I am trying to get my mash down to 5.4, but the gypsum additions bring my sulfate up to 291ppm. I’m assuming that is ok, as it is less than 350 but is there another way (other than using distilled)? All my other numbers are good.
you can use acid
Yup, it definitely needs a hit of acid. A little bit of 88% lactic goes a long way.
Agree re the acid. Sulfate level could be ok. Depends what the beer is. Your calcium is getting up there with those adjustments. Depending again on recipe and yeast that could be a risk for premature flocculation.
Side issue, did my regular Oatmeal Stout and kegged 5 gal, bottled 5 gal. The bottles will not carbonate at all. If my calcium was up around 170ppm, could this be the cause?
This is what I get for screwing around with my water. 16 years, no water adjustments, no issues. grrrrrrrrr.
Ok it’s a Sculpin recipe. 13 oz of hops (6 oz in kettle). My limited understanding here is that some sulfates are desirable in hoppy beers to accentuate the hop’s bitterness, flavor, and aroma. How does this look? Is 120 enough now? I was planning on leaving my sparge water alone…
My last two IPAs I pushed the sulfate to 250ppm and 300ppm. I thought they were my best attempts to date. Check out the “pale ale” profile, it’s what I’ve been using for hop bombs. With 13-oz of hops, it sounds like this is what you’re going for!
I pushed the sulfate as high as I could with Epsom salts first, to keep the calcium as low as I could, but limited it to 30ppm magnesium. Then I made up the difference with gypsum.
Not saying this is the best way to do it, but I was happy with the results. I didn’t think that 300ppm sulfate was too much.
My inner 8-year old snickered at this. :lol:
[quote=“porkchop”]My last two IPAs I pushed the sulfate to 250ppm and 300ppm. I thought they were my best attempts to date. Check out the “pale ale” profile, it’s what I’ve been using for hop bombs. With 13-oz of hops, it sounds like this is what you’re going for!
I pushed the sulfate as high as I could with Epsom salts first, to keep the calcium as low as I could, but limited it to 30ppm magnesium. Then I made up the difference with gypsum.
Not saying this is the best way to do it, but I was happy with the results. I didn’t think that 300ppm sulfate was too much.[/quote]
+1 to the pale ale profile. that’s what I use too Sulfates 250-300. Really make the hops pop out!
Your existing water profile is nearly identical to mine. I wonder why? 
I say leave it as is. Acidify sparge to 5.4 and add “sparge” salts to kettle. That’s my MO for hoppy beers. :cheers:
Side issue, did my regular Oatmeal Stout and kegged 5 gal, bottled 5 gal. The bottles will not carbonate at all. If my calcium was up around 170ppm, could this be the cause?
This is what I get for screwing around with my water. 16 years, no water adjustments, no issues. grrrrrrrrr.[/quote]
Nope, not due to the Ca any way that I can figure out.
Side issue, did my regular Oatmeal Stout and kegged 5 gal, bottled 5 gal. The bottles will not carbonate at all. If my calcium was up around 170ppm, could this be the cause?
This is what I get for screwing around with my water. 16 years, no water adjustments, no issues. grrrrrrrrr.[/quote]
It is possible that the yeast you used is sensitive to the amount of calcium in the water. Calcium does enhance the flocculation of yeast. That does mean its great for clarity, but may be bad for keeping the yeast in suspension long enough to carbonate in the bottle.
PS: There is an extensive article in Zymurgy on this subject.
So with today’s recipe, I have 10.5 gal of strike water and 8-ish of sparge water. I have my strike water dialed in as below, but the program is also wanting me to add gypsum and salt to the sparge. Is this correct? I would think that just the acid addition to lower the PH is all that’s necessary, and the last thing I want to do is increase my Calcium too far.
