Belgian Wit water adjustment

[nexy_sm]

Hi all guys,

I am about to brew Belgian Wit next week. The grain bill is following:
50% Pale malt
20% Wheat malt
30% flaked wheat

The water in my city is highly alkaline so I would like to use bottled soft water with some adjustment. The water profile is:

Ca - 10 mg/l
K - < 1.0
Na - < 2.7
Mg - 0.91
HCO3 - 42.7
SiO2 / H2SiO3 - 13.7 / 17.8
SO4 - 5.4
NO3 - 1.3
Cl - < 1.0

My plan is to add some Calcium but I would like if somebody can advice me which residual alkalinity should I aim.

Cheers and thank you

 

[murphyslaw]

I don't have access to it at the moment, but you should check out the Bru'n water spreadsheet. Some others on here pointed me to it a while back and though it seems complicated, its incredibly helpful.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/home/files

 

[nexy_sm]

I have it, but the problem is I have no equipment for measiring Ph, and would like to be on the safe ground concerning mash Ph.

 

[poptarts]

People cant just guess your PH, it should be on you water report

 

[LLBeanJ]

The Bru 'n Water spreadsheet is pretty comprehensive and can be a bit daunting for the first-timer. The EZ Water spreadsheet is not nearly as thorough as Bru 'n Water but it is fairly easy to use and can give you a pretty good idea of what your mash pH should be with your particular water and grain bill. I have very soft water where I live and I only do water chemistry adjustments for dark beers and IPAs. My wheat beers are brewed with straight tap water, though I do add a campden tablet for chlorine/chloramine.

For a wit beer, I'm pretty sure you can brew it with your bottled water as-is and it will turn out fine. Don't sweat it, just brew it.

 

[mabrungard]

Wit depends on having a lactic taste to accentuate that tart character. That proposed water won't give you much opportunity to add much lactic acid to create that character. Your tap water may actually be better suited to brewing a Wit since its higher alkalinity will require more lactic acid addition. Don't rely on adding calcium to fix pH. Using acid is a better approach and when you use the correct kind of acid (lactic), there are definite flavor benefits.

 

[nexy_sm]

Well, it might be that i don't get something, but I should tune mash ph to 5.2 or so in order to have proper conversion, and the yeast should provide tart taste? If I put acid and go below that value no conversion will hapen?

best

 

[mabrungard]

5.2 is a good target. As long as you have good information on your alkalinity value, then you can calculate the acid addition fairly accurately. Sure, you might undershoot or overshoot a bit, but it shouldn't be enough to move the pH out of a range needed for conversion.

If you are using that 42 ppm alkalinity value, you should have little problem since you won't have to add much acid and the chance of getting a lactic 'twang' flavor is fairly low.

 

[nexy_sm]

Hi,

the first problem is I am not able to measure pH at the moment, i will still have to buy a meter. What is more important for me is to understand what's going on. So, what is the difference between my water of 43 ppm alkalinity and some other water with 100 ppm alkalinity treated with some amount of lactic acid in order to lower alkalinity to 43 ppm. Ok I will get reaction products, but if they precipitate, than those two water should be more or less identical?
Isn't tartness in Wit due to the yeast?

 

[nexy_sm]

Hello again guys,

actually my question can be reformulated a bit.
What is the difference in taste between beers mashed at 5.6 Ph and 5.3? Is that difference tastable?

thanks

 

[acidrain]

You don't really need a PH meter if you know your water report and a target that you are trying to build to... the spread sheets are right on.
As for taste difference, the 5.3 might be a little more tart, but those two values are really close, so maybe un-noticeable.

 

[Bryceefisher]

My suggestion... And take it however you want is to put any money you were going to spend on ingredients into a pH meter. I wish someone told me to buy one as my first piece of all grain equipment. Familiarize yourself with Bru n water and test you mash. I personally start with distilled water and go from there (no guessing). The quality of your beers will improve.

This is the tester I bought and at $62 with free shipping it's worth it's weight in gold. Amazon has great deals on solutions. Anyways best of luck.

http://www.water-testers.com/contents/en-us/p4324_milwaukee_mw101_ph_meter.html

 

[craigmw]

Hello again guys,

actually my question can be reformulated a bit.
What is the difference in taste between beers mashed at 5.6 Ph and 5.3? Is that difference tastable?

thanks

I'm not sure that the mash pH will impact the final taste in the way you normally think of pH. Mash pH will influence the rate of starch conversion just as mash temp will. If your mash pH is too high, you will get poor conversion, leaving lots of unfermentable sugars and dextrines (giving some residual sweetness and mouthfeel to the final beer). I believe the pH of finished beer is considerably lower than the mash pH due to the generation of carbonic acid by the CO2 released during fermentation (and by natural or forced carbonation). The real benefit of having a reasonable mash pH is starch conversion, which results in better attenuation.

Incidentally, if you are concerned, you can use RO or distilled water, which should have very low dissolved solutes. Most commercial bottled water will have test results available online. There are plenty of resources available to "build" your water profile using various salt additions added to RO/distilled water.

 

[millsbrew]

What water profile did you end up going with? I'm going to be creating an Imperial Wit and need some help picking a water profile.

Thanks.

 

[nexy_sm]

Hi millsbrew,

I think that I took the water from well in village near my hometown. I don't know what was inside but the beer was fine.