A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer

I was formerly a consultant to AB's Jacksonville brewery and the American Lager profile is from that brewery. They use a nanofiltration process (essentially a coarse RO system) to process their relatively minerallized groundwater for their brewing uses. I was very surprised to see that this was the water they brew with, but they apparently don't add any additional calcium to the water for brewing since I would have detected it in the wastewater.

There are impacts from brewing with a water with low calcium, some good and some bad. Clearly, we know that Pilsen brewers use a low calcium water successfully and I know that AB does too. There are flavor benefits from the reduced mineralization in that there are fewer ions to color the beer flavor.

But, there is one aspect that can be troublesome to anyone without great cleaning practices...beerstone. The low calcium level does not provide the best opportunity to precipitate calcium oxalate during the mash. Therefore, the potential for beerstone formation is increased. I would have to say that AB probably has excellent clean-in-place machinery and procedures, so the opportunity for beerstone formation is significantly reduced. For homebrewers, that might not be the case. Thus the reason I recommend a minimum of 40 ppm Ca to help avoid beerstone formation in the first place.

The other reason to have a more elevated Ca content is to promote yeast health and flocculation. Considering that these major lager breweries are certainly pitching large yeast amounts so yeast health and yeast multiplication during the ferment may not be such an issue for them. These breweries also have sometimes elaborate fining methods and filtering, that solves the flocculation problem.

I can't say that I recommend either the Pilsen or American Lager water profiles, but I can't argue with the success of those beers and their fine and delicate flavor. I included the AB profile only because I had it and knew it was factual. If a brewer can deal with the potential limitations from brewing with low Ca water, then it should produce a more delicate flavored beer. Do be careful with taking this to the extreme since I have had beers made with straight RO or distilled water and I was not impressed with the lack of flavor.

Enjoy!

Thanks Martin.

I have said many times that us homebrewers are lucky because our "rock stars" are very accessible. I've been lucky enough to have conversations with Greg Noonan, Chris White, Chris Colby, John Palmer, Tess Szamatulski, Ray Daniels and others and I'm always impressed that they can respond to all of the correspondence they receive. I would put AJ and Martin in that group of "Accessible Rock Stars" to the homebrewing world. Thanks again for the insight.

OK - I gotta say - I'm on page 5 and LOVING this whole topic!!! Could be worth a lifetime membership! Wait - I just paid for a year!! dang it!

Define "British beers" and minerally beers. Where do Pale Ales and IPA's come into play???

Grinder12000 said:

Define "British beers" and minerally beers. Where do Pale Ales and IPA's come into play???

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Post 156 hits on those.

Grinder12000 said:

Define "British beers"

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Beers where the style originated in Great Britain, such as Pale Ales and IPAs but also Bitter, Mild, Burton Ales, Stout, Porter, Scottish Ales...

Grinder12000 said:

and minerally beers.

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Beers where a high mineral content is part of the traditional profile i.e. where you taste the mineral quality in the finished beer. Export, Gose and Burton ales come to mind.

On a 5 gallon 1.050 beer what would the equivilent of 3% acid malt be in 88% lactic acid?

It's 3% of the grist weight so if you mashed 25 kg of malt 3% would be 750 grams of sauermalz. Sauermalz is generally considered to contain 2% lactic acid by weight so that 750 grams sauermalz would contain 15 grams of lactic acid. Lactic acid is generally sold as a solution which is 88% by weight so that 15/.88 = 17 grams of that solution would be needed. The density of an 88% solution is about 1.2 grams/cc so the 17 grams corresponds to 17/1.2 = 14.2 mL. Thus it looks like 14.2/25 = 0.568 mL per kg grist which is 0.258 mL per pound.

ajdelange said:

It's 3% of the grist weight so if you mashed 25 kg of malt 3% would be 750 grams of sauermalz. Sauermalz is generally considered to contain 2% lactic acid by weight so that 750 grams sauermalz would contain 15 grams of lactic acid. Lactic acid is generally sold as a solution which is 88% by weight so that 15/.88 = 17 grams of that solution would be needed. The density of an 88% solution is about 1.2 grams/cc so the 17 grams corresponds to 17/1.2 = 14.2 mL. Thus it looks like 14.2/25 = 0.568 mL per kg grist which is 0.258 mL per pound.

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Thanks for the detailed explanation! Just to make sure I understand it equals about 1 ml per 4 pounds of grain.

Yes.

Just to restate this to make searching easier, 88% lactic acid can be used instead of acid malt. Rather than using acid malt at 3% of the grist, 1 ml of lactic acid per 4 lbs of grist may be substituted.

Another question that I believe I have been looking into for awhile now but no one seems to know it... when we talk about having "50ppm of calcium" are we talking about overall or just for the mash? AJ, I know you mentioned much earlier in this thread that you have made beers with 100% RO and little-to-no additions so I'm not stating "50ppm" as a rule here. But when you read someplace "make sure you have 50ppm of calcium", are they referring to mash only? Next week I'm going to employ some of these rules on what amounts to a pale-colored Oktoberfest... Best Malz Pils, Weyermann Munich, maybe some acid malt and Carafoam, noble hops and 2124 Bohemian lager yeast. 75% RO water and maybe just 2-3 grams of calcium chloride in the mash and that's it. Watch the mash and sparge pH carefully, etc. Cheers.

It's not a hard and fast rule so it really isn't that critical. The general idea behind the primer is that you will use water with low hardness and alkalinity and then supplement the calcium to around 50 ppm. As the water is of low alkalinity there is no need to treat it to insure that it is OK for sparging and so the implication is that the entire volume of brewing water (mash, sparge, makeup) will be treated the same. I.e. to about 50 ppm Ca++.

I don't know why, but when I brew I will take my water (say 50% RO and 50% filtered tap) and put 4 gallons of the mixture in a pot and heat it for the mash and then add my salts to the mash and then heat the remaining 4 gallons of mixed water, drain the mash, add the sparge water, check the pH (and add lactic acid if necessary) and that's it for salt additions... no sparge additions or BK additions. Does that seem like a problem at all?

AJ I'm curious about your thoughts on water profiles for Oktoberfests.

BJCP Style guide states the lager should have a moderately dry finish. I detect the indicated moderate dryness in samplings of Paulaner, Hacher-Pschorr, and Spaten. The style guide states "Somewhat alkaline water (up to 300ppm), with significant carbonate content is welcome". This level of alkalinity appears clearly at odds with hitting the desired mash pH. If German brewers are using alkaline water (because that is what they have to work with), but then use sauer malt to reduce that alkalinity, then the style guide "suggestion" is irrelevant.

My recent Okoberfest turned out quite nicely, but the moderately dry finish is not present. In fact, I could not detect any dryness in the finish.

For my Okoberfest, after adding a small amount of CaCl2 to my water (mash and sparge are identical), I measured the mineral profile as Ca=62ppm, Na=29, Cl=91, SO4=53. My water started out at HCO3=63 (as CaCO3), but after treating with phosphoric acid dropped to 26ppm. The mash pH fell right in line at 5.3 with no addition of sauer malt. The malt profile was the standard Vienna/Munich/Pils with small amounts of Melanoidin and CaraMunich.

I'm thinking the style guide is miss directing me. I'm thinking alkalinity is not the solution for a dry finish. Raising the level of SO4 to say around 90 via the addition of CaSO4 might be a solution. But this changes the water profile to something more akin to a British Ale rather then a German Lager.

What are your thoughts?

gt541 said:

BJCP Style guide states the lager should have a moderately dry finish. I detect the indicated moderate dryness in samplings of Paulaner, Hacher-Pschorr, and Spaten. The style guide states "Somewhat alkaline water (up to 300ppm), with significant carbonate content is welcome". This level of alkalinity appears clearly at odds with hitting the desired mash pH. If German brewers are using alkaline water (because that is what they have to work with), but then use sauer malt to reduce that alkalinity, then the style guide "suggestion" is irrelevant.

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I have a similar problem with such statements. 300 ppm isn't, IMO, 'somewhat' alkaline. It is very alkaline. The water reports I have for Munich suggest that the water is perhaps half that alkaline. If the water were decarbonated before brewing it would take a reasonable amount of sauermalz (about 3% of the grist) or the equivalent in sauergut to move the grist to mash pH but if lactic acid were also relied upon to dispatch the alkalinity (i.e. bring the water to mash pH) that would require more than doubling the lactic which would bring its level to the point where the beer would taste sour with a lactic tang. Therefore, unless the guys that wrote the style description know something I don't know, it seems pretty clear that the water was decarbonated before the beer was brewed.

Whether the bicarbonate is removed by boiling or lime treatment or by conversion to CO2 by acid it must be removed if mash pH is to be reached. Assuming that we are going for around pH 5.2 (this time we're talking at mash temperature) only 6 - 7 % of the bicarbonate remains. Water with an alkalinity of 300 to start with would have its bicarbonate content reduced to about 30 mg/L. Water with half that starting alkalinity would wind up at 15. I don't think that's enough to impart dryness. Plus I don't think of bicarbonate flavor as necessarily dry. I think of it as salty.

gt541 said:

My recent Okoberfest turned out quite nicely, but the moderately dry finish is not present. In fact, I could not detect any dryness in the finish.

The obvious advice here is convert at low saccharification temperature and avoid dextrinous/caramelly malts (cara this and cara that) but keeping the chloride low should also help. Increasing sulfate also enhances the impression of dryness but one needs to be very careful here as sulfate and noble hops are a bad combination.

gt541 said:

For my Okoberfest, after adding a small amount of CaCl2 to my water (mash and sparge are identical), I measured the mineral profile as Ca=62ppm, Na=29, Cl=91, SO4=53. My water started out at HCO3=63 (as CaCO3), but after treating with phosphoric acid dropped to 26ppm. The mash pH fell right in line at 5.3 with no addition of sauer malt. The malt profile was the standard Vienna/Munich/Pils with small amounts of Melanoidin and CaraMunich.

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I'd try backing off on the calcium chloride. Remember that once it has been decarbonated Munich water doesn't have much of anything left. I'd also eliminate the CaraMunich.

gt541 said:

I'm thinking the style guide is miss directing me. I'm thinking alkalinity is not the solution for a dry finish. Raising the level of SO4 to say around 90 via the addition of CaSO4 might be a solution. But this changes the water profile to something more akin to a British Ale rather then a German Lager.
What are your thoughts?

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I tend to agree but those who wrote the style guide are a lot smarter than I am with respect to these things. When I do this style I use my standard lager water (RO plus enough CaCl2 to get calcium to around 20 which puts chloride at around 38). I use equal amounts of Pils, Vienna and Munich I in a triple decoction mash with saccharification at 148 °F. The beer comes out richly malty but it does finish pretty dry. I'm not a big fan of brewing to match a particular style so I just call it VMO and enjoy it. It comes in at about 6.6% ABV so it is towards the O'fest end of the spectrum.

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Thanks for your thoughts. It is interesting that you have been able to generate a dry finish without the use of a strong mineral profile adjustment. This is a data point strongly suggesting mineral adjustment is not a solution.

Our grain bills are not all that dissimilar, I use 45% Vienna, 23% Munich, 17% German Pils, 10% Melanoidan, 6% CaraMunich. I use the Cara (its only 0.6 lbs) mostly to achieve that nice orange-red color typical of Okoberfest (my SRM ~ 8 based on color slide comparison). But I realize that true German Okoberfests are generally golden to light honey colored. My Okoberfest has no hint of sweetness. But while not adding sweetness, the Cara may be blocking dryness. I'll try pushing the Munich while dropping the Cara and sacrifice color.

A decoction mash, let alone a triple, is a lot of work. In all my years I have never attempted a decoction, I step mash. For the Okoberfest I use a rest at 130-135F for 20min for foam stability (I get wonderful creamy heads that lace the sides of the glass all the way to the bottom) followed by 150-152F till conversion (took about 60 min additional via iodine test). My assumption about decoction was/is mainly that it imparts malty/grainy flavors. My lazy fake is to use Melanoidin to achieve a similar, but reduced, effect.

My addition of CaCl2 was slight (3.60g anhydrous into 10 gals). It took my tap water from Cl=30ppm to 91 and Ca=27 to 62. Since you use RO with only a small amount of CaCl2 I will leave my tap water as is. My mineral profile will be similar to yours (except I'll have SO4=53 instead of zero).

I'll have a two variable change so it will be difficult to know which one dominated, but they are small changes worth trying.

Thanks again for your insights.

Alright, so I am seeking some advice. My water is so hard it's probably actually ice (ha ha):

Alkalinity as CaCO3: 213
Ca: 80
Cl: 27
Hardness as as CaCO3: 330
Mg: 25
pH: 7.5
Sulfate: 140

I want to brew a Pale Ale (Uinta Wyld Clone). And I am planning on doing a distilled water right now. Is the recommendation with that 1tsp Burton, and 2tsp CaCl + 2% saurmaltz? Using the tap water should I just halve it? And if so should I boil it first, or should I just boil the stuff straight up.

Thanks!

What is the correction when measuring mash pH are room temp (20C)? Are we shooting for 5.2-5.7 at mash temp or is that the room temp pH? Does it matter what mash temp is? I'd assume some rests have different optimal pH ranges? Sorry if this was already stated.

gbx- the mash pH should be measurement should be taken at room temp. It has been discussed a bunch on here and that seem to be the concensus. I believe the hot temp will shorten the life of the pH meters thingy (electrode?). I shoot for 5.2-5.4 in a cooled sample.

KCBrew said:

Alright, so I am seeking some advice. My water is so hard it's probably actually ice (ha ha):

Alkalinity as CaCO3: 213
Ca: 80
Cl: 27
Hardness as as CaCO3: 330
Mg: 25
pH: 7.5
Sulfate: 140

I want to brew a Pale Ale (Uinta Wyld Clone). And I am planning on doing a distilled water right now. Is the recommendation with that 1tsp Burton, and 2tsp CaCl + 2% saurmaltz? Using the tap water should I just halve it? And if so should I boil it first, or should I just boil the stuff straight up.

Thanks!

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The recommendation of the Primer is dilute 10:1 so that alkalinity is down to around 20 and then build back up with calcium chloride and gypsum. That is effectively throwing the water away IMO. You could boil the water to reduce the alkalinity and then brew with that but now you are getting away from the concept of the Primer which is to keep it simple until you understand enough of the basics to know how to use the boiled water.

ajdelange said:

The recommendation of the Primer is dilute 10:1 so that alkalinity is down to around 20 and then build back up with calcium chloride and gypsum. That is effectively throwing the water away IMO. You could boil the water to reduce the alkalinity and then brew with that but now you are getting away from the concept of the Primer which is to keep it simple until you understand enough of the basics to know how to use the boiled water.

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My well water is disgusting. Will not use in any ratio. Should I ADD alkalinity then? I have potassium bicarb. Also have calcium hydroxide, but does that actually change alkalinity?

Yes, both of those are quite alkaline.

You will notice that the Primer says nothing about adding alkakinity. It recommends adding acid for most beers - just the opposite. There are occasions when alkalinity is called and these are with dark beers. But not all dark beers require it. Some actually require acid. Alkalinity is usually the enemy and so I recommend that people do not add alkaline stuff to water or mash unless a pH meter reading indicates it is necessary.

pickles said:

gbx- the mash pH should be measurement should be taken at room temp. It has been discussed a bunch on here and that seem to be the concensus. I believe the hot temp will shorten the life of the pH meters thingy (electrode?). I shoot for 5.2-5.4 in a cooled sample.

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Thank you. I read through the entire thread about a month ago and have since purchased a meter. In G.Strong's book it mentions a pH correction of .3 for room temp which lead me to believe that the 5.2-5.4 was for mash temp (meaning I should subtract .3 from all my room temp measurements). A "how to take mash pH measurements" how to would be nice. Does anyone know one?

gbx said:

Thank you. I read through the entire thread about a month ago and have since purchased a meter. In G.Strong's book it mentions a pH correction of .3 for room temp which lead me to believe that the 5.2-5.4 was for mash temp (meaning I should subtract .3 from all my room temp measurements). A "how to take mash pH measurements" how to would be nice. Does anyone know one?

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I'm pretty sure the 5.2 - 5.4 pH is for a reading taken at room temperature. Your pH probe should have a temperature probe too; therefore, it will correct the pH of the solution (in this case the mash liquor) based on the solution's temperature. pH in general is relative to a solutions temperature because the higher the temperature the more disassociation of hydrogen in the solution and a lower pH (because the "H" in pH is hydrogen, the more of it in solution the lower the pH).

So really don't over think it. Take the pH reading at 60 F in the mash liquor. You are shooting for 5.2 - 5.4. If its outside of the range its generally better to take note of this and correct the next time you brew.

funkswing said:

I'm pretty sure the 5.2 - 5.4 pH is for a reading taken at room temperature. Your pH probe should have a temperature probe too; therefore, it will correct the pH of the solution (in this case the mash liquor) based on the solution's temperature. pH in general is relative to a solutions temperature because the higher the temperature the more disassociation of hydrogen in the solution and a lower pH (because the "H" in pH is hydrogen, the more of it in solution the lower the pH).

So really don't over think it. Take the pH reading at 60 F in the mash liquor. You are shooting for 5.2 - 5.4. If its outside of the range its generally better to take note of this and correct the next time you brew.

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arent we shooting for 5.4-5.6 at room temp?

ajdelange said:

I tend to agree but those who wrote the style guide are a lot smarter than I am with respect to these things.

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I agree with AJ that there are plenty of brilliant people working within BJCP formulating and crafting the style guidelines. Unfortunately, that brilliance may not have always extended to issues pertaining to water. That passage from the guidelines on Oktoberfest is a case in point. We will have to work with BJCP to correct these unfortunate, incorrect, and misleading statements.

gbx said:

A "how to take mash pH measurements" how to would be nice. Does anyone know one?

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There is one in the Stickies.

funkswing said:

...So really don't over think it. Take the pH reading at 60 F in the mash liquor. You are shooting for 5.2 - 5.4. If its outside of the range its generally better to take note of this and correct the next time you brew.

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This is not the thread for the advice "don't over think it" If you are a brewer who took time to read 26 pages and purchase a pH meter, you are probably the type who wants to understand this topic (and probably over thinks everything about brewing).

Here is the results of the pH testing of my last brew (the dry stout from brewing classic styles with the mash schedule 15mins at 49C, 60mins at 63C). I mashed in the MO and the barley flakes with no water adjustments. 14L of strike water (vancouver tap water is essentially RO water). I added .5tsp of CaCl after the 5m pH sample. I added the roasted grain after the 2nd rest 10min sample. This was done to see what effect they'd have

Mash stage, Time, Mash Temperature, Sample Temp, Sample pH

Strike water 55C 37C 6.9
1st Rest 0m 51C 32C 5.7
1st Rest 5m 50C 20C 5.7
CaCl addition - .5tsp
1st Rest 10m 50C 20C 5.6
2nd Rest 0m 63C 25C 5.5
2nd Rest 10m 60C 20C 5.7
Roast addition
2nd Rest 20m 63C 25C 5.5
2nd Rest 60m 65C 25C 5.6

Does anyone see any problems? do I want to adjust for room temp?

ajdelange said:

There is one in the Stickies.

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Right, the pH Meter Calibration? it doesn't mention the correction for room temp readings. Or is 5.2-5.4 the room temp optimal range?

I think of 25 °C as 'room temperature' though it may be a bit warm. Anyway, the pH shift is about 0.005 per °C so 5 degrees is only going to swing you 0.02. More significant to readers of this thread is that this is a classic dark beer that would benefit from a bit of acid (emjay and others take note).

ajdelange said:

I think of 25 °C as 'room temperature' though it may be a bit warm. Anyway, the pH shift is about 0.005 per °C so 5 degrees is only going to swing you 0.02. More significant to readers of this thread is that this is a classic dark beer that would benefit from a bit of acid (emjay and others take note).

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Thanks, AJ. I was aiming to cool the samples to 20C but also didn't want them to sit too long. So we are shooting for 5.2-5.4 at room temp or at mash temp? This is something I'm still confused about.

gbx said:

Thanks, AJ. I was aiming to cool the samples to 20C but also didn't want them to sit too long. So we are shooting for 5.2-5.4 at room temp or at mash temp? This is something I'm still confused about.

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Good question but partly irrelevant. What we are "shooting for" is a repeatable procedure for home brewers. Unless you are willing to sacrifice probes, what the actual mash PH is doesn't matter. I've done a lot of reading and I've never seen a definitive write up on how the original data was correlated. Did they do it at mash temps? Did they add a temperature correction? What WE need is simply a standard we can use and be assured it will get us to where we need to be.

Hermit said:

Good question but partly irrelevant. What we are "shooting for" is a repeatable procedure for home brewers. Unless you are willing to sacrifice probes, what the actual mash PH is doesn't matter. I've done a lot of reading and I've never seen a definitive write up on how the original data was correlated. Did they do it at mash temps? Did they add a temperature correction? What WE need is simply a standard we can use and be assured it will get us to where we need to be.

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I think part of what makes this topic so difficult is that nobody seems to be on the same page. Every book has a slightly different take on the little details. G. Strong seems to be saying measure at room temp and subtract .3 and that 5.2-5.4 is the ideal mash temp pH.

Where does the numbers 5.2 - 5.4 come from? So much written on this topic seems to be wrong(eg. classic city water profiles, 5.2 Stabilizer, beer color/pH relationship, the BJCP style guide, etc), is the optimum pH range a number we can trust? I see things written that the mash won't convert, beer will taste bad and have no stability if you are outside the range. Has that actually been studied, peer reviewed or just anecdotal observations?

gbx said:

I think part of what makes this topic so difficult is that nobody seems to be on the same page. Every book has a slightly different take on the little details. G. Strong seems to be saying measure at room temp and subtract .3 and that 5.2-5.4 is the ideal mash temp pH.

Where does the numbers 5.2 - 5.4 come from? So much written on this topic seems to be wrong(eg. classic city water profiles, 5.2 Stabilizer, beer color/pH relationship, the BJCP style guide, etc), is the optimum pH range a number we can trust? I see things written that the mash won't convert, beer will taste bad and have no stability if you are outside the range. Has that actually been studied, peer reviewed or just anecdotal observations?

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Hence the primer. We do know that historically different beers developed in different regions based on what the water would support so we do actually have a fairly large historical database to go by in terms of narrowing down what works and what doesn't. Yes, there is a lot of conflicting and confusing information floating around.
The purpose of the primer was to disregard all of the 'noise' and have a nice simple starting point that works.

I just got done reading this whole thread. In order for this to make sense to me in the future on brewday I changed the way some of this read and added a few things I read along the way. Would this be correct the way I wrote it?

Baseline: Add 1 tsp of calcium chloride to each 5 gallons of water treated. Add 2% sauermalz to the grist.

Deviate from the baseline as follows:

For soft water beers (i.e Pils, Helles, hefeweizen). Use half the baseline amount of calcium chloride (1/2 tsp) and increase the sauermalz to 3% (you can make great Hefeweizen with soft water too).

Dark beer: For beers that use roast malt (Stout, porter): use baseline and skip the sauermalz.

Light Ale: For British beers such as Pale Ales, IPAs, Bitter, Mild, Burton Ales, Scottish Ales Use Baseline and add 1 tsp gypsum.

Minerally beers (Export, Burton ale, some IPA’s): Double the calcium chloride and keep the gypsum the same as light ale. No saurmalz.

It really depends on how you like your beer. If you like a minerally IPA then add lots of chloride and sulfate. If you like a soft IPA then cut back on both. If you like a mellow IPA with muted hops character, then use more chloride than sulfate and conversely.


gypsum = 4 grams while a tsp of cal chl = 5 grams

gbx said:

Where does the numbers 5.2 - 5.4 come from? So much written on this topic seems to be wrong(eg. classic city water profiles, 5.2 Stabilizer, beer color/pH relationship, the BJCP style guide, etc), is the optimum pH range a number we can trust? I see things written that the mash won't convert, beer will taste bad and have no stability if you are outside the range. Has that actually been studied, peer reviewed or just anecdotal observations?

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Time to tell the anecdote of the XI DeClerck Chair held in Leuven a few years back and titled "The pH Paradox". The huge breweries from all over the world (except the US) were there and the one thing that did not come out of three days of lectures was a number or range of numbers for optimum pH. Depends on whether you are after microbiological stability, colloidal stability, hops utilization, bright kettle runoff etc.

If you do things right you'll wind up in the 5.4 - 5.6 region at room temperature. Most report "brighter flavors" in that region but it is like any other brewing parameter. What is good for you may not be that good for someone else and, as with any other parameter, you can experiment with various mash pH levels to find what works best for you.

Edit: no, AJ answered earlier, you have it right, although the language is a bit ambiguous.

"I believe the light ale (British) category is 2 tsp CaCl and 1 gypsum."

OH - sorry nyer - I did not see your post! LOL

ajdelange - can I offer a suggestion?

List the main styles of beer for each of the categories. It might seem obvious to many but to others it can be a "?".

Baseline: Add 1 tsp of calcium chloride dihydrate (what your LHBS sells) to each 5 gallons of water treated. Add 2% sauermalz to the grist.

Deviate from the baseline as follows:

For soft water beers (i.e Pils, Helles). Use half the baseline amount of calcium chloride and increase the sauermalz to 3%

For beers that use roast malt (Stout, porter): Skip the sauermalz.

For British beers: Add 1 tsp gypsum as well as 1 tsp calcium chloride

For very minerally beers (Export, Burton ale): Double the calcium chloride and the gypsum.

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How about making it simpler, just the facts

For a 5 gallon batch:

For soft water beers (i.e Pils, Helles). Add 1/2 tsp of calcium chloride, 2% sauermalz (Sour Malt).

For beers that use roast malt (Stout, porter): Add 1 tsp of calcium chloride.

For British beers: Add 1 tsp gypsum 1 tsp calcium chloride.

For very minerally** beers (Export, Burton IPA?): Add 1 tsp calcium chloride, 1 tsp gypsum.

** what are the minerally beers ??

Calcium Sulfate is never added for any reason?

Calcium Sulfate is never added for any reason?

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Gypsum is calcium sulfate