HopBlooded
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
Thanks for all of the interesting info in this forum. I've been brewing AG for about 6 months and have recently come to the conclusion that some of my mash troubles (high mash pH, low mash efficiency, occasional off-flavors) may be due to the well water I'm using. I send a sample to Ward Labs and got the following results:
pH: 7.7
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est: 398
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm: 0.66
Cations / Anions, me/L: 7.0 / 6.4
Sodium, Na: 40
Potassium, K: 4
Calcium, Ca: 63
Magnesium, Mg: 24
Total Hardness, CaCO3: 258
Nitrate, NO3-N: 3.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S: 11
Chloride, Cl: 14
Carbonate, CO3: <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3: 311
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3: 255
Fluoride, F: 0.42
Total Iron, Fe: < 0.01
As far as I can tell, I have hard, alkaline water that makes it tougher to brew the styles I like to brew, mostly pale ales and IPAs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I think the best ("technically sound") beer I've brewed since moving to AG was a Black IPA at 35 SRM. I've been disappointed in many of the IPAs and pale ales (5-12 SRM) I've brewed and it wasn't until recently that I looked to the water as a potential problem. Before that I was trying to refine my processes, etc. and wasn't seeing the kind of improvement I'd hoped for.
I think my water is probably fine as-is for darker beers (20+ SRM), but maybe not. I'm pretty sure it's not fine as is for sub-10 SRM IPAs & APAs. Given the water profile above, what should I be looking at doing to improve my beers? Sorry, I know you guys get these questions all the time.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks for all of the interesting info in this forum. I've been brewing AG for about 6 months and have recently come to the conclusion that some of my mash troubles (high mash pH, low mash efficiency, occasional off-flavors) may be due to the well water I'm using. I send a sample to Ward Labs and got the following results:
pH: 7.7
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est: 398
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm: 0.66
Cations / Anions, me/L: 7.0 / 6.4
Sodium, Na: 40
Potassium, K: 4
Calcium, Ca: 63
Magnesium, Mg: 24
Total Hardness, CaCO3: 258
Nitrate, NO3-N: 3.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S: 11
Chloride, Cl: 14
Carbonate, CO3: <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3: 311
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3: 255
Fluoride, F: 0.42
Total Iron, Fe: < 0.01
As far as I can tell, I have hard, alkaline water that makes it tougher to brew the styles I like to brew, mostly pale ales and IPAs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I think the best ("technically sound") beer I've brewed since moving to AG was a Black IPA at 35 SRM. I've been disappointed in many of the IPAs and pale ales (5-12 SRM) I've brewed and it wasn't until recently that I looked to the water as a potential problem. Before that I was trying to refine my processes, etc. and wasn't seeing the kind of improvement I'd hoped for.
I think my water is probably fine as-is for darker beers (20+ SRM), but maybe not. I'm pretty sure it's not fine as is for sub-10 SRM IPAs & APAs. Given the water profile above, what should I be looking at doing to improve my beers? Sorry, I know you guys get these questions all the time.
Thanks in advance.