Mineral addition amounts to RO water

[TandemTails]

I've been brewing with tap water for my previous beers and would like to finally take the leap into adjusting my water. I can get RO water for about 25c per gallon which I'm assuming has a pH of 7 or 8 and no minerals in it.

If I look up a profile it tells me the ppm of a profile but is there an easy tool that calculates additions (in g or tsp) per mineral based on the profile?

I tried downloading Bru'N water but it doesn't work worth a damn in Numbers on a mac. The water calculator on BrewersFriend wants you to manually enter the grams of each mineral addition but each one also seems to adjust another one so getting the right amounts is nearly impossible.

Is there a tool that's easy to use that will simply tell you the amount of minerals to add based on a water profile (and maybe grain bill)?

 

[rtracer]

EZ water calc

 

[Sadu]

I just started tinkering with water and it can be very complicated if you let it. But also if you keep it simple to start with it you can still get better beer without it being rocket science. My water doesn't have much of anything in it so I guess similar to RO.

My advice - from one beginner to another. Let's assume we are talking about a lightly-coloured beer to start with - a lager or pale ale.

1. Forget about trying to replicate the Munich water profile or whatever, that is not super helpful. You can guarantee that the brewers in Munich are adding / removing stuff to their water to get the result they want for the beer they are brewing.

2. Aim for about 50ppm calcium for better yeast health. Add a combo of Calcium Chloride and Gypsum to do this.

3. If you want a malty beer then you want more Chloride and less Sulfate. That means more Calcuim Chloride (up to 100ppm) and less/no Gypsum.
If you want a hoppy beer like a pale ale then you want more Sulfate (up to 150ppm to start with) which means more Gypsum and less/no Calcium Chloride.
Otherwise just get your Calcium to 50ppm using a bit of both and let the Chloride and Sulfate balance out at whatever they naturally sit at.

4. The above mineral additions will drive your pH down a bit (maybe 0.1 or so). This is good but for a light-coloured beer or pale ale you will need to drive it down even further. Use some acidulated malt or lactic / phosphoric acid to do this. The spreadsheets will guide you as to how much to bring it into the 5.3-5.5 range. Measure the actual mash pH at room temp after 20 mins and record in your brew log.
Go conservative with the acid for your first batch, the world does not end if you end up a bit high but if you are closer to the right range that is better than nothing. When you have wrecked 3 batches by adding too much acid you will appreciate this advice.

I don't worry about anything else - magnesium / sodium etc. Later on I will get to that but for now if I can keep the mash pH good and up the sulfates for a hoppy pale ale then that is a solid improvement over doing nothing and I'm happy with that.

 

[Khasta]

Good read!!! [emoji106]

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Read the Water Chemistry Primer (at last several pages of it) in the Brew Science forum.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460