ive been brewing pale ales for a couple of years and still am relativly new to all grain brewing. however, ive made about 10 with my all grain setup and after comparing them i notice a similar quality to most of my beers. it is a slightly harsh, slightly unpleasant bitter taste at the finish. im sure it could be a number of flaws in some part of my brewing technique, although i feel very comfortable with my sanitation and temperature controlled fermentation.i wonder if i could be tasting some oxidation due to prolonged exposure during transfer to secondary and lots of head space in fermenters. the same is true during bottling. lots of open beer while priming.
so, lately after reading lots of 'how to brew' and listening to jamil and palmer on their radio show, im starting to become very interested in water. both of these pros have repeatedly said that you can make great beers with almost any kind of water. but it is the exceptional beers that have paid a lot of attention to water chemistry.palmer mentions something in HTB about too many minerals causing a harsh bitter flavor.
recently, i planned and prepared to make my first pilsner beer. i researched the basics and understand that the region of pilsen has very low mineral profile in the water. i read about benefits of using water like this when brewing this style of beer and also learned about the reasons why more alkaline and mineral rich waters dont mix well with the grain necessary for this style (i believe it had something to due with mash pH. too much minerals for such light malt. pH too high???). anyway, ive asked lots of other homebrewers and they all casually shrug the question off and say 'its not that big of a deal.'
when i play around with promash, using the distilled profile, i can never enter the correct measurments to come anywhere close to the desired water profile with out overshooting one water salt or coming up short on another.plus i dont have a scale.
anyway, i would love to learn more about this. let me know your thoughts on how to use water salts during the mash and sparge for the amount of speific malts being utilized.
thanks everyone!
Eric,
This may be too simple a suggestion, one that you're already aware of, but consider how you're filling your mash tun and hot liquor tank. Do you use a hose connected to a tap? If this is the case, I suggest making sure that the hose you use is one specifically made for potable water. These are sold in hardware stores for use with RVs and camping equipment, and are usually white in color. Makes a huge difference in the beer taste. Another thing to consider for your brewery is a water filter. I use a half-micron carbon filter for all the city water that goes into my beers. That will strip chlorine from the city water. When I make european lagers, I buy reverse osmosis (RO) water from the local water depot. Hope this helps.
hi rich. thanks for the response to my questions. ive been using the clear plastic hose available at the brew shop for my mash ton. i quess i would assume this is safe to use at those higher mash temps? maybe not. is the white RV hose from the hardware store a better bet?
when you mentioned using RO water for lighter lagers, do you add any water salts like gypsum or CaCl or Mg? from what i understand, RO water is void of any minerals. doesnt my mash need some minerals for starch conversions and what have you? will the pH be outta wack without some of these minerals?
wow! lots of questions. thanks for you help.
eric
When I brew European lagers with RO water, I don't usually add other chemicals. I count on the malts to provide the necessary minerals to maintain proper pH for the beer style. Mind you, I'm hardly the club expert here. I do use the Mash pH 5.2 that John sells in the shop so that I can assure that my mash hits the optimum pH. If you want to get further into water chemistry, you might try this freeware program: "BreWater 3.0" It will allow you to duplicate pretty much any water in the world of brewing using additions of specific additives.