was combining and crush all of my grain for this recipe into a 5 gallon bucket. I normally then add all of my water salts to the crushed grain. The problem this time is my digital scale is broken. I usually measure all of my salts in grams. So i decided to use my backup scale which measures grams,but in 10’s. (cheap plastic food scale). I started to weigh and add the salts to the crushed grain until realized I was reading the scale wrong. When I though I was adding 3 grams I was actually adding 30! >:( >:( >:( . So after pouting for a bit I figured I’d ask the board. What would you do?
water report:
My actual salt additions are as follow:
30g of calc carbonate should have been 3g
10g of gypsum should have been 1g
10g of calcium chloride should have been 1g
15g of Epsom salts should have been 1.5g
and I almost made it to the baking soda before I realized the big F***ing mistake I was making. I was using the EZ water adjustment sheet. By my estimation My mash will now have:
908 ppm of calcium
77 ppm of magnesium
270ppm of chloride
611 of sulfates
768 is my residual alk (RA)
I have not added mash water to this grain bill yet. Should it be dumped and should I start over again with another 13lbs of grain? Or,should I just brew it and waste all that time and and a nice new yeast starter if its bad, maybe taking it as an experiment?
Please advise guys…Please!!!
recipe:
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: foreign extra stout
Style: Oatmeal Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Recipe Specifications
Batch Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Size: 8.31 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 34.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11 lbs 12.0 ozPale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 84.58 %
1 lbs 1.1 oz Oats, Flaked (Briess) (1.4 SRM) Grain 7.71 %
8.6 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 3.86 %
8.6 oz Roasted Barley (Crisp) (695.0 SRM) Grain 3.86 %
36.00 gm Centennial [8.70 %] (60 min) Hops 29.6 IBU
1 Pkgs London Ale (Wyeast Labs #1028)
I would personally not brew with that water. I doubt it will taste right, although I don’t think the Magnesium is quite high enough to act as a laxative. That could at least be a fun joke to play on people you don’t like.
Since the damage is done and it’s a dark beer why not give it a shot? Or you can divide up the grain by 10 and add it to subsequent batches. Not sure if you’d get an even distribution of the minerals though, but it might lessen the ouch factor.
Conversely, if it really concerns you- as in very uncomfortable with the situation you might as well start over.
The money is already spent. I’d brew with it. The chalk won’t be a big deal since it won’t dissolve. The magnesium is a concern, but I’m not sure that its at a level that would induce a laxative effect.
If you have pH monitor capability and acid, I would have that at the ready to see if that could help. Unfortunately, the chalk will dissolve and consume the acid and you may not get any benefit from the acid.
Its a shame you weren’t adding minerals to your mash water and not the grains. I’ve never done it the way you are. Water is cheap and a mistake is no big deal (unless you have to run out and buy more water).
I might back off the bittering level a little since the water additions may make the beer a little harsh. The other thing you should remember is that you can always brew another batch that could be blended with this one to even out some faults.
my tun is a 10 gal igloo cooler. I will not add salts to milled grain anymore. Lesson learned for sure. The 11 1/4 lbs of base malt is the thing that bothers me the most. I did buy it in bulk so the cost is minimal at least, the rest of the bill i had on hand.
15 gallons. Rinsing with cold water is an option. I would just be afraid of rinsing away all of the “malt flour” that has been milled. What say ye?? Would / Could that be a concern?
Brew it up…Your magnesium level is still lower than my tap water.
But, if you mix thouroughly & cut that up into like six equal portions for later brew sessions, I think you’ll be happier with the results.
Just don’t use that crazy scale, for your dividing into 6 portions.
Mash by maxing out your tun in equal volumes between the mash and the sparge. Then top off your BK with water and extract to a prescribed OG. Increase hopping rate accordingly.