Please diagnose my issue

As I suspected... "Total alkalinity is 35 (as CaCO3)"... which really in a way makes things even worse - because that should be fine!!!

To quote "The Practical Brewer", "If the alkalinity is 50 ppm. or less, pH is not important and values ranging from pH 4 to pH 9 can be acceptable". You should not be having pH/sparge/tannin issues and I'd think you'd have enough minerals/salts to get a decent flavor profile.

???? (head scratch)

Prior to brewing with 100% distilled water and adding salts (which is really not a bad way to go if you've got the money - think Macro-brewery), why not try using just your city water on its own first? I understand chloramine is an issue, but I'm wondering if everything hasn't been overanalyzed and overworked to begin with... ?

Or are you OK going forward with always using distilled water and adding salts? You might solve the problem, but you won't really have solved the problem, you'll just have changed the circumstances to circumnavigate it.

 

What's the context of this quote? Is it talking about mash pH or starting water pH? And acceptable for what? TIA!

 

Try adding the campden tablets the day before you brew, to make sure the chlorine is removed. Also, campden tablets will release a little bit of sulfur dioxide; you might want to give it some time to gas out. A lot of beers, especially in England, are treated with campden or something similar to extend shelf life but they are generally not hoppy beers.

 

Chlorine + Phenols ---> Chlorphenols

I would either give the campden more working time, or build from distilled. When I use campden, which isn't very often, I add it to the water before starting to heat it. I don't know for sure that adding it to the already heated water (and thus reducing the time before grain tannins are introduced) is your issue, but the chlorophenols would suggest it is.

 

The starting pH of your water isn't really relevant to mash pH, where other factors are much more important, which is why most mash pH calculators completely ignore it. But if your pH is a lot different from the water report, maybe the important things are different too.

 

wouldn't the sulfur dioxide be driven off by the boil?

 

Not a water expert, but since pH is a logarithmic scale, that seems like a huge difference that strongly suggests the actual minerals in the water are different from the report.

 

If you are measuring a water pH so differently then what is reported by your water company I would question whether your pH meter is working properly in this measurement.

You previously posted: "The new pH calibration solution is on delivery, should have next week. A bad pH meter might explain all of this!

It might be wise to await the delivery of the new pH calibration solution.

Cheers!

 

Interesting problem. I've read through the above discussion. Here's my 2 cents:

(1) The ion levels look ok for hoppy beers. Na is a bit high, but I doubt that this is the problem. Cl might be a tad high, too, for hoppy styles, but I also doubt this is the problem.

(2) If your mash pH is in the range of 5.4 to 5.6, then this is unlikely the cause of such severe problems. Even if your mash pH is 5.8, you should still be able to make a hoppy beer. (I used to make IPAs with untreated, high alkalinity water. They were not as good as with more appropriate water, but the were still decent -- not dull.)

(3) To determine if it is a chlorine/chloramine problem from the water, I would make a beer with disilled/RO + salts (perhaps trying to mimic the city water otherwise).

(4) I believe that most people add Campden when the water is cool. The reaction is supposed to be nearly immediate. It might be that adding hot is ineffective. I would still do (3) to see if it is the city water.

(5) Given the high level of "dullness", it sounds to me like it might be an infection in equipment somewhere. Phenols are not an uncommon byproduct of fermentation by some unwanted bugs. A thorough sanitizing of all cold-side equipment (including ball valve on kettle, if there is one) might be wort a try.

(6) Holy cow! What a water report. I guess this is what the taxes in MA will buy you. My city water report here in UT is essentially useless (from a brewing perspective).

 

Yes, but that means it's still around for the mash. Is this a problem? No idea, probably not, but I'm paranoid about such things.

 

How did you drink your beer at your old place? Different kegerator? bottles?