Water profiles/salts for IPA

[EsterBanana]

Should be fine!

What do you use for heating while fermenting? I always unplug my heater at the same time as I 'dry' hop. I find this makes a subtle but noticeable difference and keeps more of the hop character, could be worth a try?

 

[Blinky]

Ive a large fridge that is temp controller with a little heater. Ive also added a thermowell to the FV to make sure the temp is stable and dry hop at 20 degrees for 3 days. I just have no idea what changed about 2 or 3 years ago when I could make a good beer till now! Could it be the no rinse StarSan? Thats the only other thing that changed, prior to that I used to just clean and rinse with VWP - but everyone says thats fine. I replaced the FV's, cleaned the bottles and sanitised, harvested the CO2 to minimise oxygen as well as oxygen scavenging caps. I guess what I need is somebody to brew with me and bottle with me to see if they can see what Im doing wrong! Anybody near Edinburgh on here

 

[thepatchworkdoll]

Hi Blinky
Im in Linlithgow which is near Edinburgh about 18 miles away.
Regards
Patch

 

[EsterBanana]

The only thing I can suggest is dropping your temp while you dry hop, it's a bit of a long shot, the temperature in my kitchen is typically around 14°C.

It also sounds like you are doing more than I do, I wonder if it is too much, maybe stop worrying and learn to love the random unpredictability?

Don't forget beer was used as a way to make water drinkable,I imagine the processes were horrendous compared to what we have now, I think many styles of beer can take quite a lot of abuse, it perhaps even secretly likes a little rough handling, being too nice to it could possibly have a detrimental effect, you know what I mean? ☺

I have nothing to add re. the starsan. I use Sodium Percarbonate to sanitise, that's it.

I am all out of ideas, and at the extent of my knowledge and experience, so I will just wish you good luck

 

[Blinky]

No probs, thanks for the ideas/chat - after a google Im wondering if the bottling wand is introducing oxygen whilst Im bottling. I seem to remember I just used a length of tubing before and the tap on the FV to drain into bottles. Might try that again?

 

[Blinky]

Hi Blinky
Im in Linlithgow which is near Edinburgh about 18 miles away.
Regards
Patch

Im gonna try a small batch in my grainfather next time, sparge at 74 rather than 78 and not use the bottling wand either in case thats somehow dragging in air. If that all still fails, I might drop you a PM and see if we can somehow arrange to meet up for a brew day and at bottling time....

 

[thepatchworkdoll]

Hi Blinky that would be fine. Keep me posted.
Regards
Patch

 

[foxy]

What about these then?
https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/fermenter-king-gen-3-starter-kit?contact_posted=true#contact_formWould that let me dry hop and serve from my fermenting fridge right from the fermenter?
I dont have kegs or anything and to be honest and very reticent to expand until I can make a hoppy beer which is what I really enjoy drinking!

Yes it would work, but you will need two of them. The Snub nose or the Apollo would be the better option. If you can drink a batch fairly quickly then you can get away with one but you don't want your beer sitting on the yeast for too long. Try to approach brewing using the KISS method, trying to over complicate a process leads to headaches. I have said on more than one occasion throwing out a question to a forum will lead to varied answers making it more confusing.
Read Gordon Strong's book Making Better Beer, he uses RO water depending on the grain bill his salt additions are usually pretty much the same. No matter what he is making. What doesn't need to go into the mash stays out i.e the none fermentables. A couple of reasons, they can mess with the projected ABV and fermentation. Do a mash out and add the none fermentables or steep the none fermentable grains before hand.
Bottle tops scavenging oxygen? If there was such a thing the commercial brewers would be right on to it. The liners do scavenge hop aroma though, as does gelatin if you use it. The oxygen in the top of the bottle when filling wont be taken up by the yeast, they may use a very small amount but the yeast is in an anaerobic stage, so doesn't need oxygen. There is no need to add sugar with hops, hops themselves contain fermentable sugars, that is what plants do, they make sugar. For me, I dry hop just before cold crash, by the time that my beer is down to -1C the dry hopping is just about finished. So do some reading, listen to podcasts, until it makes sense, believe nothing question everything.

I had a drink out of this fermenter, 'Apollo' (the tap is on the top) it was a West Coast IPA, had been sat on the yeast too long could definitely taste the yeast and wasn't a good drink.

 

[EsterBanana]

Erm... Apollo? We clearly live in different financial worlds!!

https://flextank.com/products/Egg-Tanks-c43978314/
Other than that I like your post, you are challenging things I have read elsewhere! Always curious!

 

[foxy]

Apollo's you haven't got there yet, Snub Nose you have. Depends where you have been reading elsewhere, there are a lot who digest what Brulosphy has to say instead of listening to master brewers or biochemists.
Apollos

 

[EsterBanana]

Apollo's you haven't got there yet, Snub Nose you have. Depends where you have been reading elsewhere, there are a lot who digest what Brulosphy has to say instead of listening to master brewers or biochemists.
Apollos
View attachment 57878

Ahhh different Apollos! And for sure, how else is a newbie expected to navigate the dark inky waters of brewing science? I am all ears!

 

[allotment_fox]

I clean the bottles in VWP then rinse with water, then sanitise with no rinse sanitizer and leave them on a bottle rack to drip whilst I prepare the sugar for carbonating

my bottling is the same without any issues but i do let the no rinse bubbles drain to try and keep oxygen away from the beer at all cost

 

[private4587]

Since using the BOEL iTap i haven't had any problems with my bottled beer and oxygen

 

[531Man]

Regarding,
Water authority quality and ion / salts, contents:
My water authority South East Water, sent me their most recent spreadsheet (Jan to Jun '21).
Crucially neither Magnesium nor Calcium were on it, when they were on last year's.
After contacting them back, they sent them with this rider comment:

"
Included below is Calcium and Magnesium data for the East Ashford supply zone. These are now non-regulatory parameters and so are provided as a courtesy to customers upon request only.

"
So now you know - when requesting water quality reports from your local authority, be sure you specifically ask for Calcium and Magnesium as you need them for brewing purposes, or you may not get them!

 

[Theoriginalrich]

Ive a large fridge that is temp controller with a little heater. Ive also added a thermowell to the FV to make sure the temp is stable and dry hop at 20 degrees for 3 days. I just have no idea what changed about 2 or 3 years ago when I could make a good beer till now! Could it be the no rinse StarSan? Thats the only other thing that changed, prior to that I used to just clean and rinse with VWP - but everyone says thats fine. I replaced the FV's, cleaned the bottles and sanitised, harvested the CO2 to minimise oxygen as well as oxygen scavenging caps. I guess what I need is somebody to brew with me and bottle with me to see if they can see what Im doing wrong! Anybody near Edinburgh on here

Hi Blinky, I’m at Dalkeith. We both use Rosebery A. I was worried when I first started I read horror stories about water and used Ashbeck instead. But thankfully I was informed on here that our water was pretty good so started using tap water again. But having only boarded the AG train I’m still learning the ropes myself.

 

[Braufather]

These are the profiles for hoppy beers in Brewfather:

I find their water calculator amazing.

There is a massive difference in hco for hoppy light compared to both hoppy and neipa? Why’s that?

 

[Dorst]

There is a massive difference in hco for hoppy light compared to both hoppy and neipa? Why’s that?

Actually they answer this question in the information for the water profiles.

Hoppy:

Hoppy lite:

NEIPA:

 

[Braufather]

So hoppy is west coast then

Most of my beers are somewhere between them both. I like lots of juicy hop flavour but I like some bitterness to balance it. I don’t mind a bit of haze and often use oats but no a fan on that full on neipa soupiness. Not sure what hco I should be aiming for?

 

[GhostDoggyWoofWoof]

Ive a large fridge that is temp controller with a little heater. Ive also added a thermowell to the FV to make sure the temp is stable and dry hop at 20 degrees for 3 days. I just have no idea what changed about 2 or 3 years ago when I could make a good beer till now! Could it be the no rinse StarSan? Thats the only other thing that changed, prior to that I used to just clean and rinse with VWP - but everyone says thats fine. I replaced the FV's, cleaned the bottles and sanitised, harvested the CO2 to minimise oxygen as well as oxygen scavenging caps. I guess what I need is somebody to brew with me and bottle with me to see if they can see what Im doing wrong! Anybody near Edinburgh on here

I'm in Edinburgh but I'd be no help at all