Water suggestions

[Riot]

So I have about half a dozen all grain brews under my belt now, and feel that it's time to start looking into water chemistry. I've gotten pretty good results so far, but I believe I can do better with what I have available. Water report is as follows.

Ca: 34 mg/L
Mg: 8.7 mg/L
Na: 9.6 mg/L
Cl: 17.6 mg/L
SO4: 40 mg/L
Alkalinity: 79.2 ppm CaCO3
PH: 8.2

I know I am relatively fortunate having reasonably soft water, but I am interested in what brewers with more experience would do to treat this water for beer. I brew mainly English pale ales lately, though I would like to have an idea of what to do across multiple style ranges. So far I've only been adding acidity as suggested by the brewersfriend water calculator to keep mash PH within acceptable ranges.

 

[ajdelange]

No one here is going to be able to tell you that (though some will try). There are many approaches to the stylistic aspects of treating brewing water. I will tell you that you have too much sufate for a good ale and others will tell you that you need at least five times as much. Certainly this question has been answered dozens of time on this forum - in the last 6 mos. I'd suggest you look through some of the past posts-especially here. This is almost the Brewing Water Chemistry topic though other aspects of brewing science do occasionally creep in.

Controlling pH is the sine qua non so you are going in the right direction by doing that.

 

[Riot]

Sulphate concentration seems to be a matter of opinion and taste as much as anything until it gets way put of hand from what I've read so far. I think I'm going to address that via several small batches all using the same grist and hopping rates, one diluted with 50% distilled, one using the water I have as is, and one with an elevated sulphate content. Side by side tastings should tell me how I feel about that specifically. I'm curious as to whether or not I should be supplementing calcium to at least the 50ppm level for yeast metabolism, or if what I have is close enough that it won't make much of a difference. So far I seem to have pretty healthy fermentations, though I obviously haven't done a comparison with higher levels to see if there is an appreciable difference.

 

[ajdelange]

Keep in mind that you can learn quite a bit about the effects of chloride and sulfate by brewing a beer low in both and then tasting the resulting beer with additions of gypsum and/or calcium chloride in the glass.

As for calcium: at 34 you will be OK. Additional calcium does have some benefits but none that make the difference between good and great beers. It affects things like brightness of runoff, amylase protection and flocculation. Add tincture of time and be careful with your mash and you will get equally good beers as those brewed with higher calcium. Calcium is usally a vehicle for getting chloride and sulfate into the mash. That's my opinion. You will hear others and I'm not asserting that they are wrong and I am right.

 

[mabrungard]

AJ, I think you miss-spoke. The 40 ppm sulfate is probably too much for an European lager. Its fine for any ale.

Sulfate is a necessary component in producing an adequately drying finish in a beer. Some brewers may want more than available in that water.

 

[ajdelange]

I said I would say it is too much for an ale but that others would say it isn't enough. It's way to much for a Bohemian Pils or indeed probably any beer that uses noble hops but taste is personal and some might like a Pils brewed with that much. Exports probably have that much or more.

In any event the point I was trying to make is that opinion on this varies and that therefore he will have to do experiments to determine what he likes best. Lets also point out that some beers that are made with 0 sulfate or very low sulfate have dry finishes. It depends on the fermentation and the amount of chloride present (among, no doubt, other things).