179 replies to this topic

[positiveContact]

Brewtan beers seem smoother and although the hops seem to come through with clarity, they can seem reduced somehow... probably from the reduced harshness that the brewtan is doing for us.

 

have you made any beers with really dark roasted grains yet?  I'm not sure if porters/stouts are part of your regular stuff.  maybe they are on the bad list with Belgian beers?

[neddles]

do they say what iron does if it is present?  I have to think at some point it would start to taste metallic but are there other affects?

Metallic, bloodlike flavors. Risk of corrosion on stainless equipment, particularly in the presence of chlorides and sulfates.

 

I think iron is also implicated in other oxidative pathways oft mentioned by the low O2 folks.

Edited by neddles, 16 November 2016 - 01:33 PM.

[positiveContact]

Metallic, bloodlike flavors. Risk of corrosion on stainless equipment, particularly in the presence of chlorides and sulfates.

 

I think iron is also implicated in other oxidative pathways oft mentioned by the low O2 folks.

 

well I guess it's good we are getting rid of it!

[Big Nake]

have you made any beers with really dark roasted grains yet?  I'm not sure if porters/stouts are part of your regular stuff.  maybe they are on the bad list with Belgian beers?

Things like dunkel, Vienna and dark lagers. These are beers with 2 ounces of Carafa in them so not really close to porters or stouts.

[denny]

I never did get an answer from Joe and I emailed him about a month ago.

I also wonder if the iron that has existed in the water all this time had a positive or negative impact on previous beers and what the brewtan will do now that it's in place.

 

It's just you...

[denny]

Joe's reply...

 

"In my experience, unless you have extremely high levels of Iron in your water – so much that it can give a strong metallic taste – the suggested level of Brewtan as given should be fine and properly functional.  I don’t have any specifics on how much more Brewtan you should use in that high iron water, but honestly you shouldn’t be using that water to brew with in the first place without proper treatment to remove much of the iron."

[positiveContact]

Joe's reply...

 

"In my experience, unless you have extremely high levels of Iron in your water – so much that it can give a strong metallic taste – the suggested level of Brewtan as given should be fine and properly functional.  I don’t have any specifics on how much more Brewtan you should use in that high iron water, but honestly you shouldn’t be using that water to brew with in the first place without proper treatment to remove much of the iron."

 

thanks!  cutting and pasting from my phone is bit of a PITA.

[Brauer]

My lingering concern would be if you are binding brewtan with known iron in the water and that brewtan is used up such that there are no residual benefits. IOW, is there enough brewtan left to do it's job for the duration of the mash?

Do you know the weight of Brewtan B you are using? If you know the iron level in your water, all the better. Tannic acid should bind about 1/10th it's weight in iron, depending on what else it's reacting with.

There is also iron in Malt. Since iron is known to induce harsh flavors, it is a potential mechanism of action.

[neddles]

Interesting. I could measure the weight of the Brewtan B pretty easily. Since I brew with RO water I don't have as much to gain by this as Morty might. Morty can you get the iron content in your water?

[positiveContact]

Interesting. I could measure the weight of the Brewtan B pretty easily. Since I brew with RO water I don't have as much to gain by this as Morty might. Morty can you get the iron content in your water?

All I have is old reports from the municipal water supplier.

Otherwise I have to send the water to ward or something.

[neddles]

Can you get a recent report from your municipal source or is that a PIA?

[Big Nake]

It's a mild pain to send the water to Ward Labs but for $16.50 (test W6) you get to know your numbers for real and they will tell you a lot more than the standard six water ions we usually look at. Iron and copper will be on there too. Get a small water bottle, rinse it out, fill it half way with your source water and send it off along with a sheet you can download from the Wards site. They'll email you the results. It's a very good block of information to have and I should actually do it again now that I'm paying much more attention to water and pH.

[Brauer]

Can you get a recent report from your municipal source or is that a PIA?

I think it would be unusual for municipal water to exceed 10 mg/L, especially in New England. At that extreme, ~2 g of Brewtan could be sequestered in 5 gallons. Odds are it's 10-50% of that. If it is pulling that much iron out of the mash, though, that could be beneficial.

[positiveContact]

Can you get a recent report from your municipal source or is that a PIA?

They put outa report every year but as of late it is a bit lacking on the kind of info we need as brewers. I've emailed this guy that works there and he doesn't have anything for me either.

[positiveContact]

It's a mild pain to send the water to Ward Labs but for $16.50 (test W6) you get to know your numbers for real and they will tell you a lot more than the standard six water ions we usually look at. Iron and copper will be on there too. Get a small water bottle, rinse it out, fill it half way with your source water and send it off along with a sheet you can download from the Wards site. They'll email you the results. It's a very good block of information to have and I should actually do it again now that I'm paying much more attention to water and pH.

 

prices have gone up a bit!

 

W-5A

Brewers Test

.................................................................................

$27.25

Sodium

Nitrate

Total Hardness (Lime)

Calcium

Carbonate

Total Alkalinity

Magnesium

Bicarbonate

Iron

Potassium

Sulfate

Phosphorus

Chloride

Electrical Conductivity

pH

Est. Total Dissolved Solids

 

W-6

Household Mineral Test

.......................................................................

$21.00

Sodium

Nitrate

Total Hardness (Lime)

Calcium

Carbonate

Total Alkalinity

Magnesium

Bicarbonate

Potassium

Sulfate

Chloride

Electrical Conductivity

pH

Est. Total Dissolved Solids

Edited by Evil_Morty, 17 November 2016 - 04:53 AM.

[positiveContact]

seems like I'd need to do the brewers test to get iron content?

[matt6150]

seems like I'd need to do the brewers test to get iron content?

Yep, I just did a W-6 last week and definitely no iron content.

[Big Nake]

Huh. I had iron and copper on my last W6 but that was 2011. Yeah, it's a little steeper than the W6 to get the brewer's test. Maybe you just wait to sample a couple of these beers and see what happens. If you don't keel over, screw the water test? Personally I like having the numbers for that water that came out of my tap because I would be working blindly without them. I'll still probably do a W6 for my own needs sometime soon.

[dmtaylor]

I'm glad we've figured this out, glad it was just iron and no longer soluble.  Git that iron out of the water!  Sounds like a huge side-benefit of Brewtan.  It's so great, it does stuff that's not even well understood or recognized!

[positiveContact]

here is the ESB.  my next beer will be much lighter and assuming it turns my strike water green I'll post a pic of that one too.