Hey Gang, looking for advice on best utilizing my water profile. Here's the gist:
PH 7.95
BiCarb/CaCO3 351
Chloride 2.56
Sulfate 7.73
Calcium 89.8
Magnesium 32.8
Hardness as CaC03 359
Sodium 6.18
Conductivity 664
So I've got some pretty serious hardness. I've been brewing with this water (off my well) for several years now and I can make a pretty great porter and some very nice big IPAs. Anything that I'd consider "light" such as a cream ale, wit, wheat, etc comes out way more bitter and astringent than desired.
I've started to counter this by adding 5 gallons of distilled water to my HLT. So far that has led to my best beers yet, and the only malt-forward beers (just made a great pumpkin amber) that didn't come out tasting overly bitter.
Do you science nerds have any additional suggestions for me? I have no interest in reproducing some famous water profile, simply getting my water to a spot where I can more easily brew the full range of ales. I'll soon be getting an RO system (tired of paying for 2.5 gallon jugs of distilled) and plan to more or less dilute my water half and half with the RO. I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel (or water, for that matter) but is there any other simple thing I should be doing?
Thanks for any assistance.
PH 7.95
BiCarb/CaCO3 351
Chloride 2.56
Sulfate 7.73
Calcium 89.8
Magnesium 32.8
Hardness as CaC03 359
Sodium 6.18
Conductivity 664
So I've got some pretty serious hardness. I've been brewing with this water (off my well) for several years now and I can make a pretty great porter and some very nice big IPAs. Anything that I'd consider "light" such as a cream ale, wit, wheat, etc comes out way more bitter and astringent than desired.
I've started to counter this by adding 5 gallons of distilled water to my HLT. So far that has led to my best beers yet, and the only malt-forward beers (just made a great pumpkin amber) that didn't come out tasting overly bitter.
Do you science nerds have any additional suggestions for me? I have no interest in reproducing some famous water profile, simply getting my water to a spot where I can more easily brew the full range of ales. I'll soon be getting an RO system (tired of paying for 2.5 gallon jugs of distilled) and plan to more or less dilute my water half and half with the RO. I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel (or water, for that matter) but is there any other simple thing I should be doing?
Thanks for any assistance.