IPA, ro water and all that jazz

[auralabuse]

I have done 2 IPA'S, one with tap water....high pH, one with half and half RO/Tap to get a pH of about 5.3 in the mash and both tasted gick. I have one in the fermenter at the moment which I have added critic acid, gypsum and calcium to as per bru n water. Fingers crossed this one will turn out OK......either way, would anyone with an RO system who has made a hoppy IPA successfully care to share their process?. Its a style I really want to master.  I'm particularly interested in water chemistry, dry hopping schedule and anything else that worked for you to produce a hoptastic IPA.  Thanks in advance

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[TheSumOfAllBeers]

You can make a good IPA with tap water. And you can screw up any recipe with messed up water treatment.

The water treatment can be the difference between a good IPA and a great IPA. But there are other factors that IMO make a bigger difference, like your IBU to FG ratio, your temperature control, your hop selection and supporting grist, and your oxidation controls.

[LordEoin]

What do you mean by 'tasted gick'?

[lordstilton]

Are you leaving your water out overnight to let the chlorine evaporate? Are you getting a band-aid flavour off the beer?

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

What do you mean by 'tasted gick'?

That's what I am thinking - its not a water treatment problem if you get to gicky.

There is a different problem here.

[nigel_c]

A more accurate discriotion would help narrow it down.


http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/is-my-beer-ruined/common-off-flavors

[Simon_]

one with half and half RO/Tap

If you've access to RO why not just use all RO to rule out the tap water being an issue?

This guide is such a simple take on water treatment -  http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460
tl;dr add a tsp of gypsum and a tsp of calcium chloride to all your RO mash and sparge water (20L batch) for a base pale ale profile and see how you get on.
I also add 1ml of lactic acid (from a Calpol/Nurofen syringe) to my sparge water to get the pH down to ~5.5

[auralabuse]

I should have elaborated a bit but the message seemed to be long enough already. Lordstilton, you hit the nail on the head, bandaid. I thought I had a Brett infection, so double cleaned and sanitized everything. Got it again so looked at the chloramine as the potential issue so I boiled the water with a campden tablet. Same result so I finally used full RO water with additions. This is in the FV at the moment so time will tell. I have never left the water out though, will add that to the process. My temp control is spot on. I have hot and cold control and have calibrated. In answer to sumofallbeers, I considered my recipe was the issue so bought an all grain kit which has consistent great reviews. I figure if I make that work I have my process down and can move onto recipe generation then. I have made loads of really good beer but always darker styles. Never had an oxidation issue with those so I think I'm OK there but open to any suggestions. Thanks for the replies lads, I'm determined to add a decent IPA to the list of brews

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[Qs]

I use all RO with about 20g gypsum, 5g Cal Chloride and 5g Epsom salts for my light hoppy beers. Plus citric acid to hit a PH of about 5.3.

[lordstilton]

You need to leave it out over night with lid off.. I usually put a Campden tablet in too... I always identify it when I get band-aid from my belch after taking a sup of beer were the water had chlorine in it... It was a mistake I made for a few beers when I first started brewing.. Drove me mad trying to eliminate it

[auralabuse]

Think I'm at the drove me mad stage. So I did boil the tap water with Camden so I might have got lucky. Also used the right amount and type of additions.  So if I get the off flavour again I will either leave the water out or total RO. The reason I didn't go all RO was it takes a good while for the expansion tank to refill and it was a spur of the moment brew. Anyway thanks a lot for the replies, exactly the type of info I was hoping for.

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[Ceedee]

What do you use for sanitising? Is it bleach/chlorine based? If so, could there be sanitising residue?

[auralabuse]

What do you use for sanitising? Is it bleach/chlorine based? If so, could there be sanitising residue?

No, use oxi for cleaning and starsan for sanitizing so should be OK there. Its a stainless steel FV too which never had bleach near it

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[LordEoin]

try using bottled water and a full AG kit from HBC. They have some really good IPAs.
If that still turns out gicky you know it's neither the water nor ingredients.

[auralabuse]

try using bottled water and a full AG kit from HBC. They have some really good IPAs.
If that still turns out gicky you know it's neither the water nor ingredients.

Yeah lord eoin, I am using the HBC Apollo IPA for that very reason. So ingredients ruled out so that's why I turned my attention to water. If this one doesn't turn out right I will use 100% RO, boiled with Camden and left out overnight to be absolutely sure. My temp control and sanitation have been bang on for a while now. The fact that the darker style beers are turning out great, its all leading to water really

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