Another sanity check...

[bogmonster]

Hi,

Just done AG #5 and the beer is not bad even if I say so myself. I find the darker brews turn out better. I think it is now time I addresses the water. I have a Salifert kit and tested my water. The result was alkalinity of 216 mg/l as CaCO3 (water report gave 190). So for an ale I reckon I would want < 30 mg/l. Using CRS on 33 l total water this would be (216 - 30)/180 * 33 = 34 ml of CRS.

I use the BIAB full volume method so I can easily treat all the water at the same time. What I am wondering about is that because BIAB has a high water to grain ratio that will impact the mash pH. Should I try and make any adjustment because of this?

I also have some calcium chloride flakes and gypsum. Lots of folks say they add a teaspoon of gypsum in the mash and another in the boil. Should I alter this using BIAB. I believe I should use the flakes for dark beers and gypsum for light beers - is this correct?

My water report says 80 mg/l Calcium.

Thanks for your help, BM

[bogmonster]

Hi,

Well, I had a go but decided as the beer was a medium brown ale I would go conservative on the CRS. I ended up with alkalinity of about 50 mg/l as CaCO3 and re-tested to confirm this. I also added 2 teaspoons of gypsum. I did all this upfront as I am using BIAB. I tested the wort half way through mash with test strips and got a ph of 5.1 which I believe is not ideal but probably acceptable. Any recommendations of what I might do differently next time? The whole water treatment thing is a mystery to me.

BM.

[Aleman]

if you have a reasonable amount of dark grains/crystal in you grist then don't lower the alkalinity as much30-50 for Paler ales . . .75-125 for dark beers . . .obviously the more dark grain you use the higher the alkalinity can be, as dark grain is naturally acidic, and will lower the pH by itself.

[bogmonster]

Thanks Aleman. I will brew another batch with about 80 and see what that does. I am sure I will get there

BM