Water report, trying to make sense

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Ashella

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Hello all,

I received a report of the distribution averages for my city's water, and they are as follows:

Alkalinity 89.7 mg/L
Ammonia Nitrogen 0.1 mg/L
Calcium 35.7 mg/L
Chloride 30.5 mg/L
Magnesium 8.88 mg/L
Organic Nitrogen 0.2 mg/L
Potassium 1.55 mg/L
pH 7.72
Total Dissolved Solids 189 mg/L
Sodium 16.3 mg/L
Sulphate 27.3 mg/L
Total Hardness 127 mg/L

The one thing that seemed to be missing from the report was the Bicarbonate levels. From reading John Palmers "How to Brew", it would seem that most all my levels (Calcium, Chloride, Magnesium, Sulphate) are under the recommended levels. Does this mean I am going to have to supplement my waters minerals?

Any help you guys can provide is appreciated, as this water science stuff is very new to me!
 
You can use your Alkalinity measurement in place of the bicarbonate.

I use the EZ Water spreadsheet and while your levels are under Palmer's 'recommended' levels, I generally won't treat my water just to add a few ppm of Calcium/Mag/Sulfate. IMO, you can mess with the chloride:sulfate ratio is accent malts or hops but I'd leave everything else alone.
 
With the alkalinity and pH values, the bicarbonate concentration can be calculated easily with Bru'n Water. Then you have all the critical information needed for brewing water adjustment.

The concentrations of all the ions in that water are fairly modest. Dilution with RO or distilled water should generally not be required. With adjustment of the alkalinity either up or down, this water should be well suited to brewing. The modest ion levels mean that you should be able to add minerals to boost certain ions to your preference without problem. Bru'n Water provides guidance on what concentrations you might consider for the brewing water.
 
There are 2 components to water chemistry as far as home brewers are concerned - modifying your water for pH control, and modifying for flavor.

Your water is quite similiar to mine (Detroit City Water drawn from Lake Huron). I brew all-grain and need to acidfy my water when brewing most styles, as I need to reduce the alkalinity of my water in order to have the mash pH drop to an acceptable level. You may wish to do the same if you are an all-grain brewer.

As far as flavor modifications, that's more of a personal preference than controling your pH. I like my hoppy beers to have an increased level of sulphate, so I add gypsum. For maltier beers I add calcium chloride. Make small mineral additions, keep notes as to what you did and how you liked the result, and keep brewing the same beer until you've dialed it in according to your preferences.

Finally, look for any posts by ajdelange or mabrungard in this forum if you want to increase your water knowledge. They are the titans of this forum and have helped me many times.


Martin, you post faster than me!
 
jmf143 said:
There are 2 components to water chemistry as far as home brewers are concerned - modifying your water for pH control, and modifying for flavor.

Your water is quite similiar to mine (Detroit City Water drawn from Lake Huron). I brew all-grain and need to acidfy my water when brewing most styles, as I need to reduce the alkalinity of my water in order to have the mash pH drop to an acceptable level. You may wish to do the same if you are an all-grain brewer.

As far as flavor modifications, that's more of a personal preference than controling your pH. I like my hoppy beers to have an increased level of sulphate, so I add gypsum. For maltier beers I add calcium chloride. Make small mineral additions, keep notes as to what you did and how you liked the result, and keep brewing the same beer until you've dialed it in according to your preferences.

Finally, look for any posts by ajdelange or mabrungard in this forum if you want to increase your water knowledge. They are the titans of this forum and have helped me many times.


Martin, you post faster than me!
Click to expand...

I was just curious how much gypsum and/or calcium chloride you would add. I tried using the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet on the forums, but I am having trouble reducing the mash pH in the 5.4-5.6 region without exceeding the mineral ranges in the sheet. Without adding anything, it is saying my mash pH will be 5.71.
 
Ashella said:
I was just curious how much gypsum and/or calcium chloride you would add. I tried using the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet on the forums, but I am having trouble reducing the mash pH in the 5.4-5.6 region without exceeding the mineral ranges in the sheet.
Click to expand...

You might need acid malt instead of mineral additions for pH
 
Ashella said:
Sorry I'm really new to all-grain. Can you explain what that means?
Click to expand...

Acid Malt

It's a specialty malt that has lactic acid in it -- it helps lower your mash pH without having to add other minerals. If you have high pH problems, this is a good solution but I've never had to use it personally.
 
Do you think that a predicted mash pH of 5.71 is high enough that I need to take action to correct it? Like I said, the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet says that the range is 5.4-5.6.
 
Ashella said:
Do you think that a predicted mash pH of 5.71 is high enough that I need to take action to correct it? Like I said, the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet says that the range is 5.4-5.6.
Click to expand...

I'd say brew on and see -- spreadsheets are only estimates and +0.1 pH won't ruin the batch.
 
It's a snap to calculate bicarbonate from alkalinity but it is alkalinity you are really interested in. If you are given a bicabonate number the first thing you do is convert it to alkalinity. The conversion is pretty accurate as long as pH (of the water) is below 8 or so but begins to fall off above that. That's why alkalinity is a better measure than bicarb. It is valid at any pH.

bicarb = 61*alkalinity/50.

Yes, 5.7 is high enough that you should do something about it. The beer will not be ruined by any means at 5.7 but will be noticeably better at 5.4 - 5.5. The correction is simple enough to do. Just add sauermalz (acidulated malt) at 2% by weight of the total grist. This is generally a better solution to pH adjustment than adding calcium for the reason you saw when you tried to do it that way. Another convenient way is to dilute the tap water with RO or DI water thus cutting the alkalinity. If you do that you will get a lower mash pH and require a smaller correction to the point where you may be able to get it with calcium additions.
 

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