Home grown hops 2022

[Eric]

happy to drink and make balanced beers of any shade and modest strength.

Likewise - just seem to be more successful at brewing more hoppy beers although I suspect the hops mask some imperfections that would be noticeable in a mild or simple bitter - the latter of which I have until now been less than successful with. Having said that, porters and stouts haven't been a problem.

Do you treat your water to compliment your grainbill and style? A typical Bitter should be a pretty safe bet with suitable water treatment.

Pale malt with up to 10% adjunct (such as torrified wheat or flaked maize) and up to 5% crystal of colour to suit your taste should result in a run of the mill Bitter. Bittered to 25 to 30 IBU with hop of choice at start of boil, topped up to 30 to 35 IBU by aroma hops late. Water somewhere around 150 ppm calcium with 2 or 3 to 1 sulphate to chloride ratio with alkalinity reduced to 25 ppm as CaCO3 and Bob should be your uncle.

Looked at Northallerton on Yorkshire Water site and it seemed consistent during 2019, although I saw they were altering pipework for what might be a ring network covering a larger area. There was a printing error for one of the sulphate figures as their average figure doesn't compute, but the average figure fits well for ground water in that region. Towards the end of the 19th century a Darlington brewing company, Pugh's I think, established a large state of the art brewery just northeast of where the Great North Road was crossed by the railway. I'm quite confident that site was chosen not just for transport links, but also the water below.

From Yorkshire Water I would assume, Ca 69ppm, Mg 15ppm, Na 13.7ppm, SO4 110ppm, Chloride 17ppm with alkalinity 125 ppm as CaCO3, but an analysis would be safer and wiser. However, as a rough guide and back of the envelope calculation for bitter, I would try adding 1 ml CRS per 2 litres, 1 gm Gypsum per 5 litres and 1 gm of calcium chloride flake per 8 litres of all brewing liquor as a starting point. Sulphate adds nothing advantageous flavourwise to Stouts or Porters, so maybe 1 gm of calcium chloride per 3 litres of brewing liquor and half the quantity of CRS as for a bitter.

I'd appreciate your thoughts and any response you might have.

[Meatymc]

Hi Eric

Firstly, many thanks for the time and trouble you put in to the last post - much appreciated.

Do you treat your water to compliment your grainbill and style? A typical Bitter should be a pretty safe bet with suitable water treatment.

Yes - treated using Grahams calculator but with the occasional 'tweak'

From Yorkshire Water I would assume, Ca 69ppm, Mg 15ppm, Na 13.7ppm, SO4 110ppm, Chloride 17ppm with alkalinity 125 ppm as CaCO3

Very latest from YW (I contact them every year for latest readings) very similar to the above except Alkalinity which they quoted in early Summer as 171! Told them it had to be incorrect as it has been around the 120-8 range for years but they were adamant. Different guy to normal so decided to ignore and go with 125

Sulphate adds nothing advantageous flavourwise to Stouts or Porters, so maybe 1 gm of calcium chloride per 3 litres of brewing liquor and half the quantity of CRS as for a bitter.

Quite happy with my Porters just based on the calculator.

I RECKON HERE'S THE CRUX TO ALL THIS!

Just had a look back in my brew-book and I haven't actually done an out-and-out Bitter - apart from this Wet Hop brew we've been talking about, since February 2021

Can't say I'm doing anything dramatically different now compared to then but there have been tweaks along the way that seem to improve things bit-by-bit. Think it's time to give it another go - perhaps initially with bought in bittering hops of a known strength.

Thanks again

[Eric]

No more to be said if you use Graham's calculator.

My alkalinity has been at or near the top of its range all summer, no doubt due to the lack of rain. I use a TDS meter to determine alkalinity, and all other major ions and treat the water accordingly. A Salifert kit is then used to check the alkalinity is correct for the brew, which mean a kit lasts for a long time as any adjustment is minimal. Brewed today and with the recent rainfall, TDS and alkalinity are bobbing about and it might need a good bit more downfall before getting a more stable lower reading.

Yes, darker beers are more tolerant to alkalinity than paler. Bitters using crystal malt can be difficult as crystal can lower pH a lot more than might be thought making water treatment harder to predict.

Best wishes for your next brew.