Best bitter recipe

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Jeltz69
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by Jeltz69 »

I communicated with them about Butcombe Gold a while back, they were very helpful. For Gold they use wheat malt as 5% of the grist then its pale and some crystal and 100% fuggles.

The most interesting bit was they use H2SO4 to give an alkalinity of approx 55, the increased sulphate should bring out the bitterness and hop flavour more than malt flavours, I understand.

Whether they treat the water of the standard Butcome Bitter any differently I would don't know.
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steve crawshaw
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by steve crawshaw »

simonmwhite wrote:
Why did you have to bore out the jet? Is the pressure too high or something? I recall seeing a tap on the end of your gas rig, is this an on and off switch? I'd be interested to find out how you connect it all up.

Simon.
pressure of propane \ butane after the regulator is higher than in NG systems, so the jet (small orifice) is small in a propane system but needs to be increased in NG otherwise the flame is very weedy. Simple enough to run a small drill by hand through the jet. I have a valve to isolate and I also disconnect via a cooker connection hose just to be double safe. I use the burners you can buy from the malt miller \ hamilton gas etc and they bring 28 litres of wort at ~70c to boiling in around 25 minutes.
cheers
steve
I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy.
PMowdes
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by PMowdes »

Jeltz69 wrote:I communicated with them about Butcombe Gold a while back, they were very helpful. For Gold they use wheat malt as 5% of the grist then its pale and some crystal and 100% fuggles.

The most interesting bit was they use H2SO4 to give an alkalinity of approx 55, the increased sulphate should bring out the bitterness and hop flavour more than malt flavours, I understand.

Whether they treat the water of the standard Butcome Bitter any differently I would don't know.

This doesn't make a great deal of sense. If they are treating their liquor with Sulphuric acid it should be to modify mash pH, the final alkalinity will be a result of obtaining the correct mash pH and the initial alkalinity of the liqour+

Anyone with any sense would use magnesium and / or calcium sulphates to adjust the sulphate levels as the do not modify pH to such a great extent.

Sounds like they come from the Murphy's school of water treatment :-s
60 percent of the time it works every time.
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Jeltz69
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by Jeltz69 »

It was me that was commenting that it would be create a sulphate bias.

Don't most breweries use acid to adjust their water?

Personally I have changed from CRS to HCl and balance with some gypsum in the mash.
beerbulger
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by beerbulger »

As per Jeltz's reply the implication is they are using it to reduce temporary hardness, much as CRS/AMS (which is just a proprietary blend of HCl and H2SO4). However as it is the hydrogen molecule that reacts with the Bicarbonate (gives CO2 + H2O), this will increase the sulphate ion concentration.
I use dilute H2SO4 for this purpose, my rational being that I prefer to add CaCl2 rather than Gypsum as it is much more soluble. In practice I need to add both to get a "pale,hoppy" profile from Bristol tap.

Mark
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I_used_to_brew
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by I_used_to_brew »

I boil and add epsom salts, no problems with hops in my beers :)
PMowdes
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by PMowdes »

beerbulger wrote:As per Jeltz's reply the implication is they are using it to reduce temporary hardness, much as CRS/AMS (which is just a proprietary blend of HCl and H2SO4). However as it is the hydrogen molecule that reacts with the Bicarbonate (gives CO2 + H2O), this will increase the sulphate ion concentration.
I use dilute H2SO4 for this purpose, my rational being that I prefer to add CaCl2 rather than Gypsum as it is much more soluble. In practice I need to add both to get a "pale,hoppy" profile from Bristol tap.

Mark
Hydrogen molecule!!!????? I rest my case.
60 percent of the time it works every time.
beerbulger
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by beerbulger »

PMowdes wrote:
beerbulger wrote:As per Jeltz's reply the implication is they are using it to reduce temporary hardness, much as CRS/AMS (which is just a proprietary blend of HCl and H2SO4). However as it is the hydrogen molecule that reacts with the Bicarbonate (gives CO2 + H2O), this will increase the sulphate ion concentration.
I use dilute H2SO4 for this purpose, my rational being that I prefer to add CaCl2 rather than Gypsum as it is much more soluble. In practice I need to add both to get a "pale,hoppy" profile from Bristol tap.

Mark
Hydrogen molecule!!!????? I rest my case.
LOL. At least I used "ion" for the sulphate.
beerbulger
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by beerbulger »

RogerP wrote:I boil and add epsom salts, no problems with hops in my beers :)
Rog,
I thought you used Ashbeck as your base water?

Mark
PMowdes
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Re: Best bitter recipe

Post by PMowdes »

beerbulger wrote:
PMowdes wrote:
beerbulger wrote:As per Jeltz's reply the implication is they are using it to reduce temporary hardness, much as CRS/AMS (which is just a proprietary blend of HCl and H2SO4). However as it is the hydrogen molecule that reacts with the Bicarbonate (gives CO2 + H2O), this will increase the sulphate ion concentration.
I use dilute H2SO4 for this purpose, my rational being that I prefer to add CaCl2 rather than Gypsum as it is much more soluble. In practice I need to add both to get a "pale,hoppy" profile from Bristol tap.

Mark
Hydrogen molecule!!!????? I rest my case.
LOL. At least I used "ion" for the sulphate.
The point I was trying to get across is that you shouldn't be using an acid for anything other than pH adjustment, and that the final alkalinity is an artefact of the pH adjustment and shouldn't be a target in itself.

If you are doing your water treatment correctly you should be adjusting for pH first and foremost, and then juggling the Chloride and Sulphate with salt additions to reach your target profile.

The only time you should change acid type is if the base water composition, acid and salt additions don't allow you to reach the desired water profile for the beer.

Switching from CRS to HCL or H2SO4 will really only make a marginal change to the sulphate levels in your beer given the concentration (6.3% HCL and 8.6% H2SO4 v/v) and the volumes that you use for pH adjustment.
Last edited by PMowdes on Thu Jan 07, 2016 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
60 percent of the time it works every time.
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