SwampassJ
Well-Known Member
Other than raising the mash pH is bicarb or chalk used for taste? I know it wouldbe easier to just get a water report and build from there but any one from S FL knows the water tastes bad already.
Building Ro water is bicarb necessary?
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Bicarbonate should only be added to brewing as needed to produce a desirable mash pH. It does not have a favorable flavor contribution, but doesn't really have a significant taste.
AJ has cited to me a mention of DeClerk saying that bicarbonate is undesirable in any significant concentration. But, I think DeClerk was referring to sodium bicarbonate in that citation. I still agree that bicarbonate is generally undesirable in brewing water excepting as required for pH moderation.
AJ has cited to me a mention of DeClerk saying that bicarbonate is undesirable in any significant concentration. But, I think DeClerk was referring to sodium bicarbonate in that citation. I still agree that bicarbonate is generally undesirable in brewing water excepting as required for pH moderation.
Whenever I see this question I always suggest that the questioner add some baking soda to a glass of water and taste it. If you like that taste then you can, being aware of the pH raising effects, experiment with additions of sodium bicarbonate to RO water.
In general alkalinity in any form is considered bad. The exception to this would be cases where one is determined to replicate every aspect of brewing a particular style in order to get an idea what the original, say, Bock beers were like. In these cases you may want to use water that is as close to Munich's water as possible. Nearly all water's contain some alkalinty and most of that is in the form of calcium bicarbonate which got in there when limestone was dissolved by carbonic acid. I can wax philosophical over whether one wants to go to the trouble to get this calcium bicarbonate into the emulated water as it is an elaborate process involving CO2 gas and, as bicarbonate is the major component of alkalinity and, therefore, bad, many breweries will do something to eliminate or reduce it before brewing their beers. However many of the worlds dark beers are dark because the source water was alkaline. I picked Bock as an example intentionally because Darryl Richman in his monograph on Bock mentions that bicarbonate is an important part of the water profile. I'm not sure exactly in what way he means (and I'm not sure I agree) but this might be a case where one might want to change the "alkalinity = bad" rule to "a little alkalinity not so bad sometimes".
I thought, from the title of the post, that additions to RO water were in question. A good RO unit will remove most everything from the worst tasting municipal water
As for the DeClerck quote that Martin mentions, I have always been a little confused by it. It says something the effect that bicarbonate, even when neutralized, is flavor negative. To my way of thinking, bicarbonate neutralized is CO2 which will leave the mash. At pH 5.2 90% bicarbonate will be converted to gas. I thing maybe the point he was trying to convey is that if you start with 2 mEq/L alkalinity at pH 8.3 and achieve mash pH of 5.2 you will have 0.12 mEq/L left over to hold up your pH. If you have 4 mEq/L to start you will wind up, at 5.2 with 0.24 - a worse situation than having half that amount. But as to taste - your beer doesn't finish at pH 5.2 - it finishes at pH in the mid the 4's where very little bicarbonate survives - about 1%. Again, the point may be that 2% is more flavor negative than 1% so an effort should be made to contain bicarbonate from the outset.
