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Help with what salts to add when please..

Discussion in 'General Brewing Discussions' started by Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020.

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  1. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #1 Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020
    Hi there, I'm not a very active member as I've been unable to brew for a few years now, but I'm dusting off the gear and getting right back into it! I'm brewing my favourite, an american style IPA but as I'm fairly new to all grain I'm a bit confused as to what I add when regarding salts and acids.
    So.. I'm using Tesco Ashbeck bottled water.
    It's profile is:
    pH: 6.2
    Calcium (Ca): 10
    Magnesium (Mg): 2.5
    Sodium (Na): 9
    Sulfate (SO4): 10
    Chloride (Cl): 12
    Bicarbonate (HCO3): 10
    (per mg/l)

    I've used the website to see what I need to make a nice bitter DIPA, which can be found here:

    https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/?id=D6QXXMB

    https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/edit/205561

    I've followed recommendations on adding salts and AMS/CRS acid, and I'm guessing it's been calculated on my total 60 litres (15.8 us gallons) of water? Or do I add all these to just my mash? I'm not sure how i's been calculated but I'm trying for a mash PH of 5.4. Thanks for any help, and feel free to look over my recipe and make any suggestions you feel might be needed. Thank you kindly, Ollie.
     
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  2. Craigerrr

    Craigerrr Well-Known Member

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    #2 Craigerrr, Mar 30, 2020
    You can just treat your mash water, the mash pH during the mash is what is important. I see no reason to treat that bottled water for sparging. Others may comment that it wouldn't hurt to add a bit of lactic to the sparge water.

    Glad you have decided to get back into the hobby, this making beer thing is still pretty new to me (2 years now).
    I love it, and I am astonished at how much I have learned. The folks here on BF are top shelf, friendly, and always helpful!

    Cheers,
    Craigerrr
     
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  3. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #3 Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020
    Ok cheers Craig. When's the best time to check mash PH? I'm guessing it's best done near the begining so additions can be made while there's still time for the mash to convert? How long does a mash need to sit before getting the PH of it? Thanks!
     
  4. Nosybear

    Nosybear Well-Known Member

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    #4 Nosybear, Mar 30, 2020
    Because it's bottled, I'm assuming no chlorine or chloramine so no need to dechlorinate. For any beer, you need about 50 ppm or more of calcium. Since it's a DIPA and you are going to bitter the fool out of it, I'd add it as calcium chloride. For my taste, hoppy beers tend to benefit from a higher finished pH than lighter beers (more basic) so some bicarbonate, about 100 ppm, is probably good for it. You might add some sulfate if you want dryer beer. It really is such a matter of preference it's hard to give you an absolute answer. Look for a DIPA recipe that gives a water profile, then try that out as a starting point.
     
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  5. Craigerrr

    Craigerrr Well-Known Member

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    #5 Craigerrr, Mar 30, 2020
    Good advice from Nosy
    Personally, I have come to trust the pH prediction from the recipe editor, and have been very pleased with my results.
    Give it 15 minutes for the grains have fully incorporated with the mash water, give it another stir, and take a sample.
    You then need to cool the sample, so a bowl of ice water on hand would be good.
    Having done this a number of times myself, and finding that I was just confirming what was expected, I dropped this routine from my brew day.
     
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  6. BarbarianBrewer

    BarbarianBrewer Well-Known Member

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    #6 BarbarianBrewer, Mar 30, 2020
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  7. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #7 Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020
  8. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #8 Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020
    Also.. Ignore the DIPA bit and that it says I'm using hard tap water!
     
  9. Hawkbox

    Hawkbox Well-Known Member

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    #9 Hawkbox, Mar 30, 2020
    You need to select share in the recipe drop down at the top and get the link there. But I wouldn't stress to hard, mix in the salts during the mash and let er buck.
     
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  10. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #10 Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020

    Try this..

    HOME BREW RECIPE:
    Title: AIPA (AG)
    Author: Hop fiend

    Brew Method: All Grain
    Style Name: American IPA
    Boil Time: 80 min
    Batch Size: 48 liters (ending kettle volume)
    Boil Size: 48 liters
    Boil Gravity: 1.061
    Efficiency: 75% (ending kettle)

    Hop Utilization Multiplier: 1

    STATS:
    Original Gravity: 1.061
    Final Gravity: 1.013
    ABV (standard): 6.24%
    IBU (tinseth): 90.69
    SRM (morey): 5.18
    Mash pH: 5.47

    FERMENTABLES:
    10 kg - Golden Promise (80%)
    500 g - Carapils Malt (4%)
    2 kg - Pale Ale (16%)

    HOPS:
    100 g - Columbus, Type: Pellet, AA: 15.4, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 56.85
    50 g - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 18.91
    50 g - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 11.1, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 0.39
    50 g - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 11.1, Use: Whirlpool for 30 min at 92 °C, IBU: 4.63
    40 g - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Whirlpool for 30 min at 92 °C, IBU: 3.67
    50 g - Columbus, Type: Pellet, AA: 15, Use: Whirlpool for 30 min at 92 °C, IBU: 6.25
    50 g - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days
    60 g - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days

    MASH GUIDELINES:
    1) Strike, Temp: 66 C, Time: 80 min, Amount: 30 L
    2) Sparge, Temp: 75 C, Time: 30 min, Amount: 33 L, Batch sparge
    Starting Mash Thickness: 2 L/kg

    OTHER INGREDIENTS:
    3 g - Calcium Chloride (dihydrate), Time: 60 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash
    4 g - Epsom Salt, Time: 60 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash
    15 g - Gypsum, Time: 60 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash
    26.48 ml - CRS/AMS (6.3% HCl, 8.6% H2SO4), Time: 60 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash

    YEAST:
    White Labs - California Ale Yeast WLP001
    Starter: Yes
    Form: Liquid
    Attenuation (avg): 76.5%
    Flocculation: Medium
    Optimum Temp: 20 - 22.78 C
    Fermentation Temp: 22 C
    Pitch Rate: 1.0 (M cells / ml / deg P)

    PRIMING:
    CO2 Level: 2.25 Volumes

    TARGET WATER PROFILE:
    Profile Name: Light colored and hoppy
    Ca2: 75
    Mg2: 5
    Na: 10
    Cl: 50
    SO4: 150
    HCO3: 0
    W
     
  11. Hawkbox

    Hawkbox Well-Known Member

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    #11 Hawkbox, Mar 30, 2020
    That works but this is what you want to do to share.
    upload_2020-3-30_13-13-0.png
     
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  12. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #12 Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020

    Thanks fella but that doesn't come up as an option- maybe because I'm a trial member? Have you ever tried citra and chinook together as a DH?
     
  13. Hawkbox

    Hawkbox Well-Known Member

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    #13 Hawkbox, Mar 30, 2020
    Oh maybe. I don't have much experience using chinook in general. I normally only use Columbus for bittering too so no idea how that will turn out.
    It's gonna be strong as hell hop wise, however it turns out.
     
  14. Craigerrr

    Craigerrr Well-Known Member

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    #14 Craigerrr, Mar 30, 2020
    I wouldn't necessarily agree with you on that Hawk, 12g batch, 16oz hops. I am enjoying this one right now, 18.5oz 10 gallon batch.
    My next brew is a hazy session, 26oz, but 25oz are either whirlpool, or dry additions:eek:
     
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  15. Craigerrr

    Craigerrr Well-Known Member

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    #15 Craigerrr, Mar 30, 2020
    I might suggest that you can get your 56.85 IBU's with a smaller bittering addition at 60 minutes.
    Hops are spendy man!!!
    Heck, even go with a first wort addition.

    Unless you have a real good control of mash temp, you may want to bump that up a degree or two, or not.
     
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  16. Hawkbox

    Hawkbox Well-Known Member

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    #16 Hawkbox, Mar 30, 2020
    You used AA > 10% hops for everything in the brew and it wasn't strong as hell?
     
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  17. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #17 Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020
    Yeah I hope so! I made a clone of Russian River Hopfather from Dogfish head's book and that's very Columbus dominated and it blew me, and a brewer I know away! I can say that because it wasn't my recipe! And it was made with DME and steeped crystal malt.
     
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  18. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #18 Hop fiend, Mar 30, 2020
    TBH it was originally a DIPA recipe but I've decided to make it more quaffable! Perhaps I should back off the IBU's a bit and use some cascade. I've got no end of various hops..
     
  19. Craigerrr

    Craigerrr Well-Known Member

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    #19 Craigerrr, Mar 30, 2020
    This is the recipe I am referring to that I am enjoying right now, embarrassed to say that I don't really know what my hop utilization percentage is, or should be.
    https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/650670/cit-ruby-cit
    I would say that the bitterness may be higher than the recipe suggests, but as we all know that is also a very subjective thing.

    Sorry if we are hijacking, but hopefully our convo is helpful there Hop Fiend!
     
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  20. Hop fiend

    Hop fiend Member

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    #20 Hop fiend, Mar 31, 2020
    Yes definitely helpful thanks! Your brew looks tasty- similar hops to mine. Funny I've got simcoe and was wondering if I should add them to the mix. I thought maybe too piney for the golden promise malt?
     
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