Does anyone modify their water profile for extract brewing? So far all my beers but one has had a very subtle but familiar flavor. The bitterness is rather subdued as well (with an estimated sulfate of around mid 20’s thats expected). Just wondering if I would benefit from adding some gypsum or other additives to my water even if all I’m doing is brewing extract brews.
If so, anyone have any direction on how to use the information in BrunWater to apply it to extract? Since these would technically only be flavor additives and not involved in the mashing process I assume things would be a little different.
[quote=“mattnaik”]Does anyone modify their water profile for extract brewing? So far all my beers but one has had a very subtle but familiar flavor. The bitterness is rather subdued as well (with an estimated sulfate of around mid 20’s thats expected). Just wondering if I would benefit from adding some gypsum or other additives to my water even if all I’m doing is brewing extract brews.
If so, anyone have any direction on how to use the information in BrunWater to apply it to extract? Since these would technically only be flavor additives and not involved in the mashing process I assume things would be a little different.[/quote]
You need to do very little with water for extract. In fact, RO or distilled water works great for extract. All the minerals you need are incorporated when the extract is made. You may want to add a bit of gypsum to the kettle for IPA/APA kinda things, but that’s about it. If you steep grains, make sure to not use too much water or it could effect your pH. To be safe, use about 1.5-2 qt. of water per lb. for steeping.
This is also interesting. I just did some reading on this and was not aware that steeping in too much water will result in tannin extraction from steeping grains. One more reason to start working toward all-grain cause that sounds like a pain in the butt for full boils in the garage.
This is also interesting. I just did some reading on this and was not aware that steeping in too much water will result in tannin extraction from steeping grains. One more reason to start working toward all-grain cause that sounds like a pain in the butt for full boils in the garage.[/quote]
its not a pain just steep in the water then go to full boil, steep on the stove top and heat other water up while you are steeping
Don’t mean to sound exactly like Denny, but he’s right… here’s my writeup:
Distilled/RO water is best for extract brewing. Otherwise your beers will have double the salts as you might want. For a pale ale or IPA, you can add salts. For most anything else, distilled/RO water is best.
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]Don’t mean to sound exactly like Denny, but he’s right… here’s my writeup:
Distilled/RO water is best for extract brewing. Otherwise your beers will have double the salts as you might want. For a pale ale or IPA, you can add salts. For most anything else, distilled/RO water is best.[/quote]
