BlindFaith
Well-Known Member
This was my first time brewing with any water additives today. I went to the store and got 8 gallons of RO and had my basic "soft" water profile ready to go, but I goofed up and bought Calcium Carbonate instead of Calcium Chloride. I added the amount I needed and noticed the water was chalky white. I knew something was amiss and realized that I had added "chalk" to my strike water. Well, I poured it all out and went to the LHBS to get some CaCl2. I am going to brew tomorrow with the correct chemicals this time. :rockin:
There is no way to tell how bad the beer would have been as I planned on adding more of what I though was CaCl2. I think my water is very hard as I can brew darker beers with no efficiency issues, but as soon as I brew a lighter color my efficiency drops into the netherworlds. So, given that my water is assumed to be hard (no water profile, but I am working on it), I was attempting to brew a standard APA today, and the Calcium Carbonate would have raised my pH even higher........ how bad would this beer have been? Fortunately, I will never know.
There is no way to tell how bad the beer would have been as I planned on adding more of what I though was CaCl2. I think my water is very hard as I can brew darker beers with no efficiency issues, but as soon as I brew a lighter color my efficiency drops into the netherworlds. So, given that my water is assumed to be hard (no water profile, but I am working on it), I was attempting to brew a standard APA today, and the Calcium Carbonate would have raised my pH even higher........ how bad would this beer have been? Fortunately, I will never know.
