Water Adjustment for Calcium

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

smyrnaquince

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2010
Messages
666
Reaction score
28
Location
Concord
Short Summary: My water has low Calcium, even after adding CaSO4 and CaCl2 to adjust Sulfates and Chlorides. Do I stay with the low Calcium levels, add CaCO3 and lactic acid, or do something else?

Details

I have been trying to up my game lately by adjusting my water profile. My town uses well water and I got the detailed well report from the town, so I am reasonably sure that the info I have is correct.

My water has rather low Calcium (25 ppm). I think I should be trying to raise that level.

Bru'n Water suggests a minimum of 50 ppm and Palmer in "How to Brew" suggests 50-150 ppm. The Bru'n Water Knowledge web page states, "Brewing with very low calcium content water will not impair fermentation since barley and wheat provide sufficient calcium for yeast health. The primary difficulties with brewing with very low calcium water is that yeast flocculation may be impaired and beerstone formation may affect equipment."

My problem is, in general, that after adjusting my Sulfates and Chlorides with CaSO4 and CaCl2, my Calcium levels are usually still low.

For example, I am currently planning a witbier. Bru'n Water (using the Yellow Malty profile) suggests 55.0 ppm Sulfate (my water is 38.0) and 70.0 ppm Chloride (my water is 58.0).

If I add sufficient CaSO4 and CaCl2 to bring the Sulfate and Chloride up to the suggested values, my Calcium only gets up to 38.3 ppm. Depending on the suggested water profile for the beer I am brewing, I've had it even lower.

Should I be trying to raise the Calcium level? The only way I can see to do it is to add CaCO3, then add lactic acid to counterbalance the alkalinity change. Almost everything I've seen, though, says to avoid CaCO3.

So, do I stay with the low Calcium levels, add CaCO3 and lactic acid, or do something else?

Thanks!

P.S. My water's numbers (in ppm) are:
Ca 25.0
Mg 7.0
Na 26.0
SO4 38.0
Cl 58.0
CaCO3 68.0 (which leads Bru'n Water to estimate HCO3 83.1 and CO3 0.1)
 
Honestly, I would strive for 50ppm for most beers, and not sweat it after that. That being said, with a Witbier, flocculation isnt that crucial, so 38ppm of Ca is fine.

I would focus more on the Sulfate and Chloride levels on lighter beers, as these levels can impact flavor. Obviously you dont want to add more sulfate or chloride to certain styles, just to achieve a certain ppm of Ca. After all, you can use certain aids like gelatin in clearing the beer, and proper maintenance of equipment can keep beerstone at ease.

For what it is worth, I use RO water. For beers like Weissbiers, Cream Ales, Kolsch, etc, I add just a bit of CaCl to the water and finish adjusting the mash down to proper pH with lactic acid. My Ca levels are below 50 but the beers still turn out very well.

Hope this clears some things up.
 
While 50ppm Ca+ is the R-O-T baseline 25ppm will be fine here. I wouldn't bother doing anything with that water if brewing a witbier. Changing SO4 from 38ppm to 55ppm isn't worth the effort. It is such a small difference, needing only a minuscule quantity of salt addition hence the reason that your Ca+ numbers don't increase much. If it really bothers you just add more CaCl2 but keep the ceiling of Cl- at 100ppm. When you make a hoppy ale with higher SO4 numbers and use more gypsum the number targets will be a bit easier.
 
Thanks Natdavis777 and BigEd!

I'm now thinking that for the witbier and for any other beer, I should only adjust the SO4 or Cl for the desired SO4/Cl ratio and not worry about hitting the actual ppm numbers in the Bru'n Water profile. After that adjustment, I'll simply adjust for pH using lactic acid and call it done. The calcium will be low, but it seems to affect beerstone and not yeast health.

The SO4/Cl ratio of my water (0.66) is in the suggested range of malty (0.75) to very malty (0.5), so I think I agree with BigEd that I will just let it go as is for that brew.

R-O-T?
 
Ha, now you've opened another can of worms, with the "sulfate/chloride ratio".

Look at the numbers, not at the ratio. Here's why. Say you have 2 ppm of chloride and 1 ppm of sulfate- that's 2:1. But it's meaningless, since it's so low. That's FAR different than 200:100, which is way too high and can cause a minerally beer, although the ratio is 2:1.

Instead of even thinking about a "ratio", think of the actual numbers. That will be more realistic, and easier to manage when thinking about additions.

For more info on this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=526109
 
Yooper, thanks. More reading to do! I will read that thread and I guess I also need to figure out what the minimum levels of sulfate and chloride are and if there are recommended (or minimum) levels per style.
 
OK, I did some (initial) reading. I agree that you can't depend on just the ratio without also considering the actual amounts. On the other hand, there was little guidance on the actual amounts.

From that thread, mabrungard states, "... I suggested that limiting the application of the sulfate/chloride ratio to those instances when the Chloride content is between roughly 25 and 100 ppm. Within that limitation, I do feel that the ratio can have some application to beer flavor." Given that my calcium is at 25 ppm, it would seem that for my particular situation I can look at the ratio.

I've also started reading "A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer". That thread suggests water treatments for soft water for various types of beer. I'd like to convert those suggestions from teaspoons to mg, then pop them into Bru'n Water to see what their effects are on the mineral content of the water.
 
Given that my calcium is at 25 ppm, it would seem that for my particular situation I can look at the ratio.

You refer to your calcium content. My reply referred to chloride content. However, it appears that your chloride content is high enough to apply the ratio in a meaningful way.
 
Back
Top