AquaDementia wrote:I am going to brew jamils W.Coast Blaster recipe with a few changes, but SRM will remain the same. The denver water is apparently suited for 8-12 SRm beers, but this is 17 srm.
Actually, the water you list is suitable for brewing beers from 3 - 300 SRM. The relationship between color and water chemistry is very tenuous. See
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=19503 AquaDementia wrote:Here is my original chem.
Ca: 24 Mg: 6 Na: 15 Cl: 13 SO4:50 CaCO3: 54 RA:33 Cl/CaCO3 ratio: very bitter
Minor point: to make these numbers consistent the value you have listed for CaCO3, i.e. 54, is actually the total alkalinity in "ppm as CaCO3" and I assume that's what you mean by "CaCO3". It's obvious that it can't really mean CaCO3 since there is no way to get that much into solution.
AquaDementia wrote:according to the EZ water calculator i add 4 g Chalk, 1 g Epsom Salt, and .75 g CaCl2 to get...
Beware whenever you are advised to add chalk to brewing water. There are several reasons for this not the least of which is that there is seldom any need for it. You do
not need an RA of 67 to brew this beer (and I don't know anything about West Coast Blaster except that it's design SRM is 17 which means that if there is any roast malt at all it is present in small quantity).
AquaDementia wrote:...Ca: 122 Mg: 11 Na: 15 Cl: 33 SO4: 71 CaCO3: 161 RA: 67 Cl?CaCO3: 0.46 bitter
I assume you are treating 5 gal as that's the amount that would get the calcium to close to 120 if the chalk dissolves which it won't. To get it to requires 2.24 mEq/L acid and that has to come from somewhere. If you add no acid then your water will be a milky suspension of chalk and the natural acids of the malt will try to dissolve as much of it as they can. The result will be a mash pH appreciably higher than desired. The good news is that the chalk will dissolve slowly and you may get through the mashing process without too much detriment. Lot's of people use your basic approach adding grams of chalk to their water or mash and manage to make drinkable beers.
AquaDementia wrote:I want to add the epsom salt to boost sulfate with this recipe (67 IBU).
To my personal taste a beer at 67 IBU with sulfate already at 50 would be undrinkable but I know some people like really assertive hops.
AquaDementia wrote:Please let me know if this look o.k. I thought that 4 g chalk was excessive but cant argue with a spreadsheet.
It definitely is excessive and you should question a spreadsheet when it tells you to do something your instincts tell you is wrong.
So what should you do? My standard recommendation for people with decent water like yours is do nothing. Brew the beer with untreated water, checking the mash pH if you can do that. The time to add chalk is if, when checking mash pH, you find it to be too low. This almost never happens. In a recent experiment I made mini-mashes with deionized water and various amounts of roast barley. It took 30% roast barley in the grist to get to marginal mash pH on the low end. I couldn't drink a stout with this much. Could you? Again this may be a matter of taste. Some people might like that much but just putting charcoal briquettes in a blender with some water should get you the same effect (add some vodka for the buzz) with a lot less trouble than brewing.
After evaluating the beer (and having it evaluated i.e. put it in a contest or have your mates over) brew it again with an addition of some gypsum. This will raise the sulfate level and you can see if you really like the effects of sulfate. If you do, then keep going on successive brews until you have what you want. If you don't like sulfate then dilute with RO water and brew again. It takes a while to zero in but that's what this hobby is all about.
