First All Grain Brew Day - Water Chemistry Help

So my next brew day will be my first all grain brew (Sculpin IPA clone) and I'm hoping someone can give me an idea of adjustments needed on my brewing water. My local water supplier provides a very detailed water analysis and here are what I believe are the relevant details:

Ca+2 = 37
Mg+2 = 27
SO4-2 = 60
Na+ = 27
Cl- = 62
HCO3- = 82
Alkalinity = 67
pH = 9
Total Disolved Solids = 215

When I plug it into Brewers Friend, it looks like 1.25 tsp of Gypsum would get me into the "Green Stars" for each of the parameters for a "light hoppy" profile. Not sure if that is sufficient or if there are other parameters I need to be concerned with or a better tool to provide guidance on necessary adjustments. I have learned a lot from this forum and hoping to grow my knowledge in the chemistry behind brewing water.

I can't help you with that but I will say "BBN represent!"

#bbn4life

IDK. But if your water is pretty good I wouldn't even worry about it. I am at approximately batch #60 using filtered tap water. No treatment. I also don't know if my beers have any off flavors to style. I do know that my friends and I like my beers a lot.

RandallFlag said:

I can't help you with that but I will say "BBN represent!"

#bbn4life

Click to expand...

#BBN enjoying the ride thus far this season.

I did notice the pH was 9 and that seemed to high. To high without something being added. I'm really big in stripping the water clean and then adding what I want in it. This way I know what's in it. That is my 2 cents.

Download Bru'n Water and you can figure it out pretty easily. Off the cuff I would say you need a few grams of gypsum and a gram or two of calcium chloride (add to the mash only). Also you'll need approx 3 oz of acid malt in your mash to drop the pH and acidify your sparge with ~5mL of 88% lactic acid.

These numbers are purely off the top of my head given your overall water profile, but you should really plug them into a calculator to figure it out. Even if you don't add salts, just get your mash and sparge pH lowered and you will be in a much better shape.

+1 for Bru'n Water.

+1 for saurmalt.

Whenever I mess with water chemistry I always make a mini-mash for a yeast starter, that way if you screw something up it's only a liter and not 5 gal. After you get your numbers right you can then scale it up to full size. Cheers.

You're minerals are great, but there's a lot of alkalinity. You're going to need to adjust the ph of your sparge water or your beer will end up astringent. Just use some lactic acid and test it with a meter. Also, don't forget a Camden tablet. This will prevent chlorophenols, which can be a batch ruiner.

I use both Brewer's Friend and Bru'n Water and found their mineral addition recommendations very similar. So, if Brewer's Friend says 1.25tsp gypsum is good enough then you're probably fine.

As others have noted, the starting ph does seem high and this would be another key "parameter" although we'd need to see your grain bill. Get an acid (I use 88% phosphoric) and the same brewing software will tell you exactly how much to use. From my experience, BF's recommended amounts for acid additions are too high and BW is spot on.

Thanks for all of the advice, I'll definitely make the acid adjustments to bring my pH into acceptable range for mash and sparge water. Where do most people purchase their 88% phosphoric (LHBS, on-line or are there other commercial sources)?

http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=FGphos

This is where I purchased mine.

Sorry, I meant 85% not 88%. You can get it anywhere - the link from mblanks2, Amazon, most LHBSs, their online stores etc.