Confusion over beer types

[yeasty]

Confusion over beer types

I have just got my test results back from Murphy & son and have been playing around with the calculator. What is now confusing me is the big difference in treatment between Bitter & Pale Ale.

Using my test results I should add:

BITTER
Gypsum 1.64
Chalk 0.21
Epson Salts 0.83
Calcium Chloride 3.03

PALE ALE
Gypsum 4.04
Chalk 0.21
Epson Salts 3.37
Calcium Chloride 0

These seem HUGE differences.

My main confusion is I'm not sure when a Bitter becomes a Pale Ale... If its just down to colour then a pale ale could become a Bitter by simply adding Crystal malt to the mash. Then why the big difference in treatment? What effects will it have on the final result if treated the other way round?

Murphy's recommend adding 24g of DWB per 25lts for Bitter & IPA's..

I brew a lot of "TTL" style beer with 100% Pale malt but add approx 30g chocolate malt to the sparge for colour so you could say it looks like a bitter but is a pale ale.

Any comments appreciated.

[Wolfy]

Here is an edited version of some info that Brewlab emailed to me, it should be helpful for your situation too:

Typical Liquor Analysis Required per Product
Bitter Mild Stout Lager
Calcium 170 100 100 50
Bicarbonate 25-50 50-100 100-200 <25
Chloride 200 300 300 10
Sulphate 400 150 100 10

Regarding the other important ions for the production of ales, the standard range for them is as follows:
The water has lower levels of these critical ions than we require so you will add both sulphate and chloride. We will use the calcium salts of these to also raise the calcium level, which is important for correct mash pH and successful yeast flocculation.

The salts MUST be added to the dry grain and NOT the hot liquor tank, as they are difficult to dissolve. All three of these key brewing ions should be at acceptable levels once the water has been treated and thus should provide a good brewing liquor, especially for light bitters. If other products are going to be produced, say milds, stouts or lagers, then the amounts and ratios of the calcium sulphate and calcium chloride can be changed to match the style.

[yeasty]

Thanks Wolfy that's good info. But I'm still unsure of when a Pale Ale becomes a Bitter. I am not sure if you would class a "TTL" style beer that has been "darkened" as a Pale Ale. Are there any hard and fast rules? i.e. If no Crystal / Dark malts have been added to mash and gravity is above 'x' it is a pale ale??

The only reason I ask is that the treatment is so different for the two types of beer.

[Wolfy]

According to (American-centric) beer style-guidelines an English Bitter (ABV 3-3.9%, IBU 25-35) has less alcohol and less hops than an English Pale Ale (ABV 4-5.5%, IBU 30-45), however what you see in practice is likely much more related to marketing and brand names than styles-guidelines.
In theory the bitter is expected to be a low gravity, low carbonated (typically draught) easy drinking beer with some hop flavour and bitterness but also with fruity esters and malt flavours.
The pale ale is a fuller beer with higher hop bitterness and flavour, fruity with a malt backbone to support it all, it's also typically bottle conditioned, but most importantly it's a beer that evolved from a Burton IPA (which is likely to be the best answer to your question).

Without putting the info into a water-calculation spreadsheet, it looks to me that the PALE ALE water profile is attempting to mimic Burton water which is famous for accentuating hop bitterness (hence the evolution of IPA's etc). On the other hand it looks to me like the BITTER water profile would be designed to provide more of a balance between the hop and malt flavours (it almost looks like a London water profile, so think of the beers made with London water in this case).

Unless I'm mistaken they brew TTL not too far from you ... In which case the 'best' water to brew the beer might simply be exactly as it comes out of your tap!

[yeasty]

Again great info. THANKS.

TTL is brewed not too far away but do they treat their water?? Saltaire brewery is less than 5 minutes away and I know they treat theirs.

I guess like most brewing processes, its down to trial and error. I brewed last weekend and treated my water to 'dry pale ale' but altered the sulphate:chloride to 3:2 as this is what Murphy and son recommended. We will see how it turns out. All this is part of the quest for the perfect home brewed pint!

[Wolfy]

It's possible that they treat their water, but it's still also possible that it's still very close to what you get out of your tap.
I suspect it's even more probable that Saltaire treat their water as appropriate for the type of beer they are making since they have a range of diverse styles listed on their site.