What S/C Ratio's have you brewed with??

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Hoddy

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I'm playing around with a few recipes i am formulating with water and malt/hops in mind and it got me thinking.....

What is the highest S/C ratio people have purposely brewed with?

For example i have been playing around with a recipe in Beersmith and i thought i would see what the water tool would spit out as a suggest "light & hoppy" water profile to match a recipe.

And surprisingly it bang on calculated a water addition list to hit the profile. But it did it with resultant S/C ratio of 3.0..........

Is this bad or good? Has anyone here explored how the ratio balances with IBU's and perceived (water profile) bitterness???
 

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Okay, go on, tell me what an "S/C" ratio is. :wave:

If it's anything to do with water mine is whatever Anglian Water send through my tap ...

... and after the reports about "micro plastics" in bottled water I'm glad that I didn't buy into the trend of using it! :thumb:
 
Great idea for a thread Hoddy.
i haven't really experimented with a particular style, other than gradually reducing my ratio in NEIPA style brews to 0.5
For most APAs/AIPAs I tend to go between 2.0 & 3.0, but went as high as 3.6 in my Chevallier brew and a recent American amber. I might try pushing this up to 4.0-5.0 in a AIPA recipe I've got formulating
 
2:1 in favour of sulphate for standard American styles, but I’m interested to push this a bit next time I do one.

I’ve done 4:1 chloride for my most recent NEIPA, to try and really push it. I found the mouthfeel was right where I wanted it to begin with, but as the hop flavour has faded due to oxidation, so the mouthfeel has ‘West coasted’ somewhat. So I suspect these two things are linked, but I don’t know what is going on at the molecular level to cause that.
 
Might also be worth noting that having tried reducing the total mineral load recently - aiming for Calcium at 50-60ppm, and adjusting the amount of gypsum or calc choride added to reach the desired s/c ratio, I found the beers a little bland so have been aiming for 100ppm calcium, and a higher total to achieve the ratio of late.
 
Might also be worth noting that having tried reducing the total mineral load recently - aiming for Calcium at 50-60ppm, and adjusting the amount of gypsum or calc choride added to reach the desired s/c ratio, I found the beers a little bland so have been aiming for 100ppm calcium, and a higher total to achieve the ratio of late.

That’s the interesting thing that I wanted to see what people did and thought on this subject.

Allot of us have become really interested in getting the right mineral additions to add extra flavour stability to our beers. But what s/c ratio people are using (and mineral levels) and also how that relates to SG/IBU (bitterness ratio) also interests me.

I.e have people been adjusting the recipe IBU to account for a 3 s/c ratio?


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2:1 in favour of sulphate for standard American styles, but I’m interested to push this a bit next time I do one.

I’ve done 4:1 chloride for my most recent NEIPA, to try and really push it. I found the mouthfeel was right where I wanted it to begin with, but as the hop flavour has faded due to oxidation, so the mouthfeel has ‘West coasted’ somewhat. So I suspect these two things are linked, but I don’t know what is going on at the molecular level to cause that.

If it makes you feel any better I am too battling with getting this NEIPA style right and combating the dreaded oxidisation.


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If it makes you feel any better I am too battling with getting this NEIPA style right and combating the dreaded oxidisation.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I’ve got a new approach, which is to always buy the same amount of hops for NEIPAs, and slowly reduce the volume of the batch. So I up the hopping rate and smash through it quicker!

I suppose the on topic point I was driving at was that in my experience the mouthfeel seems to change, so there’s interplay between the various things going on.
 
I often brew with no chloride at all. I don't use any for IPA's or most pale beers apart from the NEIPA (1/2)i have on the go and a just done a lager which is 50/50 but not tasted it yet. Going to experiment with changing the balance this year. As Dan said great idea for a thread Hoddy.
 
I often brew with no chloride at all. I don't use any for IPA's or most pale beers apart from the NEIPA (1/2)i have on the go and a just done a lager which is 50/50 but not tasted it yet. Going to experiment with changing the balance this year. As Dan said great idea for a thread Hoddy.

So have you been making any sulphate additions at all @Brewcat?

And what has the s/c ratios and beer IBU’S been? Anything of note?


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Part of the reason for this thread for me is I keep finding that the perceived bitterness seems to be quite high in relation to the target IBU’s.

I’ve always thought it’s extra bitterness from the whirpool but now I’m not so sure.


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That’s the interesting thing that I wanted to see what people did and thought on this subject.

Allot of us have become really interested in getting the right mineral additions to add extra flavour stability to our beers. But what s/c ratio people are using (and mineral levels) and also how that relates to SG/IBU (bitterness ratio) also interests me.

I.e have people been adjusting the recipe IBU to account for a 3 s/c ratio?

No, but I've not been adjusting for this, but do try to match the ratio to the style. Although in my NEAPA I wanted to try a few moe IBUs than would be normal for the style, but with the low ratio & associated mouthfeel of a NEIPA - I don't think it quite came off as you'll see when you try it.
 
So have you been making any sulphate additions at all @Brewcat?

And what has the s/c ratios and beer IBU’S been? Anything of note?


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For lagers and Kolsch i have been adding 0.2g of gypsum per litre and 0.4 for hoppy pale ale/IPA's with RO water. For latest NEIPA i went for 0.1g of gypsum and 0.2g of CC per litre. That's mash as well with no alkalinity adjustment. For Stouts i have followed Steve's advice in his original thread which has worked well.
 
I use whatever comes via the tap. Would love some spare time to give water treatment some proper research

Me too. Maybe in 15 years when the kids are up. Til then I'll stick with what comes out the tap.

Like so many other variables in brewing I'd be really interested to taste a "water treated" brew side by side with a "tap water" brew. All other variables equal.
 
Me too. Maybe in 15 years when the kids are up. Til then I'll stick with what comes out the tap.

Like so many other variables in brewing I'd be really interested to taste a "water treated" brew side by side with a "tap water" brew. All other variables equal.

I think that would be a great side by side taste test to do. Sounds like I need to set something up.


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I think that would be a great side by side taste test to do. Sounds like I need to set something up.
I guess it would depend on what your tap water is like to start with & the style of beer you make - I reckon I'd tell the difference if I made a very pale beer with my high alkalinity tap water.
 
I'm playing around with a few recipes i am formulating with water and malt/hops in mind and it got me thinking.....

What is the highest S/C ratio people have purposely brewed with?

For example i have been playing around with a recipe in Beersmith and i thought i would see what the water tool would spit out as a suggest "light & hoppy" water profile to match a recipe.

And surprisingly it bang on calculated a water addition list to hit the profile. But it did it with resultant S/C ratio of 3.0..........

Is this bad or good? Has anyone here explored how the ratio balances with IBU's and perceived (water profile) bitterness???

I wouldn't brew a 'light and hoppy' ale with that level of HCO3. A quick play with Bru'n'water and a pale beer of EBC 7 shows that I'd need to add 10ml of my 60% lactic acid to bring the mash pH down to my usual target of 5.3. I'd stick to dark beers with that water.
 

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