flipper51
Well-Known Member
I just got my results back from Ward Labs (pasted in below). I'd really appreciate any comments about styles, modifications, etc. But also, after playing around with the EZ water calculator I have some specific questions that are bugging me ---
1. My water is low in everything -- soft, but also low in pH and all minerals. So I can change the chloride:sulfate ratio with just a couple grams of gypsum, but do the actual mineral concentrations matter to flavor?
2. Similar to question 1, but for mash pH: If I use 5.2 stabilizer (which should work well since the water is soft, I think?), does the SRM and alkalinity balance matter? In general, does pH matter much aside from efficiency?
3. Is it a problem that my water is acidic? I haven't seen any other reports posted that were under 7.
Ok, I'll stop there before I bore everyone to death. Here's the report:
pH 6.4
Sodium, Na 15
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 3
Magnesium, Mg 3
Total Hardness, CaCO3 20
Nitrate, NO3-N 1.5 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 3
Chloride, Cl 17
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 9
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 8
(S04 should be 9 for EZ calculator)
1. My water is low in everything -- soft, but also low in pH and all minerals. So I can change the chloride:sulfate ratio with just a couple grams of gypsum, but do the actual mineral concentrations matter to flavor?
2. Similar to question 1, but for mash pH: If I use 5.2 stabilizer (which should work well since the water is soft, I think?), does the SRM and alkalinity balance matter? In general, does pH matter much aside from efficiency?
3. Is it a problem that my water is acidic? I haven't seen any other reports posted that were under 7.
Ok, I'll stop there before I bore everyone to death. Here's the report:
pH 6.4
Sodium, Na 15
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 3
Magnesium, Mg 3
Total Hardness, CaCO3 20
Nitrate, NO3-N 1.5 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 3
Chloride, Cl 17
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 9
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 8
(S04 should be 9 for EZ calculator)