The correct answer is it depends. Water pH means little. Mash pH means a lot.
This I know, I’ll play with the lactic acid and see where that gets me, thanks to all! A lot to digest and think about…
So to update, sort of…
Just did a side by side of my house pale ale, the second with treating the water with 10grams Gypsum and the hop profile is much more pronounced and crisp and I am very pleased with the improvement and the little effort that was required!
Just made one of my favorites even better than it was!
There is sort of an anti-sulfate crusade that has been promulgated by a person that only brews European light lagers. Unfortunately, that sentiment has ‘bled’ into the psyches of other brewers and their quest for great beer. I can assure you that many styles benefit from varying levels of sulfate in the brewing water. Lately, the lore has been that sulfate enhances bitterness perception (which it does). However sulfate is actually helping to dry the beer finish (which enhances bitterness perception) and that can be a valuable tool for the brewer to tune their beers.
Certainly, sulfate should be used in moderation. But it should be viewed as an important tool in perfecting your beers. Using it only in hoppy beers may restrict your brewing abilities. Next time you have a recipe that produces a beer that doesn’t dry the finish adequately, think about bumping the sulfate content of the water up a bit. An extra 20 ppm may be all you need.
Don’t be afraid of sulfate!
I agree, for my German Pils sulfate at about 80 ppm gives the dry lingering finish that I want.
Thanks for chiming in. To clarify a bit, the pale Alenin question is actually a low IBU version that I brew but with a lot of very late additions of Amarillo and Simcoe as well as 3oz of dry hop of the same. The first batches, while very good were not giving me the desired flavor and aroma and the bitterness was somewhat subdued.
With the gypsum addition in this batch the beer is definitely more crisp and the flavor and aromas from the late additions are far more pronounced and less muddy.
I’ve never been afraid of sulfate used appropriately, but I’ve recently become a convert to higher sulfate levels. I recently doubled the amount of sulfate in my Rye IPA and it made a beer I’ve always loved even better.
What would those finished sulfate levels be? I want to make my Rye IPA better.
The current one is 200 ppm and it’s great. I’m gonna go to 250-300 on the next batch.
+1. Thanks to Martin’s feedback, I just bumped my sulfate up to 300ppm on an AIPA, a level I had never used (had used ~200 prior). After trying a small sample, the hop flavor has definitely popped more, which was exactly what I was after. And I don’t notice any overmineralized bite either. Looking forward to the final product.
Somewhere in the 100 to 350 ppm sulfate range is probably OK. As many brewers reading these forums know, I recently brewed my house SNPA clone with a reduced sulfate level of 100 ppm from my normal 300 ppm. All I did was reduce the gypsum addition and kept all other mineral additions at my normal levels (Pale Ale profile in Bru’n Water).
It is a fine beer with no apparent brewing or fermentation faults (saying this just so you know its not F’d Up), but the finish is a little fuller and ‘wetter’ than I’m used to. The reduced sulfate level keeps the beer from drying out like it typically does. An unscientific dose of gypsum in the glass restored the drying finish. But the bottom line is that sulfate is an important tool for assisting in creating an appropriately dry finish. One thing I notice about great commercial beers is that they all have an appropriate level of dryness in the finish. A beer that leaves the palate too wet or malty is not going to encourage that drinker to buy the second and third glasses.
Some time back I went from 200 to 300 and liked the results. Have done some English style beers at 350 and like the results. Did some IPAS with water from the recipes in Steele’s book and those had that certain dryness that I like.
Is 300 ppm the amount added to the mash or the amount in the finished product? Because you’re talking about the effect of sulfates on the finished product. But if that’s the ppm in the mash, then grist ratio will impact ppm in the finished product. So a beer made with a grist ratio of 1.5 quarts/# will have roughly half the sulfate of a beer made with 3 quarts/#?
In other words, do we calculate the amount of sulfate added to the mash based on post boil volume?
The flavor ion concentrations are based on the mash and sparge volume, not the post boil-volume, since the assumption is that the concentrations are those in your source water. If you are adding salts to the kettle, you can calculate them based on the pre-boil volume.
Ah ha! Makes perfect sense now! Thanks for clearing that up!