D.W.B vs Burton Water Cystals

[Litmus]

Hi All,

so, I have been using D.W.B for a while now to provide the right quantities of Calcium and thus the correct PH in both the mash and pre-boil.

What I'm not clear on is when and if I should use Burton Water crystal. I'm not sure how much overlap there is in these products thus a better together or never the twain should met is the right approach.

I found this data sheet for D.W.B
http://www.murphyandson.co.uk/Datasheets/DWB.pdf

But, I cant find one for the Burton Water Crystals.

I have reached out to M&S for some guidance, but I thought I would ask you clever chaps too!


(AMS data sheet in case anyone is interested http://www.murphyandson.co.uk/Datasheets/AMS.pdf)

 

[Litmus]

More information:

9g of DWB per hl of your brew - length increases calcium levels by 15.6 mg/litre (ppm) and increases chloride levels by 15.4 mg/litre (ppm) and sulphate levels by 32.1 mg/litre (ppm).

So, DWB effects calcium, chloride & sulfate

Burton Water Crystals a blend of calcium sulphate and magnesium sulphate

 

[Litmus]

OK, so I'm not a crazy person and I have been doing a little more reading,

I found my water report here http://www.southeastwater.co.uk/your-water/water-quality/water-hardness-and-quality-check

and I plugged the detail into this brewing tool https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/

And it looks like with addition of CRS and Burton Water Crystals (4 Grams) I should have good water profile for light hoppy Ales.

In this case CRS seems to make the biggest impact due to the hard water here.

 

[trueblue]

Personally I am skeptical about these "one size fits all" salts. The only way to know what your water needs is to get a proper test. A water board report will be very generic, taken over a period of time over a wide area and may not represent what is coming out of your tap. For £25 get a test from Phoenix analytical http://www.phoenix-analytical.co.uk/. Then with the information and a decent calculator you can add the exact amounts of the correct salts, normally gypsum and/or calcium chloride, along with the acid/AMS you need for the style of beer you brew. I have no confidence in Murphy's product descriptions. I have bought sulphuric acid from them and on the advise of other brewers did my own test to work out the strength and it was not as they claimed. If I had used their data it would have had an adverse effect on my beer. Would not trust them to assess my piss.

 

[dan125]

OK, so I'm not a crazy person and I have been doing a little more reading,

I found my water report here http://www.southeastwater.co.uk/your-water/water-quality/water-hardness-and-quality-check

and I plugged the detail into this brewing tool https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/

And it looks like with addition of CRS and Burton Water Crystals (4 Grams) I should have good water profile for light hoppy Ales.

In this case CRS seems to make the biggest impact due to the hard water here.

Not sure this is a good profile for a light hoppy beer as I think your alkalinity is too high (unless I'm getting confused with residual alkalinity again) and usually you'd have more sulphate than chloride in a beer like this.
See @strange-steve 's excellent posts about water treatment -
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64822
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=71451

 

[Litmus]

Not sure this is a good profile for a light hoppy beer as I think your alkalinity is too high (unless I'm getting confused with residual alkalinity again) and usually you'd have more sulphate than chloride in a beer like this.
See @strange-steve 's excellent posts about water treatment -
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64822
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=71451

Based on Steve thread which is great BTW, I would agree we are looking a residual alkalinity and for a pale ale he recommends 20 ppm, so at 19 ppm I'm pretty close. From my reading sulphate is key to hoppy notes popping out so increasing this might be ultimately the way I will go.

I think I'm starting to feel the same as trueblue a good water report I can rely on (well, lets say a better average) is a must and bundled salts are just adding more unknowns not removing them which is what we are try to do by tweaking our water.

I think I'm going to hit up a few brew and just get the residual alkalinity into band for the brew type and see what they taste like. Lets call it my control group haha! (aka just and excuse to drink beer)

 

[strange-steve]

The recommended alkalinity values in my water treatment thread are for the actual values of the water, not residual alkalinity, so as dan125 says you are still too high. And I agree with trueblue, get some gypsum and calcium chloride for better control of your water.