Water chemistry - how much to add and when???

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I'm relatively new at homebrewing. After my first batch of IPA tasted overly heavy and malty (although delicious, otherwise), I figure paying attention to water chemistry would be wise. I am going to brew the same IPA with improvements, most notably adding salts to the water. Instead of using just local tap water, I will use RO water with necessary salts added. The salts part, though, is where most of my questions are. Below I'll explain.

I will be brewing / fermenting / bottling a total volume of 4.5 gal. I am using BeerSmith 3, steeping 1 gal, and boiling 3 gal. The 1.5 gal balance will be made up in the fermentor. Mind you, this is with 9 lb of Pilsner LME. With RO water, my aim is to bring the water chemistry to the following for my IPA:
  • Ca - 75
  • Mg - 5
  • SO4 - 150
  • Na - 10
  • Cl - 50
  • HCO3 - 0
The additions necessary for close-enough values at 4.5 gal are (https://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/):
  • Gypsum (CaSO4) - 4.2 g
  • Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) - 1.1 g
  • Epsom Salt (MgSO4) - 0.55 g
  • Canning Salt (NaCl) - 0.5 g

  • Ca - 75
  • Mg - 3
  • SO4 - 150
  • Na - 12
  • Cl - 49
  • HCO3 - 0
However, in BeerSmith and other calculators, I'm being given variations of the following:
  • Gypsum (CaSO4) - 2.8 g
  • Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) - 0.85 g
  • Epsom Salt (MgSO4) - 0.55 g
  • Canning Salt (NaCl) - 0.29 g

  • Ca - 40.5
  • Mg - 2.5
  • SO4 - 81.5
  • Na - 5.3
  • Cl - 27.2
  • HCO3 - 0
I don't understand why the differences are so large. If it's a pH issue with the boiling, why can't I find this stated anywhere? Should I add the entire amounts during the mash? During the boil? Should I add just the lower BeerSmith amounts during the boil and the remaining amounts later to the fermentor? Should I use ONLY the BeerSmith amounts?

I would like to make v2 of my IPA much better and work with water chemistry that is as spot-on as possible. Can anyone help me make sense of this? Thanks.
 
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Add all salts during mash. As for different softwares I’m not a computer guy or a chemist. I do like the results using the BF calculator. I’ve never used BeerSmith.
 
Welcome to the forum you will get much more detailed answers.

New to brewing, add all salts to mash following the calculator. You probably only need gypsum and calcium chloride. Epsom salt is good too but use the other two for now.
 
The "overly heavy and malty" part could be your extract and your final gravity as a result of your extract. I assume extract because of the "steeping". Get your recipe right first. If you want to make life easy until you learn a few tricks, buy bottled spring water and use it with no modifications... Not drinking water, not RO, not tap water, or whatever the hell else water...Spring Water.
I should be modifying my water, but I'm lazy, and in Florida, Publix Spring Water makes solid beer.
I did my first four batches with extract. They weren't horrible, but as soon as I went BIAB all grain, they were much, much better. There are some contributors on here that did have some luck with extract. I'm not one of them.
I guess I was right. I missed the LME at the bottom.
I use BeerSmith, but I have never played with the water on it for the reasons above. It does a great job for all grain once your efficiency is dialed in. The extracts are kind of all over the place with software numbers, but I noticed the same with the Brewers Friend calculators too. I used to compare the two of them on the same recipe. The numbers were usually close. If they weren't, I normally screwed something up, or I was using something flaked that doesn't convert well with my setup.
 
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If you are doing extract, I missed that then usually you don’t add any brewing salts. They’ve already done the mash for you. Use RO or Spring. If you use spring check to make its not one that has a lot of minerals.
 
One other thing... for your steeping grains on the stovetop, use the strike water theory. In other words, get your water up to a strike water temperature (both software programs have good calculators). Once there cut off the heat, and steep grains.
 
As long as you are doing "extract" brewing you really don't need to consider adding any salts. Although you could a add some gypsum for an IPA. This will help accentuate the hops. I wouldn't add any more than 2 or 3 grams though.
The bigger thing with water is chlorine.
Make sure that if you are using municipal tap water that you use a campden tablet to eliminate chlorine or chloromine. Or as suggested purchase water.

When you are adding your LME make sure that you turn off the heat when you add it, and keep it off until it is fully dissolved in the water.
 
If you post the whole recipe we may be able to help with the overly malty issue. If you're using extract then it's likely not a water chemistry issue. As others have said, the malt extract already has brewing salts added during the mashing process
 
Master slacker said:
After my first batch of IPA tasted overly heavy and malty (although delicious, otherwise), I figure paying attention to water chemistry would be wise.
Click to expand...
Water chemistry will have little effect on the finish of the beer. Malt extract is often hard to get to attenuate, but it can be helped with yeast and proper nutrient. Water salts can help a little, but it is often exaggerated.

I recently made a pale ale with amber DME, no steeping grains and no brewing salts all RO water. I added 1/4 teaspoon of lactic acid (4 gallon batch) to get the pitch pH to 5.1. I choose a dryer yeast to keep the sweetness and malt down. I used 34/70 lager yeast at 68F. The beer was surprisingly good and although the malt was strong, it wasn't out of line.

The other thing that is often neglected by most brewers is yeast nutrient. Add it to the fermenter and not the boil (it gets trapped in the trub during the boil and it's unavailable to the yeast). The yeast needs zinc to completely attenuate the beer. Wyeast makes a good one and Morebeer sells Servomyces. Both can be added to the fermenter after boiling them in a cup of RO water.

Here's the recipe. I brewed it to show my son how to make a fast and easy beer without a lot work or planning. It's so good, I entered it in an upcoming homebrew competition. I named it "Nicholas's Pale Ale or I Thought You Said Extract Sucks!" I hope it wins, just because I want to hear that name announced.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1593393/nicholas-pale-ale
 
Don't go down the water chemistry rabbit hole until you have to. Unless you have nasty water to brew with, water chemistry is going to make only very subtle differences in the final product. Extract beers are unlikely to be improved dramatically in any case.
Getting the sulfides and chlorides balanced to suit by using gypsum and CaCl will help you get the flavor of the beer in line with style (hoppy vs malty). Adjusting pH is more important for mashing but can have an impact on final beer flavor.
The quality of extract brews comes down to sanitation, ingredients, fermentation temp and attenuation. If you have issues with final product, look to those things first.
 
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