bduane

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I've read a lot on water chemistry, and there is one concept i still havn't been able to grasp, and that is the effects of high Alkalinity.

Is the only concern of water with high alkalinity a high mash pH? If you correct the pH with gypsom/cacl/lambic acid, and after that your other minerals are then where you want them, is there still a drawback to the source water having high alkalinity?

Is there any reason to dilute when i have to add gypsum/cacl anyways to get calcium in range? Adding a couple ml of lactic acid if needed to further drop the pH seems much simpler and even cheaper than buying distilled/ro water. Are there other "problems" high source water alkalinity might cause if i don't dilute?

mabrungard

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You can get by without diluting to reduce alkalinity. But the other effects of high calcium or acidification can take a toll on the finished beer flavor. If the alkalinity is in the hundreds of ppm, then you might consider other alternatives to water treatment than bumping calcium or acidifying. Dilution is only one of the alternatives.

Another good alternative might be lime softening treatment. Since the water alkalinity is high, it means the temporary hardness is high too. Lime softening is ideal for reducing hardness and alkalinity. That might be something you should investigate.

__________________
Martin Brungard, P.E. D.WRE
Carmel, IN
BJCP National
Foam Blowers of Indiana (FBI)
Brewing Water Information at:
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

johnsma22

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Think of alkalinity as being a sponge (buffer). If you have high alkalinity it will take more water salts or acid to cause a change in pH to occur. The pH will change easily if your alkalinity is low.

Diluting hard water makes it easier to adjust the pH without having to use large amounts of chemical additions.

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Cheers,
John

bduane

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Ok, but lets remove the salts from the equation. Acccording to Palmer you can use up to 2ml per gallon of lactic acid before it beings imparting any flavors. It seems like you could bring the pH/alkalinity down to a reasonable range on just about any water without exceeding that recommendation for very cheap.

Are there other reasons you might not want to use lactic acid to reduce alkalinity? What other effects of using it are there to worry about?

Yooper

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In my case, my alkalinity is high. That makes my beers not taste really great. I can use 1 ml of lactic acid per gallon before I taste it, but that still doesn't get my pH in range. My chloride is low, so adding some CaCl2 is a good idea. But that doesn't do it either.

RO water costs $.78 cents for two gallons. I can buy 2 two gallon jugs and have no problem hitting my mash pH and getting the right flavor profile. so that's what' I've been doing.

The next thing I'm going to try is using slaked lime to drop my alkalinity.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

ajdelange

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When you lower alkalinity with acid it is gone i.e. removed from the water as surely as when one dilutes it. The difference is that each molecule of HCO3- that has been removed with acid is replaced by an anion of the acid you used. This can be a problem if you don't want the flavors of the anion. It is not a problem if you were planning to augment chloride and/or sulfate. You use hydrochloric and/or sulfuric acids and kill 2 birds with one stone (problems of obtaining food grade HCl and H2SO4 aside).

To get rid of alkalinity as discussed without adding the anion of any acid.

The one thing we haven't discussed in residual bicarbonate. Whether you dilute or use acid you won't remove all the bicarbonate. I always suggest that people put a little baking soda in a glass of water and taste it. Is this something you want in your beer if you don't have to have it? For me the answer is a very loud NO but then I think I am unusually sensitive to it/repelled by it. Therefore I use RO water (very low alkalinity) for everything.