PORTER WATER?

[baphomite51]

im brewing a porter this weekend and im wondering can anyone tell me if south dublin water (whats left of it) is high carbonate or low, iv read low carbonate can lead to a drop in mash pH levels causing thin acidic beer. should i even bother worrying about this?

[baphomite51]

ha ha the S-04 is already ordered, im not gonna lie, after i ordered it i tried to change my order and get some notty but ya cant edit orders from the homebrew company  , im not too fussed tho i hear notty can be drier, im looking for a sweeter finish so hoping the S-04 will deliver

[DEMPSEY]

If ye want sweeter try Windsor .

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

For reference, I have made 2 good stouts with S-04. Our club is thinking of doing a yeast-off between Notty & S-04 to show their differences.

Also, I always ensure that I have a full spread of dried yeast in the fridge, never letting it fall below certain inventory levels of the important stuff.

[Dr Jacoby]

after i ordered it i tried to change my order and get some notty but ya cant edit orders from the homebrew company 

Contact them directly and they will nearly always change the order for you. I've changed several orders at the last minute in the past.

[baphomite51]

It's too late now, are u in Dublin sumofallfears? I want to split this batch with notty and s-04 if I could but some notty from you that would be great

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Sorry! I am an expat - in Londonia at the moment.

I can only lurk on the forums here to see the cool stuff that the Irish brewers are getting up to.

FWIW 'Gervin Ale Yeast' is just rebadged Nottingham, very cheap, and the same product.

[sub82]

You probably have water close to that in Pilsen, i.e. very soft. Don't worry about it. Brew your beer, I'm sure it'll be fine. (Don't use S-04)

How come you wouldn't use an S-04 for a porter?

[sub82]

Interesting - have only ever used it in pales before but was considering it for an English-style bitter. May split the batch then and use US-05 too.

[DEMPSEY]

As thesumofallbeers has said different yeast have different effects of the hop profile. As he has said S 04 as it drops out and makes the beer clear it is also dropping out hop flavour as well. 

[mabrungard]

If your water is coming to you from any of the Wicklow reservoirs, it probably is fairly soft and non-alkaline.  That is not ideal for brewing a Porter.  If your water comes from the Leixlip plant, than it might be more suited since that water has much more alkalinity, typically.  Depending on how much its been raining, the Leixlip water could be just right or way too alkaline. 

The alkalinity of the water is key to producing an acceptable mash pH. If you are in the Ballymore Eustace water district, you will probably need to add some alkalinity to the mashing water to keep the pH from dropping too low. For the Leixlip water, you should be able to brew with it if its been raining.  i do recommend that you acidify the sparging water if you have the Leixlip water since you don't want much alkalinity in the sparging water to avoid extracting tannins from the mash. 

If you are in the Ballymore Eustace district, you could also use the Guinness method and reserve your dark malts from the main mash and add them at the end of the mash.  That keeps the mash pH in a good range, but after the dark malts are added, the overall pH of the kettle wort may be lower than you really want.  Having that bit of alkalinity in the mashing water helps avoid this.

[baphomite51]

If your water is coming to you from any of the Wicklow reservoirs, it probably is fairly soft and non-alkaline.  That is not ideal for brewing a Porter.  If your water comes from the Leixlip plant, than it might be more suited since that water has much more alkalinity, typically.  Depending on how much its been raining, the Leixlip water could be just right or way too alkaline. 

The alkalinity of the water is key to producing an acceptable mash pH. If you are in the Ballymore Eustace water district, you will probably need to add some alkalinity to the mashing water to keep the pH from dropping too low. For the Leixlip water, you should be able to brew with it if its been raining.  i do recommend that you acidify the sparging water if you have the Leixlip water since you don't want much alkalinity in the sparging water to avoid extracting tannins from the mash. 

If you are in the Ballymore Eustace district, you could also use the Guinness method and reserve your dark malts from the main mash and add them at the end of the mash.  That keeps the mash pH in a good range, but after the dark malts are added, the overall pH of the kettle wort may be lower than you really want.  Having that bit of alkalinity in the mashing water helps avoid this.

wow cheers for the detailed reply, appreciate it. im in the ballymore district. at what point would i add the dark malts in a 1 hour mash and would it be wise to add alkalinity addadtives to my water?

[DEMPSEY]

Your South Dublin water is soft and should be fine for pale ale mashing. By doing what Guinness do you first mash a pale ale and you should steep your dark malts separately. Remember the perfect ph mashing in your pale ale mash is for a happy time for your enzymes to work on the starch and convert it to the fermentable sugars so keeping your dark and roasted grains away while this happening is good. 

[baphomite51]

Your South Dublin water is soft and should be fine for pale ale mashing. By doing what Guinness do you first mash a pale ale and you should steep your dark malts separately. Remember the perfect ph mashing in your pale ale mash is for a happy time for your enzymes to work on the starch and convert it to the fermentable sugars so keeping your dark and roasted grains away while this happening is good.

think ill try the guinesse method next time. i do BIAB so could i mash my base malt for 1 hour then just throw in my dark malts on top of the base malt for another 20 or 30 minutes? since the base malts would be converted in that hour mash, would adding the dark malts then effect the converted enzymes?

[DEMPSEY]

AFAIK Guinness mash out their pale brew and add the dark/roast extract to the boil kettle along with the running's from the pale mash so enzyme issue's do not come up.