bland? I know of thousands of breweries around the world that filter their beers prior to packaging. I'm not sure how that operation makes all beer bland. I am aware that filtering too finely can strip flavor from beer, but most brewers are smart enough to recognize that overfiltration is detrimental to beer flavor and they don't go to that extent. The primary reason that most brewers filter is to improve clarity and that does not require a high level of filtering. In fact, many breweries that have adequate tankage and lagering time, do not filter.

Sorry Martin, didn't phrase that at all well, so I agree it is possible to filter out course particulate without stripping flavo(u)r. My thrust was that makers of bland beers would seem to also incorporate filtration in their processes.