Flanders Red Water Treatment

Cranny04 said:

I'm going to build my water from RO. Wild brews has Flanders water as:

Ca - 114
Mg - 10
Na - 125
S04 - 145
Cl - 139
HCO3 - 370

I've been following the Brewing Water Chemistry Primer sticky. Using the Calculator on Brewers Friend. I've come up with using 2% Acid Malt in the grist and for 18 Gallons of water using 16 grams of Gypsum and 18 grams of Calcium Chloride.

Click to expand...

ajdelange said:

Provided that you add only the gypsum, calcium chloride and sauermalz you should be OK though I would recommend doing it the first time w/o the gypsum. I don't recall any high sulfate qualities in Flanders Red but I could be remembering wrong. If you brew it sans sulfate you may prefer it even though the water traditionally used for it does contain some sulfate. Once it is brewed without taste with and without a small gypsum addition in the glass. If it tastes better with the sulfate then use that in the next brew.

Note that just adding calcium chloride (and gypsum) to RO water will not give you either the bicarbonate or sodium in the profile you have posted. But you would not want those anyway.

Click to expand...

mabrungard said:

As usual, this is a case where a historic profile is misused. I would go with a boiled version of that profile which would better suit the grist.

I suggest you review the water profiles in Bru'n Water for better guidance. That is where you will find the boiled version of a very similar West Flanders water profile. With an appropriate reduction in Ca and alkalinity, that water is suited to making a beer that will sour well.

Click to expand...

Bottoms_Up said:

What do you mean by a "boiled" version? Couldn't you just adjsut the water to the "boiled" profile and not boil it?

Click to expand...

mabrungard said:

Boiled water profiles represent what that ‘native’ water would contain if it were boiled and decanted.

Yes, you can create those water profiles without boiling.

Click to expand...