Water Test Results - NRH, TX

pH: 8.0

Ca: 58
Mg: 5
Na: 19
Cl: 24
SO4: 52
HCO3: 145

Looking EZ calculator my pH came out just a touch too low for my last brew, a porter - but over all not bad.

Interesting thing is that I've always felt my IPAs were missing something. It's sulfates that can affect it, right? Mine are quite low I guess.

I like sulfate at about 300 ppm. It does improve a hoppy beer's assertive nature. More important than sulfate is the mash pH though. Make sure that it is in the proper range. If its too high, the malt and hop flavor will be rough. That level of bicarbonate suggests that getting the pH to drop into the proper range might take some acid.

Ok, so I just threw in some random numbers to try something out. 11 gallons of mash water, 11lb of 2row and 1lb of C60. Think pH was about 5.8.

Then trying to get my sulfate up I used 11g of Gypsum and 10g of Epsom. That led me with 118 Ca, 27 Mg, 293 SO4. I had to split it between the two or else the Ca and Mg went up too high. Then add inbetween 4-5 oz of Acidulated malt and I'm at a good 5.5 pH.

Is that looking good?

Edit: Also, could you refer me to a link on what mineral affects what taste, etc? I'm kind of deducing that through various water profiles, but I've also heard you say how those are meaningless, etc. Finding a lot of mixed info.

The Water Knowledge page at the Bru'n Water website has a nice discussion of ions and their taste effects.

In a pale ale or IPA, magnesium can be a compliment to the inherent bittering of the style. But for other less bitter styles, there is little need for Mg. You can add it if you want at very low levels, but its not really needed or possibly desirable. The level indicated above is about the max that brewers and drinkers find tolerable.

Bru'n Water also has a comprehensive listing of researched and verified historic brewing water profiles. Along with those, there are color-based water profiles that focus on minimal ion concentrations for brewing. Excepting for the Pale Ale profile in Bru'n Water, I recommend that most brewers utilize those color-based profiles as starting points instead of the historic profiles. There are too many ways to go wrong with the historic profiles.

If you're pulling that water from the municipal supply, keep in mind that it does fluctuate a lot due to the weather here. When it gets hot and dry the minerals will concentrate and the water seems to get more of a chlorine taste during the hot months. Since we have had all that precipitation over the past couple months the water is probably less full of minerals.

I either use bottled drinking water or, more commonly, distilled water cut with a small amount of filtered municipal water and adjusted for mineral content.

Thank you. So for my IPAs maybe I'll just settle more towards the 250 sulfate range instead of trying to get it up to 300 and hitting the upper limits of Ca and Mg. Then for my big malty stouts I'll be pretty fine mineral wise with room to bump the pH up.

Thank you for the help. Your website there is a goldmine.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

If you're pulling that water from the municipal supply, keep in mind that it does fluctuate a lot due to the weather here. When it gets hot and dry the minerals will concentrate and the water seems to get more of a chlorine taste during the hot months. Since we have had all that precipitation over the past couple months the water is probably less full of minerals.

I either use bottled drinking water or, more commonly, distilled water cut with a small amount of filtered municipal water and adjusted for mineral content.

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That's a good point. Maybe I'll send another test in during June or July. Having to buy water adds quite a bit of cost and hassle to a batch. Perhaps I need to though.

First time using my pH meter. I think I'm either doing something wrong, or my 4.0 solution isn't right. Calibrated it, in 7.01 solution it reads 7.04, and in the 4.01 it reads about .10 too low. Calibrated it again, same thing.

My wort pH is at 5.3 though. So if it's accurate I'm good, and if it's actually at 5.4 then that is fine too.