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Author Topic: Scottish Ale Chloride to Sulfate Ratio  (Read 2142 times)

Offline abraxas

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Scottish Ale Chloride to Sulfate Ratio
« on: August 07, 2010, 12:25:25 pm »
I recently brewed a Scottish 60 and a Wee Heavy.  I adjusted my water to 66:46 ppm Chloride Sulfate thinking that on this style of beer I would want to have a malt emphasis water base.  As I am learning more about water profiles I am learning that this style would actually (probably) be better with a 1:2 ratio more similar to the Edinburgh water profile (45:105).

Quote
Edinburgh - Think of misty Scottish evenings and you think of strong Scottish ale - dark ruby highlights, a sweet malty beer with a mellow hop finish. The water is similar to London's but with a bit more bicarbonate and sulfate, making a beer that can embrace a heavier malt body while using less hops to achieve balance.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-2.html

I can adjust my beers easily enough with a little Gypsum (I have room for some more Calcium) added to the kegs but I am thinking I have been thinking about this all wrong.  A heavily hopped beer (AIPA) should have a malt emphasis to balance the hop bitterness and a malty recipe should have the reverse.  Is this a good very basic rule of thumb? 

I know this is going to vary according to recipe and desired outcome so I guess what I am asking instead is my original thinking that a malt-emphasized style should have a high Cl/SO4 was wrong?  I would like to set up some experiments so I can understand this better I just want to have a little more basic understanding....


Offline joeysmokedporter

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Re: Scottish Ale Chloride to Sulfate Ratio
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2010, 01:13:33 pm »
your original thinking is conventional wisdom and is the same way I would have approached the Scottish.  However, nothing like an experiment to put it to the test.  I'd be interested to hear your results if you do.
R. Lorber
Westminster, MD