Water is low in calcium

Hello,

I asked for a water report to start brewing and this is what I received.

Calcium 32 ppm
Cloride 40 ppm
sodium 14 ppm
magneisum 4.5 ppm
Hardness flucuates 98 to 130
Aklinity 30 ppm
PH 7.8

Is this water sample ok to brew with or should I bump up the calcium to a 50 to 150 ppm range in order to get a good enzyme activity? How much baking soda to calcium carbonate ratio should I use to get it up to my desired range?

thanks,

Lloyd

I call calcium the chicken soup of brewing water. It will not solve all problems but in most cases "It can't hurt". Everyone likes to talk about 50 ppm as the minimum amount of calcium tolerable in a beer but many beers, and some very fine ones at that, are brewed with water with calcium content way below 50. Most notable among these are the Bohemian Pilsners. Low mineral content in general (including calcium) is an important part of the profile of these beers and they would not be at their very best if brewed with higher calcium levels. Proof: if they were the brewers of these beers would supplement the calcium.

I sometimes think calcium gets more credit than it deserves because many people, like yourself, think of boosting calcium and in many cases choose to use calcium chloride to do this. Chloride has a pretty strong positive effect on the way beer tastes as is evident from the number of people who put salt in their beer (although one doesn't see this so often these days).

You should never add baking soda or calcium carbonate to brewing water. If mash pH measurement indicates that you need alkali, then add it in the mash.

You might want to have a look at the Water Primer in the Stickies part of this topic.

Thanks for your help..I'll take a look at the water primer sticky.