Beer Forum

Well, I brewed up an ordinary bitter today and burtonized my water for the first time. I just tasted the hydrometer sample before pitching and wow! that's bitter! I'm a little worried it might even be too bitter. The starting gravity is 1.038 and IBUs at about 32. What's your experience with burtonizing? Is it okay for all relatively hoppy styles? I'm thinking an IPA might have been a better choice in my case.

I find it makes a more firm bitterness. Its a recipe thing. With higher sulfates you'll probably need fewer IBUs. It would probably be better at like 27ish. You can tone it down by taking a little CaCl and stirring it back into the beer. It will disolve in beer (but probably not water). Before you ask, don't ask me how much, it depends on your water, you'll have to do it to taste.

thatguy314 wrote:I find it makes a more firm bitterness. Its a recipe thing. With higher sulfates you'll probably need fewer IBUs. It would probably be better at like 27ish. You can tone it down by taking a little CaCl and stirring it back into the beer. It will disolve in beer (but probably not water). Before you ask, don't ask me how much, it depends on your water, you'll have to do it to taste.

Yeah, I was really shocked with the difference it makes. I've hardened up my water before, but never to the Burton level (mostly out of fear). I'm thinking I'll wait until the beer ferments out before doing anything to it. It might be fine after all. I don't know if the yeast makes any difference, but I'm using wyeast 1968.

The yeast will definitely carry a noticeable amount of bittering principal out of the beer when they flocculate so wait until the beer is fermented (and even conditioned a bit) before making judgements about bittering levels.

ajdelange wrote:The yeast will definitely carry a noticeable amount of bittering principal out of the beer when they flocculate so wait until the beer is fermented (and even conditioned a bit) before making judgements about bittering levels.

Right. The sample I tasted was before pitching the yeast though. I tasted the starting gravity sample. I was just thinking the 1968 yeast wouldn't enhance hopping like say Cal ale does.

+10. Didn't realize you hadn't fermented it yet. Bittering resins will bind to the yeast and drop out. Plus if you had any small powdery hop bits in your sample will taste significantly more bitter than it should

ajdelange wrote:The yeast will definitely carry a noticeable amount of bittering principal out of the beer when they flocculate so wait until the beer is fermented (and even conditioned a bit) before making judgements about bittering levels.

What ppm of sulphate did you target? From listening to the brew strong water shows, it sounds like actual Burton levels are something that would be better to avoid. I just started playing with water chemistry and I've been wondering just how high you can take sulphate levels without getting a harsh bitterness.

SamGamgee wrote:What ppm of sulphate did you target? From listening to the brew strong water shows, it sounds like actual Burton levels are something that would be better to avoid. I just started playing with water chemistry and I've been wondering just how high you can take sulphate levels without getting a harsh bitterness.

It was in the 600s. I just used the Promash profile and matched my water to suit it using the program. Update on the bittering level of the beer I brewed: I tasted a sample after 3-4 days of fermentation and it tastes fine, not too bitter anymore. In fact, I forgot that was the beer I burtonized until after.