Does first water adjustment look good for a pale ale?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

crowbait

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2011
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Location
Elk River
Starting to make sense of this water thing I think.... But a little help from the pros here would be appreciated before my brewday this weekend. My water is pretty Alkaline, so with a 2 parts distilled to 1 part tap ratio my numbers are:

Ca 18
Mg 7
S04 3
Cl 1
HCO3 93
CaCO3 76

Using Palmers water cheat sheet to achieve an srm of 13 I then planned to add to my entire strike water:

6 grams gypsum and 6.8 grams calcium chloride. Which unless Im missing something would make my final numbers??
Ca 125
Mg 7
SO4 113
Cl 109
HCO3 93
CaCO3 76

Does this look correct or am I off on my understanding??

Thanks!!!
 
The chloride level is higher than I prefer in a hoppy ale and the sulfate is too low. Even with the dilution, it appears your bicarbonate may be too high. A little acidification may be needed in the mashing water and that water definitely MUST be acidified to remove a lot more alkalinity for use as sparging water. Visit the Bru'n Water website to learn more about what you should be doing and how to do it.
 
Thanks Mabrungard. I havent been able to get any brewing software to download to my mac yet. So maybe a 75% dilution which would bring my
bicarbs down to 70, and a little more gypsum and less calcium chloride??

Thanks
 
Back
Top