Belgian Water Adjustment

Target Beer: Belgian Golden Strong Ale

Through searching, I was able to find the following recipie (from Brew Like a Monk) for Chimay water:

Ca 70
Mg 7
Na 7
SO4 21
CL 21
HCO3 216

Attached, you will see my plan. It comes pretty close for most of them, but I am concerned about hte HCO3 level, and do not know how to raise it.

Anyone with some knowledge on this care to offer up an opinion?
Thanks
LL
EDIT: Pic was vary small, so adding text :
Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 39
Mg: 17
Na: 23
Cl: 53
SO4: 60
HCO3: 86

Mash / Sparge Vol (gal): 5 / 6
RO or distilled %: 70% / 70%

Total Grain (lb): 15.5
Non-Roasted Spec. Grain: 0
Roasted Grain: 0
Beer Color (SRM): 5.8

Adjustments (grams) Mash / Boil Kettle:
CaSO4: 0 / 0
CaCl2: 0 / 0
MgSO4: 0.25 / 0.3
NaHCO3: 0 / 0
NaCl: 0 / 0
CaCO3: 2.5 / 3
Lactic Acid (ml): 0
Sauermalz (oz): 5

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):
Ca: 65 / 65
Mg: 6 / 6
Na: 7 / 7
Cl: 16 / 16
SO4: 23 / 23
Cl to SO4 Ratio: 0.69 / 0.69

Alkalinity (CaCO3): -122
RA: -172
Estimated pH: 5.34

You don't tell us the pH of either the source or target water. Assuming those both to be 7 I can do a calculation which chooses salt additions by trying to minimize the percentage error in each ion's concentration weighting them all equally IOW the error is bicarbonate is given as much weight as the error in sulfate etc. This can be changed if you wished, for example, to get the bicarbonate closer at the expense of the sulfate...

There are some limitations in how well you can match because neither the source nor target water profiles are physically possible - they are imbalanced electrically but in neither case is it a terribly serious imbalance i.e. it's from measurement error or reasonable magnitude. IOW as the target water cannot physically exist you cannot emulate it but as the imbalance is small you can get pretty close. In fact you can get calcium and bicarbonate to within 0.7% of the target levels and the other ions to within 0.1%. You must do the following.

1. Declare the target pH to be 6.89. This balances the target and makes it possible to match it more closely.
2. Dilute with 4.66 parts deionized water.
3. Add the following salts in the following amounts per liter of water (before dilution)
CaCl2.2H20 127.96 mg
NaCl 6.54 mg
Mg(OH2) 54.36 mg
CaSO4.2H20 105.23 mg
CaCO3 750.09 mg
NaHCO3 51.38 mg
4. Suspend the salts in the total volume of water and then bubble CO2 through it or put it in a keg and pressurize with CO2 stirring or shaking until all the chalk is dissolved and the water is clear. Stop CO2 flow or release pressure and allow excess CO2 to escape until pH is 6.89.

Now this is all fine as an academic exercise but perhaps a little impractical. Note that the magnesium has been supplied by milk of magnesia instead of epsom salts. This is necessary to keep the errors in bicarbonate, calcium and sulfate down. A solution using epsom salts results in errors of, respectively, 4.61%, 1.76% and 1.92% but you still have to do the business with the CO2. This is how nature makes carbonaceous water and as you can't buy calcium bicarbonate from the LHBS (or anywhere else) this is how you have to do it too. But then as soon as the water you go to all this trouble to synthesize hits the HLT a bunch of that chalk is going to precipitate right out so you get you water chemistry merit badge but wind up essentially where you started.

Bottom line: skip the chalk and just brew the beer with the water you have perhaps supplementing with some calcium chloride.

Opps, The starting water PH is 8.0

Bottom line: skip the chalk and just brew the beer with the water you have perhaps supplementing with some calcium chloride.


To achieve the closest match you would add

Click to expand...

Thanks for saving me a bunch of headache.
By "water you already have" do you mean skip the RO also ?

You could go with the water you have but if you dilute 2:1 with RO that will get the magnesium and sodium down to close to the targets. Have a look at the Primer.

Starting pH doesn't change the conclusion or synthesis significantly.

Thanks so much. Water Chem is one thing that makes me feel daft !

SO, in my example, I went with 75% (2:1) Distilled water, and made the following adjustments

Mash/Boil
1.CaCl .5/.6
2.Epsom .5/.6
3.CaCO3 2.5/3.0
4. 5.5 oz (2.2%) sauermalz

Results:
CA 70
Mg 7
Na 6
Cl 26
SO4 25
CL:SO4 ration: 1.03
RA -200
Mash PH 5.31

Looks real close on paper. Plan to disolve the Chalk using CO2.

Well, sensei, how did I do? Thanks so much for your patience

My recommendation would be to use your water diluted 2:1 or 3:1 without any additions besides calcium chloride. Calcium carbonate is almost never of benefit as it raises alkalinity. I should only be used if you measure mash pH below acceptable levels or if you are willing to go through the whole CO2 gas thing in order to have "authentic" water but if you do that you must have an "authentic" process in other words you must know how the good brothers of Chimay treat their water when they brew. In most cases with a carbonaceous water this means decarbonating it and again, I ask, why go to the considerable trouble to put it in if you are only going to take it out again.

So to summarize I recommend you take 2 parts DI water and one part your untreated water and blend them. Then add 1 tsp calcium chloride dihydrate and mash with that. It is a good idea to add the 2.5% sauermalz to the grist. Do not add any calcium carbonate. This will only defeat the sauermalz and result in a pH which is probably too high.