I have a water chemistry question. Since switching to Bru’nWater, my beer quality has taken the next jump - a great tool, Martin. I use RO water, then build up, by the way. I’m curious how you guys approach hoppy styles, specifically APA and AIPA. What I do is to build up the gypsum to a little over 100 ppm for APA, over 200 for AIPA. Do you guys also use calcium carbonate to reach the desired ratio? I 've had excellent results just building the gypsum up to the right level. Appreciate any feedback.
I have gone up to 350 ppm of SO4. Works fine for an IPA.
Calcium carbonate will raise the pH, if you can get it to dissolve, which is hard to do even in the mash. I use pickling lime to raise the pH.
If you were asking about using Calcium Chloride and the ratio of Sulfate to Chloride, you can go high, like 8 or 9 and have no problems. Get the pH right in the mash, and if you want more Sulfate you can add gypsum to the boil.
For AIPA, look in the Mitch Steele book, here are some water profiles that the brewers shoot for in there.
Sorry Jeff, I did mean chloride by the way. Thanks.
I’ve been trying different ratios of Chloride to Sulfate in an effort to find a desired level for my APA/IPA recipes. I think it can make a difference in the beer flavor profile. I find that a 3:1 ratio, while keeping the chloride below 100ppm is effective although YMMV. This ratio seems to have some significance, among others when it comes to water chemistry.
Check out this discussion.
I enjoy a bit more sulfate and typically target about 300 ppm. I recently tested a version of my standard SNPA clone with a reduced sulfate water to evaluate recommendations that AJ deLange recommends. I used the Pale Ale profile excepting that the gypsum addition was backed off until a 100 ppm sulfate level was produced. That beer is very good, however it lacks the dryness in the finish. Clearly, the sulfate is the component needed to assist in that dryness perception. I prefer 300 ppm sulfate over 100 ppm.
The lore with the sulfate/chloride ratio has typically used the terms malty and bitter. I don’t really think that is the way we should be considering this effect. I think that the sulfate is more appropriately characterized as dryness and not bitter. I was recently reviewing my copy of Malting and Brewing Science while helping with the upcoming Water book by Palmer and Kaminski (it is looking very good by the way) and MBS also uses the term ‘dryness’ for the sulfate contribution. They go on to describe the chloride effect as ‘fullness’. I have to admit that those descriptors fit better with what I perceive in beers and this effect. Dryness helps mute the malt perception and allows the bittering and hops to shine. Fullness helps accentuate the sweeter/wetter aspects of the beer flavor and reduces the bittering perception.
Remember, you can’t just add chloride and sulfate to your heart’s desire. At some point, you’ll have a minerally beer on your hands. I feel that keeping chloride to less than 100 ppm is always good and you can vary sulfate from 0 to around 300 ppm with no problem. However when you really boost sulfate, chloride should be reduced well below 100 ppm. If you want minerally beer flavor, boost chloride above 150 ppm and sulfate above 300 ppm.
Very helpful info. Thanks Martin and Ron.
Interesting info. Martin.
I would like to do a blind tasting of the same beer recipe (APA/IPA) only varying the sulfate ratio to discern the flavor difference. I’m certainly not doubting your experience, but would like to better understand this flavor (dryness in the finish) difference from this variance in the sufate level. I like my APA/IPA’s on the dry side. 
This thread reminded me about last week. I’ve been playing with AIPA’s lately and brewing to 300ppm Sulfate. I always refer back to Desiging Great Beers for some additional info and upon reading back up on Bitters noticed the Sulfate content for Burton. It’s 801!!!
That is recommended for English IPA’s and using ‘Burtonized’ water which is not what the OP started, but thought it would add some color commentary to the conversation. It kind of blew me away as I’ve not seen a discussion with Sulfate even close to 800 for an IPA.
Dave
remember that Buton waters can have a sulfate level of 200 to 800+ depending on the location of the well.
Jeff, You need to tell Ray that as page 173, table 16.21 has Sulfate for Burton at 801…I’m just quoting!
More recent stuff is what I quoted, read section 3.
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge
More recent stuff is what I quoted, read section 3.
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Good stuff, thanks!
Dave
Good stuff, thanks!
Dave
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+1
Great water chemistry resource for homebrewers.
I ‘think’ there may be a section on Burton water in Steele’s IPA book, but after carrying some kegs up the basement stairs to the keezer, to pooped to go look it up.
There may also be some info on the “Shut up About Barklay Perkins” blog, or the “Zythophile” blog.
Have a homebrew instead! Maybe an IPA! 
I don’t have time to flip vinyl over during the brew day so I don’t listen to much music. But if I did, I would listen to some Feelies.
In working through the Water book editing, Colin Kaminski has mentioned that he has brewed with up to 1000 ppm sulfate. He has also stated that he enjoys 600 to 800 ppm in some beers, but his customers don’t. I’ve heard pro-brewers mention that the beers can get sulfury when you get on up there. I think the 300 to 350 ppm range is about the limit for dry yet not sulfury beer.
I have data from the English Environmental Agency for shallow wells at 2 of the Burton breweries and one had ~600 ppm and the other ~800 ppm. I don’t recommend trying to replicate that water.
However, what about calcium… if I add gypsum to my well water to get sulfates to 300ppm I end up with around 150ppm calcium… is this going to be ok for an IPA? my chlorides remain at 28ppm, which is what they are in the well water, giving a good 10:1 sulfate-to-chloride ratio
-red
High calcium is generally not a detriment to beer flavor. It has little flavor impact. However, the high calcium can drive the RA of the water down. If you start with RO or distilled water, it could be possible to need some alkalinity in the water to help avoid an excessive mash pH drop.
OK. Here’s another question about Brun Water: What difference is there is adding something like gypsum to the mash vs. adding it to the boil. For instance, with my current SNPA clone recipe, if I add gypsum to my water to get around 150ppm sulfate, my mash pH is predicted to be around 5.7. If I add more gypsum to get 300ppm sulfates, it drops my pH to 5.5. Both of these are OK mash pHs, but if I want that higher sulfate level is it more “efficient” to add the extra gypsum to the boil?
I guess not being a water chemist (I’m an engineer and HS physics teacher) I sometimes wonder how much of the gypsum I add to the mash is actually getting into the finished beer and how much is sort of just staying in the spent grains that I compost…
-red