I had my water tested and outside of high alkalinity, it seems that I am close to where I want to be. Sulfate and chloride could use some amendment, and I am not opposed to doing that small amount of gypsum and calcium chloride, but counteracting the immense hardness ions with some good old H+ seems the way to go.
Adding salts can help balance the alkalinity, but not without increasing my other elements by too much. I have played with dilution of water by using distilled water up to 50%, and then adding 1/2tsp CaSO4 and 1/2tsp, CaCl2 using this calculator. I'd love to come up with standard remedies that equate my water to the standard style's profiles, without resorting to distilled water.
Adding more in the way of 5.2 also increases minerals.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/
How would you do it?
Can I just adjust the pH of the mash of 100% well water, using phosphoric or some other mild acid, rather than trying to balance the HCO3, to gain some better efficiency? And can I do this by math or spreadsheet rather than needing a pH meter? I read that Palmer had acids in his original spreadsheet, but then he dumbed it down.
Here is the Ward Labs Test Result:
Water Test Sample B COLD 6/23/09-Ward Labs
Private Well- Perry, MI
Ph 7.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est. 482
Electrical Conductivivty mmho/cm 0.80
Cations/Anions me/L 7.2/8.3
ppm
_____________
Sodium, Na 20
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 71
Magnesium, Mg 33
Total Hardness, CaCO3 315
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 25
Chloride, Cl 16
Carbonate, CO3 <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 384
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 315
Fluoride, F 0.62
Total Iron, Fe 0.10
“<” Not Detected/Below Detection Limit
__________________
Adding salts can help balance the alkalinity, but not without increasing my other elements by too much. I have played with dilution of water by using distilled water up to 50%, and then adding 1/2tsp CaSO4 and 1/2tsp, CaCl2 using this calculator. I'd love to come up with standard remedies that equate my water to the standard style's profiles, without resorting to distilled water.
Adding more in the way of 5.2 also increases minerals.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/
How would you do it?
Can I just adjust the pH of the mash of 100% well water, using phosphoric or some other mild acid, rather than trying to balance the HCO3, to gain some better efficiency? And can I do this by math or spreadsheet rather than needing a pH meter? I read that Palmer had acids in his original spreadsheet, but then he dumbed it down.
Here is the Ward Labs Test Result:
Water Test Sample B COLD 6/23/09-Ward Labs
Private Well- Perry, MI
Ph 7.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est. 482
Electrical Conductivivty mmho/cm 0.80
Cations/Anions me/L 7.2/8.3
ppm
_____________
Sodium, Na 20
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 71
Magnesium, Mg 33
Total Hardness, CaCO3 315
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 25
Chloride, Cl 16
Carbonate, CO3 <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 384
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 315
Fluoride, F 0.62
Total Iron, Fe 0.10
“<” Not Detected/Below Detection Limit
__________________