Water Profile for a Pale Ale

Nola_Brew

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Will be brewing a 3.5 gal batch this weekend.
75.1% 2Row
18.7% Vienna
4.7% C20
1.5% Acid Malt

According to Bru N Water, the target water profile for a PA is:
calcium 140/ MG 18/ sodium 25/ sulfate 300/ chloride 55/ Bicarb 110
Actual> calcium 139.9/ mg 19.6/ sodium 16.3/ sulfate 299.4/ chloride 99.7/ bicarb 16
Obviously chloride is high and bicarb is low so I will have to work on that-

To get the actual, Bru N Water shows 8.6 gram gypsum/ 4.3 gram Epsom/ .5 gram salt/ 3.7 gram ca chloride
The gypsum seems high for a PA with 40 ibu's.
Thoughts?
 
So 2:1 sulfate to calcium I see there mate not a pro on this but that's some hard water for a pale ale I'd go same ratio but by half. Have you checked out the water chemistry calculator on this site. I go for light and malty for lager then other way for hoppy pale ale. Good luck
 
I don't care for a highly bitter beer, I like it balanced with just a hint and to play it safe I always use 50 calcium and 50 Chloride, the more you add of each the bitterness increases
 
I don't care for a highly bitter beer, I like it balanced with just a hint and to play it safe I always use 50 calcium and 50 Chloride, the more you add of each the bitterness increases
50:50 for pale ales or most light beers I see most lager recipes cal for reverse osmosis water. The yeasties I hear need calcium magnesium to get there bogie on. They must be adding salts to get the desired mineral counts
 
Would 3 or 4 grams of calcium chloride and same for gypsum work? Eliminate the other additions?
 
thats what I do, basically 1 teaspoon of each but I have low calcium and ci water to start with
 
so basically all of my additions are 1 teaspoon each of calcium chloride and gypsum, 1 campden tablet and 1 tablespoon of yeast nutrient, but for a 10 gallon batch
 
I see some states over there in America have some beautiful water profiles going by the Brewers friend water profiler pretty much Pilsner profiles abound in a few states there my profile is as follows not too bad for light brews
Name Ca+2 Mg+2 Na+ Cl- SO4-2 Alkalinity pH Shared
Caloundra 15 4 13 30 16 33 (HCO3) 8
 
so basically all of my additions are 1 teaspoon each of calcium chloride and gypsum, 1 campden tablet and 1 tablespoon of yeast nutrient, but for a 10 gallon batch
To all light coloured brews Campden to kill the bugs eh. Don't you do that in the boil?
 
I use filtered water from one of those stand alone machines. Not sure what the mineral content would before adding so I just use the RO tab. Water taste bland without adding anything-
I usually use more calcium chloride than gypsum and it just seemed odd that it called for as much gypsum as it did.
I may just go with 1 tsp of each.
 
Yep
I use filtered water from one of those stand alone machines. Not sure what the mineral content would before adding so I just use the RO tab. Water taste bland without adding anything-
I usually use more calcium chloride than gypsum and it just seemed odd that it called for as much gypsum as it did.
I may just go with 1 tsp of each.
I use a one of those single cartridge filters the water bloke said it will get out all the gunk and chlorine but as for the minerals they are all there still. I was chatting to him about an RO filter that's 4 cartridges down to few microns wide type stuff and takes forever to fill your bottles but price was 350$. So that ain't happening soon:eek:
 
I use filtered water from one of those stand alone machines. Not sure what the mineral content would before adding so I just use the RO tab. Water taste bland without adding anything-
I usually use more calcium chloride than gypsum and it just seemed odd that it called for as much gypsum as it did.
I may just go with 1 tsp of each.
I use a double carbon filter my self and my water is also low in everything, I only do that because are water is surface water from lakes and streams
 
I hear gypsum for Bittering calcium chloride for malty magnesium for giving ya the shits ha ha if you add too much:p
 
Now if you want to do a detox style body bowel cleanse magnesium will fix ya up :D I can vouch for it ha ha.
 

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