Use of Palmer's spreadsheet

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bbeckett

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I am attempting to use Palmer's spreadsheet to calculate water quality adjustments and want to make sure I am interpreting the results/adjusting properly. I am brewing a Belgian Wit, and therefore looking for a more "balanced" profile. I am targeting an SRM of 3 (2-4 per BCBJ style guidlines), and will have a mash with 8 lbs of total grain and ~15qts of water.

Calcium 26
Magnesium 18
Alkalinity as CaCO3 72
Sodium 170
Chloride 83
Sulfate 310
pH 9.2

I believe to achieve my target I will need to add approx 5 grams of calcium chloride. I was wondering if this is too much chloride in the end? However, Palmer notes the chloride to sulfate ratio to be important, given the high sulfate level of the water supply, maybe the additional chloride is appropriate.

All thoughts are greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.
 
Most people who have written original work about water (and I say original because a lot of what is written for US homebrewers has uncritically copied niche English ideas) do not hold that the ratio of sulfate to chloride is important. Most believe the absolute levels are important.

If I were you I would be diluting with low ion water (eg RO) to lower the sulfate (and sodium) and not think about adding more to that water.

Also note that you'll need acid to lower the mash pH with that water (almost any water) for an all or mostly Pilsner malt beer. If you are making a belgian wit there are a lot of reasons to make the source of acid lactic. 3% of the grist as sauermalz would be an easy way to get it and get you in the right ballpark pH wise.
 
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