Looking for Assistance; Got My Water Profile Back From Ward Labs...

[TheManWithNoTan]

Greetings all,

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I've been homebrewing now for a little over a year and have made huge leaps and bounds in my beer quality and brewing techniques (in no small part due to the wealth of information I have read on these forums). However, I have always suffered with my hop heavy beers having a "muted" flavor that is difficult to describe. Talks with members of my local brew club and owners of the LHBS have revealed that my water profile may be to blame. I broke down and sent a sample of my water to Ward Labs and have received the results. I am currently working to input the results into the program Bru'n but am looking for any initial first impressions as my water chemistry knowledge is next to nil. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. The report is as follows; all measurements where not noted are in ppm:

pH 7.8

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 97

Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.16

Cations / Anions, me/L 1.4 / 1.3 ppm

Sodium, Na: 20

Potassium, K: 1

Calcium, Ca: 6

Magnesium, Mg: 2

Total Hardness, CaCO3: 23

Nitrate, NO3-N: 0.1 (SAFE)

Sulfate, SO4-S: 8

Chloride, Cl: 11

Carbonate, CO3 : < 1.0

Bicarbonate, HCO3: 27

Total Alkalinity, CaCO3: 22

Total Phosphorus, P: 0.32

Total Iron, Fe: 0.02

 

[Hermit]

Looks like low mineral content so it should be easy to work with. Gypsum additions will help with your hoppy beers. Calcium Chloride if you want to sweeten things up a bit.

 

[mchrispen]

That is pretty amazing water. Fundamentally you will simply need to treat for chlorine/chloramine with active charcoal filtering and/or campden tablets.

You mention muted hops and as Hermit points out, some sulfate from gypsum may help to sharpen up the hop expression. That said - proper hop recipe choices, late boil addition techniques and dry hopping after fermentation go quite far in helping a richer hop expression. I would also submit that striking the proper mash pH is also far more important. Bru'n can help you estimate mash pH, and how much acid or aciduated malt you might require.

Something you might like to try is to dose your "muted" beer with some hydrated gypsum. If you measure carefully, you can work backwards to determine roughly how much sulfate you like - or at what level it might clear up the hop expression issue. The same might work for you with malty beers - but with calcium chloride.

You are going to get differing opinions here about chasing specific profiles as matches to your expectations in the finished beers. The profiles in Bru'n Water are great starting points - generally linked to the beer color (I personally like slightly less sulfate than the Pale Ale profile in Bru'n) and bitter/malty/balance goal. Starting out - ignore some of the confusing numbers, such as RA or a negative alkalinity. Focus on sulfate and chloride levels first - and then slowly refine by adding in other ions... make sure to estimate toward a 5.4 mash pH in the first few adjustments, giving you the best room for error. Get a quality pH meter (Hanna or Milwaukee) and keep it calibrated.

Finally, brew and refine. Nothing can replace experience and observation.

 

[mabrungard]

Damn! That is a great starting point. However, it will produce 'bland' beer flavor if used as-is for some styles. It is not surprising that the hoppy styles are not satisfying. The primary deficiency is sulfate, so gypsum and a teeny bit of epsom salt should make a major difference in the flavor of hoppy beers brewed with that water.

I would start out adding gypsum and epsom salt to that tap water, only to the point that the mash pH was starting to fall below 5.4. You don't want the pH to drop much lower since that will again mute the hop expression and bittering. Not exactly the thing you want in a hoppy beer. If you like that result, then you might explore the Pale Ale profile with its substantial sulfate content. For that profile, you will need a little added alkalinity in the mash to keep the pH from dropping too low.