Chloring and Water Samples

I'm an all-grain brewer and have decided to dive into the world of brewing water chemistry. I'm an aeronautical engineer by trade so I was forced to take chemistry in college but I certainly didn't want to.


Anyway I have what I think are two minor questions. First question is regarding the tablets you drop in your brewing water to get rid of the chlorine. I personally use a carbon filter but I think they do the same job. Anyway I recently got a water report from WARD labs and the water I sent them was just out of the tap (not filtered). My question is, when you add those tabs or send your water through a carbon filter does it effectively make your Cl- number zero. That could have a big effect on the calculations if it does. With the Cl-/SO4 ratio being so important I would think sending the water through a filter would completely mess up the calculations.

The second is regarding mash pH. If I use any of the numerous tools online a lot of my lighter beers end up with a mash pH of 5.8-5.9. Even after adjusting the salts to where I want them I find I always have to use about 3-4ml of lactic acid. Do you think this acid addition is worth the time and will produce a better beer. The reason I ask is because folks like John Palmer don't seem to focus that much on pH, more on alkalinity.

Chlorine and chloramines that can be removed by the activated carbon filtration are not the same as chloride. Chloride is highly soluble and is not removed by that filter. So you can't assume that the Cl- is zero.

Acidification is a very simple step, as long as you have a good idea of how much you need to add. Adding acid until you reach a desirable pH is a recipe for disaster in my opinion. As the water's alkalinity is consumed by the acid additions, the pH can drop off precipitously. That is not something you want to do to your beer.

Acidification will definitely improve brewing when your water source has elevated alkalinity. Don't be afraid.

If you want to learn more, visit the Water Knowledge page of the Bru'n Water website.

Thanks for the advice. I actually don't want to assume the chloride level is zero I want to assume it is what is listed on the water report. I was making sure that if I filter my water through a carbon filter it will not remove any of the stuff on the water filter and I think that is a pretty good assumption. I only carbon filter it to get rid of and smell and chlorine. I should probably just spend another $30 and get a filtered water sample.

Thanks again

Read this.

Some carbon filters also filter out some ions:

"As we mentioned earlier, the Brita, and similar units, contain ion exchange resins in addition to the activated carbon elements. The purpose of these is to remove cations, in particular lead and copper but other cations, and anions, are removed as well. This was verified by qualitative tests - water passed through the test unit was virtually devoid of hardness (magnesium, calcium) and alkalinity (bicarbonate). Water treated by one of these devices for chlorine/chloramine reduction will require at least supplemental calcium and sulfate for most brewing applications and should be thought of as deionized water."

Campden tablets is a better (and cheaper) solution, imho.

The filter I use is a GE FXUTC carbon filter. It basically takes out chlorine and rust. Makes sense that a brita with some other ion exchange would really mess up my water sample. I just brewed today and assumed the carbon filter had no effect on my chemistry for now. I guess we will see in a couple of weeks if that was a good assumption. I'm thinking the acid may make the biggest difference as the pH is now in the right range for my mash.