Please review my water test... What does this all mean???

pH 8.0
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 161
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.27
Cations / Anions, me/L 3.0 / 2.8
ppm
Sodium, Na 2
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca 42
Magnesium, Mg 9
Total Hardness, CaCO3 143
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.7 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 3
Chloride, Cl 2
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 140
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 125
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

Is this good water, bad water, or just OK?

Thanks for any guidance.

take a look at John Palmer's "How to Brew" section on water chemistry - free online:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html

It will give you the basics of what you need to know.

That actually looks pretty good for just about anything.

mightynintendo said:

That actually looks pretty good for just about anything.

Click to expand...

well, the chlorides and sulfates are real low...you'll want to adjust those

Meh

Meh

I don't see one important chemical listed: BeER

Ok. I charted your water on the Palmer site, mostly for my own practice! Your water plots out about mid-way up the SRM scale. About pH 5.85.

FYI: To get your plot down to 5.65 (light color beers) and adjusting by calcium addition you would need to add about 175ppm Ca/gal.

Splitting that between gypsum and calcium chloride and assuming 4 gallons liquid in the mash, you would add 4.9 grams of CaCl and 5.7 grams of gypsum.

Gimme a minute and I'll figure up the other direction.

If you want to adjust for a super dark brew (pH 6.05) then you would add 2.4 grams of baking soda for 4 gallons of wash water. That's quite a bit of sodium, but since your water has basically none now....

If you like to brew all styles, then I would think having water like yours (right in the middle) is not a bad place to be!

mightynintendo said:

Meh

Click to expand...

with those low values, beers will turn out less crisp and hop flavor will be "muddled"...just sayin'...

Thanks for the info, guys. I've already learned a lot. I'm trying to figure out how to adjust my water for good IPA's using Mosher's Ideal Pale Ale water profile, and finding that it's really hard (impossible?) to get my S04 up to where it needs to be without jacking my Mg and/or Ca out of whack. I'm understanding that sulfates are pretty important for the good hop flavor associated with IPA's.

I've added:

Gypsum: 1.4 g/gal
Epsom: .15 g/gal
Canning salt: .2 g/gal
Baking Soda: .1 g/gal

And have adjusted my water like so:



So the question is: Is it worth jacking my calcium and magnesium out of whack to get a better concentration of sulfates? And is there any way to bring down the 'carbonates'?

The easiest (only?) way to bring down the carbonates (or any ion) is to dilute your water with some distilled water. Of course this will dilute everything in your water so you will have to redo your addition analysis.

Not sure about the Ca, but you'll want to be careful not to add too much Mg - "amounts greater than 50 ppm tend to give a sour-bitter taste to the beer. Levels higher than 125 ppm have a laxative and diuretic affect" (Palmer)

I use Mike "Tasty" McDole's water profile for IPAs - Ca-110ppm, Mg-18ppm, Na-17ppm, SO4-350ppm, Cl-50ppm.

On your chart above, what are the numbers on top? Are they the target (Mosher's Ideal)? If so, the sulfate of 650 ppm seems way high. I thought Mosher's was closer to McDole's (350ish ppm)

JLem said:

The easiest (only?) way to bring down the carbonates (or any ion) is to dilute your water with some distilled water. Of course this will dilute everything in your water so you will have to redo your addition analysis.

Click to expand...

That's what I was afraid of...

Without diluting like crazy, I came up with some good numbers that do a pretty good job matching a modified Mosher's Ideal Pale Ale water profile, except for the carbonates.

Burton Pale Ale -- A toned-down, "idealized" profile. Enough sulphate to bring out the hops without overdoing it. Low alkalinity helps ensure proper mash pH. Model: Moshers 'Ideal Pale Ale". Ca=111, SO4=337, Mg=18, Na=35, Cl=32, CO3=38, Hardness=352, Alkalinity=31.

Click to expand...

By adding 1.55 g/gallon gypsum, .43g/gallon epsom salts, and .24g/gallon canning Salt, I end up with;



I'm happy with that. I'll go with it for tomorrow's brew day - a (hopefully) large IPA with 8 oz. of hops.

Any other ideas?

JLem said:

On your chart above, what are the numbers on top? Are they the target (Mosher's Ideal)? If so, the sulfate of 650 ppm seems way high. I thought Mosher's was closer to McDole's (350ish ppm)

Click to expand...

You're right. I found a better version of the Mosher's ideal, which was way more inline on the S04..... Chart above.

One thing I've noticed for sure: I'm going to have to get a more sensitive scale. Some of these small amounts (.5 grams) are way too tight for my small digital scale....