gypsum needs with a water softner
Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:45 pm
I just made a hoppy 4% pale ale made completely with home grown chinook hops. It turned out really good. I used .75oz at 60 min, .25oz at 30 min, 1oz at 5 min and dry hopped 2 oz... it had a real nice hoppy smell and flavor for about a week. But the hoppiness smoothed out really quick.
It got me thinking, I use water through my water softner and was thinking this might be the cause. I did add 1 tsp of gypsum to the boil (5.8 gallons). Does this seem like enough for a hoppy pale ale or IPA? I know I probably need to test the water.. just thought I'd get some ideas... related, are the test strips to test the calcium/sodium levels?
Thanks in advance!
It got me thinking, I use water through my water softner and was thinking this might be the cause. I did add 1 tsp of gypsum to the boil (5.8 gallons). Does this seem like enough for a hoppy pale ale or IPA? I know I probably need to test the water.. just thought I'd get some ideas... related, are the test strips to test the calcium/sodium levels?
Thanks in advance!