Help with my water

[2005STi]

Hi everyone, I've been brewing for 8 months, 5 extract batches and 6 all grain. I've been reading a lot and listening to the BN everyday on my long commute but haven't dove into the plethora of info on water yet. I was wondering if you guys could help me with how to tweak my water to make a nice IPA. None of mine have 'popped' like I'd like them to so far.

Here's my county's water analysis (in averages):

Alkalinity: 50 ppm
Aluminum: 17 ppm
Ammonia: 0.53 ppm (as Nitrogen)
Chloride: 32 ppm
Chromium: 0.07 ppb
Hardness: 6.9 gpg (as calcium carbonate)
Iron: 10 ppb
Manganese: 17 ppb
Nickel: 12 ppb
pH: 8.0
Phosphorus: 24 ppb
Silica: 5.1 ppm
Sodium: 9.0 ppm
Sulfate: 32.6 ppm

I'm sure some things are irrelevant but that just shows you how little I know about water Chemistry.

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Hi everyone, I've been brewing for 8 months, 5 extract batches and 6 all grain. I've been reading a lot and listening to the BN everyday on my long commute but haven't dove into the plethora of info on water yet. I was wondering if you guys could help me with how to tweak my water to make a nice IPA. None of mine have 'popped' like I'd like them to so far.

Here's my county's water analysis (in averages):

Alkalinity: 50 ppm
Aluminum: 17 ppm
Ammonia: 0.53 ppm (as Nitrogen)
Chloride: 32 ppm
Chromium: 0.07 ppb
Hardness: 6.9 gpg (as calcium carbonate)
Iron: 10 ppb
Manganese: 17 ppb
Nickel: 12 ppb
pH: 8.0
Phosphorus: 24 ppb
Silica: 5.1 ppm
Sodium: 9.0 ppm
Sulfate: 32.6 ppm

I'm sure some things are irrelevant but that just shows you how little I know about water Chemistry.

Thanks!

Much of our water information is in the brew science forum, so I'm moving your post there so that the water gurus can give some help.

Overall, your water is pretty darn nice for brewing! A few tweaks could put it over the top.

 

[2005STi]

^ thanks! Any small additions I could benefit from? I hear small amounts of gypsum are good for ales but I don't know how much to add.

 

[mabrungard]

That is a fairly nice water for brewing purposes. The calcium content is probably marginal since the hardness is moderate. Magnesium may be a component in that hardness value. All other ions are quite modest and are good starting points.

If you are looking for more 'pop' and dryness in your pale ales and IPAs, boosting the sulfate is a requirement. I have tasted many pale ales and IPAs that were brewed with low ion water like RO or distilled water. They were 'bland'. Not bad, just bland.

Bringing the sulfate to a minimum of 100 ppm is a modest starting point for a pale ale. I find that bringing the sulfate to 300 ppm offers more of the flavor I expect in a pale ale.