adding hardness LOTS of it?

[mosaicbrewer]

So, new member here. Been studying and working with all grain mashing calcs and water profiles for a while, have read most of the water book. I am losing my mind on something here. I am trying to recreate the water of a certain beer that has a total hardness figure of 843 as CaCo3. The other part of this equation is that the sulfate needs to be no more than 100 and the calcium in the 125 range. To make things easier, you can consider my water source as RO as it is very low in everything. I cannot seem to figure out what additions can make this happen. Can anyone tell me if this is even possible? Thanks -Marc

 

[ajdelange]

It is inconceivable to me that any beer would be made with water this hard but it could certainly be synthesized from RO or DI water by adding 843/50 = 16.86 mEq of hardness per liter using mostly chloride salts. To set calcium to 125 mg/L , 6.25 of the 16.86 mEq/L would come form calcium chloride and the rest from magnesium chloride. That would result in a whopping 10.6 mEq/L Mg equivalent to 129 mg/L Mg++. Get some of that from the sulfate and you'd have a beer the drinking of which could be a moving experience.

 

[HumulusHead]

Honestly I cannot contribute here, but I am curios of what water you are trying to recreate...

Most well water I've seen is 400 on the high end for bicarb


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[mosaicbrewer]

ajdelange, thank you for the response, not that I fully understand it yet. magnesium chloride is not one of your typical brewing additives correct? hmm, I may add that the magnesium content of this beer is quite high, higher than recommended by by most publications. Does it make sense to you that the tds on this is above 1000ppm? Lastly, can I assume you are alluding to the magnesium content and the laxative effect? Thanks a lot, I hope you are available to help me completely understand these numbers... TY -marc

 

[helibrewer]

Maybe that beer will finally give us a flavorful colonoscopy prep solution....

 

[ajdelange]

magnesium chloride is not one of your typical brewing additives correct?

No, it isn't - you won't find it at you LHBS but it is readily available. Reef aquarists use to build sea water from RO/DI. It is also available from sources like http://www.mansionschools.com/magnesium-chloride-reagent-crystal-500g-13416-chemicals.html. Neither of these is food grade.

Does it make sense to you that the tds on this is above 1000ppm?

I haven't added it up because I don't have the ion profile of the water you are trying to emulate but it wouldn't surprise me that water this hard would have TDS over 1 gram/L.

Lastly, can I assume you are alluding to the magnesium content and the laxative effect?

Yep.

Thanks a lot, I hope you are available to help me completely understand these numbers... TY -marc

If you give me the desired target I can tell you how much of what to add to RO water to get it, provided that target is realizable (many of the profiles in books are not).