Messages

31

All Grain Brewing / Terra Alba, kinda like gypsum?

« on: May 24, 2012, 09:45:04 PM »

I have a buddy that works at Ballast Point who gave me about 1oz of Terra Alba (what they use to adjust water similar to gypsum) for changing the water chemistry of water in terms of Calcium and Sulfate. What he didnt include with this product was the amounts of ppm for calcium and sulfate per 1gram/1gallon. Can anyone help me with this?

32

All Grain Brewing / Re: Phosphoric Acid amounts?

« on: May 24, 2012, 05:21:20 PM »

Awesome thanks for the comments, definitely confident in using it now.

33

All Grain Brewing / Phosphoric Acid amounts?

« on: May 24, 2012, 02:25:32 PM »

What are the high and low limits of using phosphoric acid in your mash without damaging the recipe? I can't find anything regarding limits. Right now i have a recipe that i may require anywhere from 4mL to 7mL. Any inputs would be helpful or even resources that may inlighten me. Thanks

34

All Grain Brewing / Re: San Diego water for Pale Ale

« on: May 23, 2012, 06:00:17 PM »

I just picked up some Calcium Chloride from my local HBM. It is by BrewStarter and i notice that it says 1 teaspoon adjusts 1 gal of water 297ppm for Calcium and 531ppm for Chloride. I tried to find the input on Bru'n Water but don't know the ratios that are in the algorithms. Anyone know? Also it seems different then the ratios given by John Palmer, do different brands have different amounts/ratios? I really don't want to mess up my amounts

35

All Grain Brewing / Re: San Diego water for Pale Ale

« on: May 21, 2012, 12:04:54 PM »

i agree above with try it first! if it were me i would cut it with 50% distilled water and add some gypsum back in to get the sulfate level up to around 200 so you have a sulfate to chloride ratio of around 2 to 1

Just curious, but wouldn't this provide a more bitter characteristic to your beer? Also, it seems alot of brewers in San Diego carbon filter then put in gypsum to addd calcium as well as sulfate, but what is so wrong with chloride. John Palmer says its ok up to 200 or so ppm. By the way, I also really appreciate the feedback so far.

36

All Grain Brewing / Re: San Diego water for Pale Ale

« on: May 21, 2012, 09:41:09 AM »

I use John Palmers water sheet to do calculations, is this reliable?

37

All Grain Brewing / San Diego water for Pale Ale

« on: May 21, 2012, 08:07:28 AM »

Hi guys i am going to be brewing an American Pale Ale this weekend and want some comments/tips regarding the water profile im going to use. Im shooting for a balanced profile from this beer, not on the malty or the bitter side. Below is the breakdown of my water profile that il be using.

Calcium: 105
Magnesium: 12
Sodium: 45
Chloride: 173
Sulfate 150
Total Alkalinity: 60

It seemed to me that the chloride was a little high, but some people have told me it still falls within an accepted range and as long as it is relatively balanced with sulfate i should be good. Suggestions would be much appreciated, and also i am kind of new to water chemistry. Thanks

38

Kegging and Bottling / Re: New Carbonation Issues For Me

« on: May 14, 2012, 01:50:27 PM »

A couple last questions, is PBW alright to use with plastic? Also if say i wanted to reuse my bottles from that batch would you soak those in PBW also then sanitize, or would you recommend using completely different bottles?

39

Kegging and Bottling / Re: New Carbonation Issues For Me

« on: May 14, 2012, 12:52:04 PM »

Thanks i really appreciate it, so what would be the best approach to cleaning my equipment. All i have is star san and i would like to ensure that i clear off any infection from my equipement. By the wasy i use plastic buckets but i usually leave them with star san in them for a day before i use.

40

Kegging and Bottling / Re: New Carbonation Issues For Me

« on: May 14, 2012, 12:35:49 PM »

How can contamination have that much of an effect?

Wild yeasts/bacteria can ferment out more complex sugars than brewers strains can. It doesnt take much brettanomyces or whatever else to ferment out beer from 1.010 to 1.001. Thats quite a bit of co2 being generated in that little bottle.

But brett would put off specfic flavor i assume right? My beers don't have any off flavors besides being over carbonated.

41

Kegging and Bottling / Re: New Carbonation Issues For Me

« on: May 14, 2012, 11:29:58 AM »

Im definitely going to go ahead and disassemble the spigot and leave it soking in star san. But like i said above, im pretty sure its not over pitching priming sugar as i have never gone above 4oz of sugar for bottling.

42

Kegging and Bottling / Re: New Carbonation Issues For Me

« on: May 14, 2012, 09:09:30 AM »

I had the beer sit in primary for two weeks then secondary for another two weeks. I used white labs american ale blend for fermentation at 70 degrees. I used the low end of vol scale for carbonation with about 3.38oz of corn sugar for 4.5 gallons of brew. When you crack a bottle it looks normal then slowly bubbles start rising to the top quicker and quicker. Takes about a minute for the bottle to foam over. From the reply up there i have noT removed my spigot for deeper cleaning but i do make sure to continually flush it with star san.

43

Kegging and Bottling / New Carbonation Issues For Me

« on: May 13, 2012, 08:15:52 PM »

Hi guys this is my first post as an AHA member but i have been a homebrewer going on 2 years. I was hoping you guys could help me with an issue I have been running into with the last couple brews i have bottled. The past 4 beers i have bottled have all been over carbonated. I know for a fact i have not been using too much priming sugar but may think it has to do with a possible infection. The issue though is that my beers have no off flavors besides an over carbonated taste. My last batch i even made sure to deeply sanitize all my equipment and bottles. Does this type of nfection linger on and is something star san has issues with? I also can't find much info on this issue and it has been discouraging the hell out of me. Help and more information would be greatly appreciated.

By the way this is a website that i use for carbonation:
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html?14667035#tag