fortrossroad
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- Mar 18, 2018
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Hey all,
Been consistently getting a rather harsh bitterness to pretty much all of my all grain batches, regardless of recipe. The sort that isn't all too detectable with friends but is a huge deal to the brewer. It is the main thing separating my beers from decent to great and it is KILLING ME!
If you could help me troubleshoot this that would be amazing!!
Here is a sample WC IPA recipe:
Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.7 %
Bitterness: 65.5 IBUs
Est Color: 6.2 SRM
13 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 74.3 %
2 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 11.4 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.7 %
8.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.9 %
0.75 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 28.7 IBUs
2.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 6 17.5 IBUs
1.25 oz El Dorado [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 7 11.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 8 4.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 9 3.7 IBUs
1.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz El Dorado [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
RO Water report:
pH 5.9
TDS 14
Ca 1
Mg <1
Sodium 2
Chloride 1
Total Hardness 3
Total Alkalinity 3
Bicarbonate 4
I added 4mL Lactic, 4g CaSO4, and 3g CaCl to mash (keep in mind this is no-sparge).
Batch Volume (gal) 5.50 Hardness (ppm as CaCO3) 155 RA (ppm as CaCO3) -86
Estimated Mash pH 5.2 Alkalinity (ppm as CaCO3) -43 SO4/Cl Ratio 1.42
Finished water profile:
Ca - 60 Mg 1 Na 2 SO4 74 Cl 52 Bicarbonate -52
Mash pH 5.3.
Pre boil mash pH 5.4
Beer pH 4.6.
I have tried changing water sources, moved from fly sparge to no sparge, closely monitored ph, and still have this issue. I am literally going crazy and even looking at weird things suspiciously, such as my innocent plate chiller!
I brew on a single tier keggle setup with pumps and a plate chiller.
Ferment at 68 with healthy yeast. Cold crash and keg.
Please help with this, I would be greatly indebted.
For what it's worth, I am truly suspecting the salts and am tempted to do a batch with no salts at all. But how could this be? Tons of recipes call for much higher salt additions and I am using RO water.
Thanks in advance.
Been consistently getting a rather harsh bitterness to pretty much all of my all grain batches, regardless of recipe. The sort that isn't all too detectable with friends but is a huge deal to the brewer. It is the main thing separating my beers from decent to great and it is KILLING ME!
If you could help me troubleshoot this that would be amazing!!
Here is a sample WC IPA recipe:
Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.7 %
Bitterness: 65.5 IBUs
Est Color: 6.2 SRM
13 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 74.3 %
2 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 11.4 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.7 %
8.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.9 %
0.75 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 28.7 IBUs
2.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 6 17.5 IBUs
1.25 oz El Dorado [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 7 11.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 8 4.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 9 3.7 IBUs
1.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz El Dorado [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
RO Water report:
pH 5.9
TDS 14
Ca 1
Mg <1
Sodium 2
Chloride 1
Total Hardness 3
Total Alkalinity 3
Bicarbonate 4
I added 4mL Lactic, 4g CaSO4, and 3g CaCl to mash (keep in mind this is no-sparge).
Batch Volume (gal) 5.50 Hardness (ppm as CaCO3) 155 RA (ppm as CaCO3) -86
Estimated Mash pH 5.2 Alkalinity (ppm as CaCO3) -43 SO4/Cl Ratio 1.42
Finished water profile:
Ca - 60 Mg 1 Na 2 SO4 74 Cl 52 Bicarbonate -52
Mash pH 5.3.
Pre boil mash pH 5.4
Beer pH 4.6.
I have tried changing water sources, moved from fly sparge to no sparge, closely monitored ph, and still have this issue. I am literally going crazy and even looking at weird things suspiciously, such as my innocent plate chiller!
I brew on a single tier keggle setup with pumps and a plate chiller.
Ferment at 68 with healthy yeast. Cold crash and keg.
Please help with this, I would be greatly indebted.
For what it's worth, I am truly suspecting the salts and am tempted to do a batch with no salts at all. But how could this be? Tons of recipes call for much higher salt additions and I am using RO water.
Thanks in advance.