sethhobrin

Recipes 

ppm
Sodium, Na 10
Potassium, K 2
calcium, CA 38
Magnesium, Mg 12
Total Hardness, CaCO3 145
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.2
Chloride, Cl 16
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 116
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 105
Total Phosphorus, P 0.38
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01

I checked out the primer but it said it doesn't apply because my CaCO3 is too high however I should be able to brew with this water with modification I am in Milwaukee afterall.

I brew mostly IPAs, Brown/Cream Ales, and will be experimenting with other styles. Can anyone give me some suggestions for water additions?

__________________
|My Electric Brewery Build Thread|
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/just-another-electric-brewery-build-thread-317746/#post3951391

Estimated Completion late July 2012

Veedo

Recipes 

Depends on the beer you brew. Check out ezwatercalculator. Enter your water info, and your grain bill, it will then tell you about where your ph will land. Ive been using it and it is pretty dang accurate.

ajdelange

Recipes 

The Primer is designed for people who want to get going right away based on KISS treatment of water. It assumes that you will dilute your water with RO or DI water until the alkalinity is down to around 25 or so.

If you don't want to do that then there are many ways to treat this water. You will still have to get rid of the effects of the high alkalinity somehow and doubtless the easiest of those is to add acid to water or mash until mash pH is in the correct range. Your alkalinity is not excessive and you could probably brew dark beers successfully with no treatment. Adding acid to the water can be done in such a way as to simultaneously get rid of the alkalinity while increasing levels of sulfate (don't see it listed) and/or chloride. If you don't want to do that then you can use phosphoric acid. It is quite flavor neutral and a favorite among brewers for that reason.

mabrungard

Recipes 

The sulfate content was omitted, but it appears it is likely in the mid 30's. The alkalinity is modestly high and would require neutralization to brew less acidic grists. Neutralization would be simple via an acid addition. Lactic acid might work, but the dose might create flavor impacts. Phosphoric acid would be the least flavor impacting for this water. Since the overall magnitude of flavor ions (Mg, Na, Cl, and SO4) are modest, this would be a good water to work with. Given the ease with which the only fault of this water can be corrected with acid, the brewer will find that learning to properly dose their water with acid is more KISS than dealing with RO or distilled water. Bru'n Water has the tools for calculating acid additions.

If darker beers are going to be brewed with this water, there is a good chance that it will work well without any adjustment. Bru'n Water allows the brewer to assess if this will be the case.

__________________
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/

sethhobrin

Recipes 

wow thanks guys! i already have some lactic acid and on my last batch i used my meter to determine PH and added about 3ML of lactic to drop the PH down to 5.45 so it sounds like I am on track. Sounds like I might need to pick up some phospheric acid instead to minimize flavor impact.

What PH should I be shooting for 5.4 - 5.6?

__________________
|My Electric Brewery Build Thread|
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/just-another-electric-brewery-build-thread-317746/#post3951391

Estimated Completion late July 2012

ajdelange

Recipes 

Yes, that's good.