BeerBorg

MadBrewer wrote:Dave Im just curious, but what area are you in? What is your water source you are using? Sounds like you are fine with your boil and cooling method, last thing to ask is do you do a iodine starch test at the end of the mash? Sometimes going longer 75 min mash won't hurt. Again, unconverted starches WILL create chill haze in your finished beer.

I live in the Hudson Valley area of New York State. I'm right on the NY/NJ border, in fact. I believe the water source is from the Ramapo and Catskill Mountain areas, which also provides NYC with some of their water.

I used to do iodine tests of my mash, but when I realized I was getting at least 75% conversion, based on the numbers I got from QBrew, I quit doing it. I typically do a 60-minute mash followed with two 15-minutes sparges.

Check out this very recent episode of Brew Strong on beer haze:
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/1047

Brewbirds wrote:

I haven't been checking in with the forum enough

You sure haven't and are sorely missed. Hope all is well.

Thank you Brewbirds, that's very kind of you. All is well, just been busy with some other things (I'm an aspiring musician now, at the tender age of 50)

Dave,

I just started playing with my water during my RCE with bucknut (if nothing else, that was a great outcome). The water spreadsheets are easy to manipulate - hell, even *I* can do it but I understand you don't want to go that route.

I've had some of your beers and we've been posting together for a couple of years now so I can confidently say that I see no issues with your processes. Your beers taste great.

If clarity is what you're after, I'll echo what I said in a thread a while back. Try gelatin, it's CRAZY easy and is a miracle worker.
The only drawback I found is that you have to adjust your hop additions (specifically dry hops) to offset the effect. Hop oils bind to yeast which gets pulled out of suspension when the gelatin drops it down.

But, that requires a cold crash and since you're not doing that right now I would suggest to start there. With your good biol, the use of Whirfloc/Irish Moss + a good cold break from the IC, the cold crash is the only other thing that I do to end up with clear beer. I used the gelatin for fun a couple of times but didn't feel like offsetting my recipes again to account for it's use so I stopped.

I will probably try the cold crash before anything else. I bottled the South Ferry on Sunday, and I'm telling you, it was crystal clear. Whether the temps in the upper 50s contributed to that, I don't know. I didn't actually cold crash it. I've got a 2.5 gallon job I'm bottling this weekend, if it reaches FG. I'm going to check on it tomorrow, and I may cold crash it for a couple of days, just to see what happens. The fridge is pretty empty, and I'm contemplating brewing a lager after I bottle, so I'll need to make temp adjustments anyway (it's down in the 30s from conditioning my Pearly Pils, but I can bring the rest upstairs).

So maybe I just need to change that aspect of my process and begin cold crashing if I want clearer beer. It's a start, anyway.

I've spent considerable time trying to wrap my head around water properties that are important to brewing our beer. What I've learned so far is really interesting and something that more advanced brewers will actually take the time to pay attention to. It seems the ideal mash pH to extract all the best flavor and sugars is between 5.2-5.6, what was more surprising to me is that ready to drink beer has a pH between 4.2-4.6, who knew.

Another eye opener for me was to learn that most if not all municipal water reports are only an average of the water's properties over the course of the year. Spring, summer, fall and winter water runoff water quality varies considerably during the year and even year after year. I've found that my current water supply is actually mixed with water from another municipality as peak demand rises and falls throughout the year.

The other big unknown is how your local water has been sanitized, was chloramine or chlorine used? Most municipal water supplies have long ago switched from chlorine to chloramine in order to meet stricter EPA regulations meant to reduce the production of disinfection byproducts. Why is this important to us brewers? Unlike chlorine that can be removed by boiling or leaving it out and uncovered overnight, chloromine doesn't dissipate as easily. Chloromine removal requires activated charcoal or RO filters, or adding 250mg of Campden tablet (potassium metabisulfite) to 10 gallons of strike water.

Distilled and RO water reliably measures a pH of 7.0, or dead center of the pH scale of 0-14. For my own sanity I prefer to start out with water that has consistent properties year round and make my pH adjustments from there. My plan to mash my next IPA using 10 gallons of strike water treated with 0.25 tsp. salt, 3.5 tsp. gypsum, and 1.0 tsp. of powdered chalk. The target water profile for this IPA batch is 50ppm salt, 350ppm gypsum and 100ppm of chalk, or as the chemists would say 50ppm sodium, 350ppm calcium sulfate and 100ppm calcium carbonate. Next stop a good dependable pH meter.

ScrewyBrewer wrote:Next stop a good dependable pH meter.

After going through way to many pH meters, I'd recommend this brand/company: Bluelab pH pen

Otherwise, I'd recommend the cheapest you can find for around $15 because they are going to break a lot.

A little bit too late but thanks for the recommendation, I already pulled the trigger on this one, "Hanna Instruments HI 98121 Combination pH/ORP/Temperature Tester". It's got a lot of nice features like a replaceable pH electrode. If all goes well I should have it in my hands by the beginning of next week. Still trying to locate a reliable source for the salts I plan on using, locally would be nice if not onto the web I go.

Hanna Instruments HI 98121

ScrewyBrewer wrote:It's got a lot of nice features like a replaceable pH electrode.

Sadly, the HM (brand) meter I had also had replaceable electrodes, but every source I could find for them cost nearly as much as buying a new unit. That Hanna brand you list is about the only one I haven't personally tried. I hope it serves you well. Be sure to keep it wet at all times and calibrate it once a month (or at least regularly).

Hi Screwy good to see you back aBorg.

Any reason why you two chose a meter instead of strips?

And to add to Screwy's post re: chloramines, your water company might add them and you won't be notified so you should ask. If you mash and the water has chloramines you end up with chloraphenols and undrinkable beer (the dreaded Bandaide taste).

After losing 3 batches of beer we started treating all brewing water with Campden tablets (1/2 tablet to 5 gallon jug) and pre-boil the treated water for all top up water (stored in 1.75L vodka bottles).

BB beat me to it. I have test strips from our pool I'd like to use. At this point, I just need a close figure, not exact. I'm leaving Friday to go way north, snowmobiling, drinking, etc. and plan on coming home with 10 gals of water. Top of the mountain, or at least top of a ridge, and can't think of any water that has ever tasted better. Full of minerals, I'm told from the locals, so I'll be using for a Stout.

that is all I use well-water

I have test strips from our pool I'd like to use.

Test strips come in different ranges, don't know what the pool strips are, but the brewing strips measure 4.6, 5.0, 5.4, 5.8, to 6.2 so they are called pH4662 and there was another set for wine and I think one for water as well.

The pool strips we use for the pool are a 5 in 1 test. And they are a bit difficult to read...match up the color on the strip to the "key" on the bottle... there's a lot of guessing going on. I may just pick up a bottle of beer strips at the LHBS when I get the Stout ingredients...

Like I eluded to, just doing out of curiousity...

Brewbirds wrote:Hi Screwy good to see you back aBorg.

Any reason why you two chose a meter instead of strips?

And to add to Screwy's post re: chloramines, your water company might add them and you won't be notified so you should ask. If you mash and the water has chloramines you end up with chloraphenols and undrinkable beer (the dreaded Bandaide taste).

After losing 3 batches of beer we started treating all brewing water with Campden tablets (1/2 tablet to 5 gallon jug) and pre-boil the treated water for all top up water (stored in 1.75L vodka bottles).

Why thank you BB, I'm glad to be back too. I'm looking to get pH readings within .05 accuracy in the 4.0 - 7.0 pH range. I think of it like buying a microscope but instead of seeing whats going on at the ion level it provides good information about several aspects of the water sampled. To me it's having fun with water while brewing beer, how can you beat that.