Quote:
Originally Posted by CheckRaise
do any brewers use purified water (like deionized or distilled)? wonder how that would affect the taste
That would mess with the brew in all kinds of way, from throwing off the pH of the mash, which affects how the enzymes present convert starches to sugars, to the main fermentation and providing yeast with essential nutrients for proper reproduction. However, and I don't know why I'm so certain about this other than its just practical, I'm pretty sure the big guys all start with distilled or its practical equivalent and then add back minerals to build a specific water profile. Basically a recipe for a certain water in order to be consistent. Its actually not hard to achieve just about any water profile, given you know where you want to go and you start with essentially pure H2O.
Most homebrewers don't need to worry about it, but just like many other aspects of the hobby, there's a pretty good rabbit hole to wander into it if you want to geek out about it. I don't bother - middle TN actually has pretty good brewing water - except for my Bohemian Pilsner, and even then I KISS: half metro Nashville water, half distilled.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CheckRaise
for all the Hopslam lovers is it just like a perfect execution of a DIPA or is their something different/unique about it? my store carries all kinds of Bell's brews but i haven't seen any Hopslam yet, will definitely pick up whatever i can if they get some in though
I've only had one bottle so far, but I wasn't all that impressed with Hopslam. I'm gonna try two back-to-back to see if I just missed something. Don't get me wrong, it was a tasty beer, but I definitely wouldn't pay $20 for another sixer.
I think Pliny the Elder is the perfect execution of an IIPA. If you want to be nitty enough to draw a distinction between DIPA and IIPA, then I guess Hopslam is the best DIPA I've had, but many people put the two beers in the same category, and in that case I think Pliny takes it hands-down.