jammer
Well-Known Member
so some of you may remember me being frustrated by my local water department's lack of cooperation. i got a test done by ward labs. it is attached below.
So i have read palmer's section on RA and such and i believe i understand it to some extent. now my questions. my water is most closely related to Pilsen water. RA and hardness are both just a little higher. so if i add .1mL of lactic acid per gallon of mash water then my RA get a lot closer. But i will still have higher concentrations of everything except Mg (not by too much). I know that all the ions will affect the taste, but by how much? if i get close with hardness and RA am i good to go?
Then, when looking at burton-on-trent water to make something for an IPA, if i add 5g of gypsum, 1g epsom salt, .5 g baking soda per gallon of mash water i get pretty close to burton's water. but do i want to be that close to burton's water? or is there something more ideal? sulfate, calcium, and hardness are wicked high. i know sulfate is important for hop bite in an ipa, but do i want to approach the 820 ppm that burton has?
does anyone have like 4-6 profiles that are ideal for different beer styles? or is it better just to match to the region where the beer style comes from?
Finally, what about treating mash or sparge water? do people just treat all their water? does RA and hardness just matter for mash water? or should i be matching the ion level throughout the water so i get the right taste profile? (i realize chalk only goes in the mash water)
thanks for any help and sorry for the long post.....
So i have read palmer's section on RA and such and i believe i understand it to some extent. now my questions. my water is most closely related to Pilsen water. RA and hardness are both just a little higher. so if i add .1mL of lactic acid per gallon of mash water then my RA get a lot closer. But i will still have higher concentrations of everything except Mg (not by too much). I know that all the ions will affect the taste, but by how much? if i get close with hardness and RA am i good to go?
Then, when looking at burton-on-trent water to make something for an IPA, if i add 5g of gypsum, 1g epsom salt, .5 g baking soda per gallon of mash water i get pretty close to burton's water. but do i want to be that close to burton's water? or is there something more ideal? sulfate, calcium, and hardness are wicked high. i know sulfate is important for hop bite in an ipa, but do i want to approach the 820 ppm that burton has?
does anyone have like 4-6 profiles that are ideal for different beer styles? or is it better just to match to the region where the beer style comes from?
Finally, what about treating mash or sparge water? do people just treat all their water? does RA and hardness just matter for mash water? or should i be matching the ion level throughout the water so i get the right taste profile? (i realize chalk only goes in the mash water)
thanks for any help and sorry for the long post.....