Water Report

[greenhaze]

Going to brew my first all grain Saturday. This is our local water company's water report. Can anyone decipher it, do I need to add anything to the mash ?
any help would be appreciated.

Slainte

View attachment Mesa water report.pdf

 

[BrewWorm]

You need to do some reading I think. The adjustments to water are for two reasons. First and foremost to adjust mash pH by changing the residual alkalinity. Secondly to impart or counter certain characteristic flavors from salt ions. To know how to adjust your water we'd need to know what kind of beer you plan to brew. From my initial glance looks like there is a huge range given for your both your hardness and alkalinity, and calcium concentration. You'll be be fine for a darker beer, but probably won't get to the optimum pH for a light beer. I certainly would probably add a little calcium chloride (your sulfate is already at a good level so no gypsum) if I were going to try to brew a light beer with that water.

Honestly, I probably dilute that water with RO water by 50% and add a smaller amount of calcium chloride.

 

[greenhaze]

First of all thank you for your reply.

I was thinking of brewing a hefe
All Grain Recipe - Hefeweizen ::: 1.052/1.012 (6.25 Gal)
Grain Bill (Assumes 70% Efficiency)
6 lbs. - Pilsner Malt
6 lb. - Wheat Malt


Hop Schedule (12 IBU)
1 oz - Hallertau (60 Min.)
** OR Use Liberty (1oz) instead **

Yeast
Wyeast Weihenstephan Weizen (3068) - 800 ml starter

Mash/Sparge/Boil
Mash at about 152 F. Sparge as usual
Boil for 60 minutes
Cool and ferment at about 64F
Slainte

 

[BrewWorm]

Your residual alkalinity is too high for a those malts. I don't think you'll get a good conversion without any adjustment.

I would use 50% RO H20 and add 3/4tsp of Calcium Chloride and 1/4tsp of Gypsum per 5gallons of water. You have fairly high chloride and sulfates already so the dilution will be good there too.

 

[greenhaze]

I appreciate your help.
If I was to use bottled water would that be too bland for a hefe ?
Slainte

 

[BrewWorm]

I think the taste ions should be the least of your worries, you want to make sure your mash goes well as you convert those starches. Be aware that not all "bottled" water is not created equal. Distilled (collected from steam) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) is as close to ion free, pure water as you can get. Pure water won't work well because you need some Ca+ and Mg+ ions to lower mash pH lightly malted grains don't lower the mash pH enough on their own to get the job done.

I think you'll be good with my suggestions, maybe someone else will chime in. My water is much different from yours.

Your water by the way would be great to make an Amber Ale without any changes.

Also, you may want to think about extending your boil to a 75 or 90 minute boil, because your recipe is 50% pilsner malt. Get that wort boil rolling for about 15-30 min before your first hop addition. This will help with the higher DMS precusor content of the pilsner malt, and will prevent your beer from tasting like creamed corn.

 

[greenhaze]

Thank you for all the great info. I will go with your suggestions. Looks like I need to start reading, any good book you would recommend ?

Slainte

 

[BrewWorm]

Papazian goes into this a little in Joy of HomeBrewing, but I think Palmer does a more complete job. Go here http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html and look under "Understanding your Mash pH" in the All-Grain section.

Good luck!

 

[Yooper]

We have a ton of brewing water information in the Brew Science forum area. If you want a quick overview, start here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

The Brew Science area is where the "big guns" on water chemistry hang out, and I know that you could find great information there, based on your particular water profile if you want to ask questions there.

My knowledge of water chemistry is pretty limited, but what little I know I learned from AJ deLange, Mabrungard, and Kai Troester, and they have been very helpful to me as well as many others.

Mabrungard has a wonderful water resource called "Bru'n Water" that had great information on water, as well as a useful spreadsheet to predict mash pH. It has a bit of a learning curve, but I use it every brew day now. I think you can easily find it on the internet (or in a link in mabrungard's signature in this forum) and you'll find it very helpful!

 

[greenhaze]

Just wondering if I should add the additives before I boil or after ?
Slainte

 

[BrewWorm]

Because the ions are needed in the mash you need to add before mash, to your strike water. Be sure to calc correct amount for mash water volume.

I add to HLT so all the water I use, mash, lauter, boil is the same.