Seattle Water Chemistry

[RGillette10]

I've done a lot of water chem research, and I wanted to add a thread for other homebrewers in Seattle are interested in water chemistry, mash ph, ions, additives, salts, etc. I like brewing dark beer. I bet there are other people in Seattle who would also like to brew porters and stouts. I don't always all-grain brew because with my current setup, it takes significantly longer. I usually have to move a hot brew kettle, and moving 3 gallons is a lot better than moving 5.5 of boiling hot wort down a flight of stairs. ANYWAY. He's what I do.

1/4 of a Campden tablet - sometimes the water smells like chlorine. Sometimes it does not. I put this in all my brews.

When Mashing (assumes roughly 8 gallons of water):

Dark beer:
1 tsp calcium chloride
and if you want a more British style
1 tsp gypsum
1.5 tsp baking soda

This mix is targeted to a balanced style.

Feel free to critique as you see fit. I thought this would be a useful for people who don't really want to wade through all the massive amounts of info. A couple helpful links are:

http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/Water_Quality/WaterQualityAnalyses/index.htm

http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

 

[ajdelange]

'Seattle Water Chemistry' is a sort of contradiction in terms. There just isn't much chemistry in Seattle water. We all hate you guys, you know.

More to the point: as the water is essentially RO water you can use the recommendation of the Primer (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/) directly. They are not inconsistent with what you have proposed except no bicarbonate (baking soda). This will raise mash pH when if fact you will need to lower it with acid in most cases (exceptions being darker beers).

 

[RGillette10]

Thank you ajdelange. Your work on the forums has been very helpful. It took me a while to understand that Seattle water is close to RO. Really appreciate your work and response.

 

[And1129]

In the Seattle area, the cascade mountains actually cause all of the rain and run off you experience there due an effect known as Orographic lifting. Most of your water comes either from surface run off or from a shallow glacial till aquifer that is recharged in a matter of days to weeks. That is why in Seattle you're brewing essentially with rain water. Contrast this with other parts of the world where ground water spends hundreds to thousands of years underground absorbing various minerals. I think light Calcium additions should always be helpful, and then adding sulfate may be depending on the style your brewing.

 

[RGillette10]

One question for And1129 or ajdelange, Ken Schwartz recommends adding one tablespoon of malt extract to mash and sparge water if you use RO. He says that it probably wouldn't work for tap, but what about Seattle tap? That should work, right?

link: http://home.roadrunner.com/~brewbeer/extract/pres.pdf

 

[ajdelange]

I remember Ken well. He once told me I wasn't nearly as stuffy in person as I seemed on line. You remember stuff like that. And I even think I remember discussing this idea with him but that is way in the past.

Anyway, the idea is that the extract was, presumably, made by someone who understands that for good quality beer the mash pH needs to be in a certain range and that if a wort is made with proper mash pH and then boiled the pH of the wort will be even lower. IOW, malt extract should contain some acid. A tablespoon isn't going to contain much,however, and you will need more acid than a tablespoon of malt extract can supply. For a dark beer you may need little or none. For a light beer you may need quite a bit. There are ways to estimate how much and plenty of spreadsheets and calculators try to do this based on guestimates (and rarely, measurements) of malt properties usually based on malt color.

The easiest way to handle this, IMO, is to make a test mash, measure its pH and then add sauermalz to the mash at the rate of 1% per 0.1 unit of desired pH reduction e.g. if a test mash measures pH 5.6 and you want 5.4 add 2% sauermalz to the grist. You can also handle it by adding liquid acid to the mash or the water prior to mashing.