HELP PLEASE HOPS TO SOUR

[fisherman]

Hello,
has anyone the answer to my problem. I mash maris otter with 1 tsp gypsum plus CRS plus 1tsp gypsum in sparge liqour but the hops seem to have a very bittering efect on the finished beer. The beer I made last should have been a EBU rating of 30 I treaded on the cautious side and used EBU 20. After one week in the bottle seems very hoppy. Will this change with time . I am quite new to mashing but find no problems in doing it just the bittterness. I live in severn trent water area could not get a alkilinity reading from water board so bought a test kit for alk
Thanks
fisherman

[HighHops]

Hi fisherman, 20EBU is quite low bitterness and hops shouldn't make your beer taste sour. That sounds like an infection. However it is early days after one week in the bottle. Hop flavour will change as the beer matures. Give it some time.

BTW what hops are you using? When do you add them and how much do you add?

Also what was your alkalinity and how much CRS did you add?

[steve_flack]

I agree. Too sour sounds like either too much acid or an infection.

[DarloDave]

the hops seem to have a very bittering efect on the finished beer.

Really?

[fisherman]

Hi lads,
I am using first gold at 7.6 and goldings at 6.5 I have been on the calculating crs on this website. I add 0.73ml per litre of crs. It was very strange when i brewed 6 months ago my alk was reading 77.23 now i test the water and it is 143 before the test starts to change colour do test kits go off. When i used kits and added hops they were never a nice flavour . Maybe i should try fuggles or lower ebu hops and just be patient I do have some high ebu rated hops for economy. I tend to like sweeter low hoppy beer. I love the taste of hops but not mine. At the moment. Thanks for reading my post the lads on this website have helped me so much I would like to thank everyone. One day i will get it right .Im not going to stop
Best wishes
fisherman

[fisherman]

Hi
Just tested water Alk 131.5
fisherman

[steve_flack]

That does seem like you're using a bit too much CRS. You're using enough CRS to take your alkalinity to zero. You don't need it to be zero.

[fisherman]

Hi Steve,I recorded 0.52 on the test kit reading in mls which transfered to alkilinity in meq/L 2.74 Chris x then gave me the method to multiply this by 50 which gave me roughly alk 131. then i went on Graham Whelers water chart and put in my total hardness from severn trent average 68.25 and used that amount of crs on the calculator. at 131 the water just turns pink from blue
How much crs do you think I should use for a bitter brew I use (please)
3.00 kg maris otter
400grm crystal malt
200 grm caramalt
15grm first gold
15 grm goldings
5grm goldings last 15 mins
1 proto tablet last 15 mins
mash at 66 for 90 mins
boil 90 mins
Thanks for your reply
fisherman

[fisherman]

sorry
The yeast does work 04 but soon looses the head and ferments just bubbles. I drop it after 2 days but it never gets a head again
fisherman

[steve_flack]

Well for a bitter I aim at a residual alkalinity of around 50ppm so you're adding enough CRS to reduce the 131 to 50...not to zero. Other than that add enough gypsum, DLS or whatever so your Calcium level is 100 or above.

[HighHops]

It was very strange when i brewed 6 months ago my alk was reading 77.23 now i test the water and it is 143 before the test starts to change colour do test kits go off.

Alkalinity of your water can change. Mine is usually similar but never the same twice, so do regular checks until you get your beer right. Do you boil or add a campden tablet to dechlorinate the water?

[fisherman]

Hi lads
I do add camden and 1 tsp Gypsum in dry goods and 1 tsp Gypsum in water. I could kick myself steve flack hit the nail when he found i was using crs to bring my alk back to zero . I am now going to have a mash using Brupacks chart at alk 131 12 ml of crs in 28 litres of liqour this should bring alk back to 50 plus 9 grms of dls in dry goods and 10 grms dls in sparge water what do you lads think of this brewing calculation.
Thanks everybody
fisherman

[steve_flack]

I don't know your target values but it sounds like a lot of DLS. I was using 14g-ish of DLS in total for 40L of beer. Admittedly I probably started off with more calcium than you.

[fisherman]

Hi Steve,
Brupacks state for DLS get your alk 131 multiply by 0.4 = 52.4. Bitter needs calcium of between 180 & 220ppm take say 52.4 from 200l eaves 148 Brupacks chart reads DLS per litre at 148 =0.84 per litre = multiply by 28= 23.8 grms. It does seem a lot when i mashed before i used 1tsp of gypsum in the dry goods and 1tsp in sparge water. Would you stick with this and just reduce the crs to 12 ml per 28 litres
fisherman

[steve_flack]

A target of 200ppm for calcium does seem a bit high to me. Anything over 100 is probably sufficient. That's not to say that the Brupaks amounts are wrong but DLS does add a lot of sodium as well - you might be better off sticking to just using gypsum. My water is pretty high in Calcium so I don't need to add anywhere near as much as you. Remember that you use the total water volume for the CRS calc but the brewlength for the DLS calc.

Edit: just ran through the calcs myself and I work it out you need 0.3ml/l CRS and 0.8g/l DLS to meet Brupaks figures.