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.
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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…