Tapped my new IPA today. I’ve brewed alot of IPAs and it has to be a top 3. A very simple grist : 88% 2 row, 6% Biscuit, and 6% Crystal 20 - mostly a vehicle to sub in Mosaic for Simcoe in my last combo of Amarillo/Centennial/Simcoe. Damn that’s a good hop ! Simcoe minus the cat piss, plus a little of the “blueberry” character. A complex hop, and a great hop combo. I’d tried it in craft beers, but not at home.
Now for the other part of what makes this IPA so good - Martin. Previously, I had brewed IPAs with ~ 200 ppm Sulfate to ~ 50 ppm Chloride, and liked the results. This time, per Martin’s recent posting, I bumped the sulfate up to 300 ppm. Big difference, better beer IMO. I love West Coast IPAs, and the more aggressive gypsum does it. There is still a firm malt base, just not malt forward. And not one bit of overmineralized Alka Seltzer bite. Hence, keeping Chloride under 100 (50 in this case) is obviously important. Loving this beer.
What? I was expecting that there was a hop variety named Martin!
You never know, Martin. But, awesome water profile ! I’m converted.
Could you post a link to that post? I’m interested.
Martin, do you have plans to update Bru’n Water and include more target profiles?
Hey, why not? There’s a yeast named Denny.
Wow that seems like a lot of gypsum…200 gyp/50 sulfate seems very high and 300/50 sounds off the charts.
I agree. Like I said I had been using 200sulfate/50 chloride and liked it . But after reading Martin’s posting about his experiments with higher sulfate levels in hoppy ales, I gave it a try, trusting in his expertise. And he was right IMO. The real lesson to learn was that it’s imperative when using that higher sulfate to keep chloride WELL under 100, ~50 in my case. Or you risk overmineralized beer, which sucks. But if you like hoppy APAs and IPAs that are more West Coast style, it works really well.
Something like 14+ to one has worrked for me. Around 350 ppm SO4.