Water noob with a srm problem.

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.

cgondoli1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Messages
103
Reaction score
1
Location
Rochester, NY
Hi all, Ive been brewing AG for about a year and all the light colored beers ive made have been darker then they should be. I recently looked at my water report and put it into a few calculators, The problem is that the RA that i get is for light beers. please help as im just learning water.

Calcium: 41.9
Magnesium: 40.1
Sodium: 3.5
Chloride: 2.2
Sulfate: 4
Alkalinity: 40
 
It is very difficult to make a beer with SRM < 4 unless you dilute color with colorless adjunct such as rice (Budweiser) or corn (Coors). I also helps to minimize high temperature exposure. A beer brewed with low pressure steam as a source of heat will be somewhat lighter in color than one brewed with direct heat.

As for the RA - forget that you ever heard that there was a relationship between SRM and RA. It is very tenuous at best. I can't really calculate an RA for the numbers you gave because they are inconsistent. The calcium and magnesium would have to be much lower for the given level of alkalinity or the alkalinity or sulfate would have to be higher for the given levels of calcium and magnesium. Ignoring that and plugging in the numbers anyway the RA calculates as 22. You can brew Pils with that but you can brew stout with it too.
 
Thank you for the reply, Im contemplating getting my water tested somewhere and not relying on the county. the reason i asked was because when i brewed my first belgian wit two weeks ago it turned out almost orange not pale yellow.
 
Ward Labs in Nebraska provides a reasonably priced basic household water test (less than $20 if you include the price of shipping your sample to them). I believe I read on this forum that ajdelange recommends tripling the Sulfate value you receive on your results due to the methods they use for calculating.
 
Not yet, water has gone by the way side for now. I make good beer with this water now but i think it could be better. when i get my rig finished ill get it done.
 
Thank you for the reply, Im contemplating getting my water tested somewhere and not relying on the county. the reason i asked was because when i brewed my first belgian wit two weeks ago it turned out almost orange not pale yellow.

I would think this would be a grain/extract issue and not water. what is your recipe? As far as I know, I would not think that water would contribute any color, especially an orange hue (unless you have rusty water coming out of the tap). Post your recipe
 
I cant seem to find the recipe now but the grain bill was 5lb's bohemian pils, 5lb's white wheat and 1/2lb rice hulls. mash 60 boil 60. oh, and .7oz corriander
 
Your grain crush and an overly hard boil can darken wort. Aside from the water concerns, when I want a beer to turn out very light colored I condition the malt before I crush it, and I boil fairly gently.
 
Hey, did you guys ever get the water tested? Willing to share the info? I'm in waynesboro.

Hope I'm not being too much of a mooch. I'll gladly trade a couple beers for the info.
 
No dude, sorry but I'll split with you if you want.

No worries, I may get it done some time and I'll let you know the results when I do. There's a sticky somewhere (in the all grain forum, maybe?) where folks post their location & water profile, I'll post it there too.
 
Back
Top