My water profile finally

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Homercidal

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I finally got a water report that lists what I need to know. I had to submit to Ward Lab.

PH - 8.0

ALL Components show as PPM

Sodium - 17
Potassium - 1
Calcium - 55
Magnesium - 21
Total Hardness, CACO3 - 225
Sulfate - 5
Chloride - 47
Carbonate - 3
Bicarbonate - 221
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 - 186


The one thing that I noticed right off was the low amount of sulfate. Nearly nonexistent. I'll be wanting to brew a wide range of beer styles, but the one that I'd most like to figure out would be IPAs and IIPAs.

I think I'll probably have to resort to a mixture of adding salts and using RO water depending on what style of beer I want to make. I've got a lot of reading to do to figure out how to apply this report to my brewing.
 
You're in pretty good shape actually. You'll want to use gypsum mostly which will bring the sulfate up and lower the alkalinity. That would be the ticket for IPA/pales, etc.

Eh, actually:
Starting Water:
Ca: 55 ppm
Mg: 21 ppm
Na: 17 ppm
Cl: 47 ppm
SO4: 5 ppm
CaCO3: 186 ppm

Mash Vol: 5 gal
Dilution Rate: 0%

Adjustments:

CaSO4: 5 grams
NaCl: 1 grams


Results:
Ca: 115 ppm
Mg: 21 ppm
Na: 38 ppm
Cl: 79 ppm
SO4: 152 ppm
CaCO3: 186 ppm

RA: 92 (13 to 18 SRM)
Cl to SO4: 0.52 (Bitter)

It still leaves the RA a bit high for pale ales. It would be perfect for a hoppy Amber like Jamil's Red Rocket clone. Cutting with like 50% RO is not a bad idea but you could use pH test strips to see how bad it is.
 
I think I'm beginning to understand this water thing. But only just barely.

I'm planning on brewing a Brown Ale for the cooler months and I wonder how you would treat this water for that style of beer.
 
Cool. I managed to sneak in a bit of research while some data was loading and came up with the same conclusion. Good to feel like I might be getting over the water learning hump. The adjustment calculators have come in very handy.

Good thing I remembered to grab that Gypsum at the HBS after all.

Thanks!
 
Cool. I managed to sneak in a bit of research while some data was loading and came up with the same conclusion. Good to feel like I might be getting over the water learning hump. The adjustment calculators have come in very handy.

Don't be scared to try water salts they rule! I couldn't brew a decent dark beer with my water, it's near perfect for pales, ipa's. I made a brown porter for a fund raising event, it was my first try at water additions, I was scared to death.

The beer came out far above my expectations, and it killed my steam beer with a bmc crowd, which was great affirmation.
 
No, I'm way excited to play with the water. My water is just ok. I've gotten dinged for astringency on some contests, and I thought it was my water, based on what I know about my process, but it actually doesn't look too bad after all for amber beers.

I'm going to play with the calculators some more and see what I can do about some lighter beers. I will likely give up on Spring water, and just cut mine with Distilled. At least then I know what I have to work with.
 
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