How to get my water right for this Lager?

[vanwolfhausen]

Just getting into water chemistry with my really soft water. I am going to do 3 lagers back to back and wondered what to do with my water?

Sodium, Na 26
Potassium, K 18
Calcium, Ca < 1
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 8
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.3 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S < 1
Chloride, Cl 2
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 103
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 85

My beer will be a 1.054 beer with 12lbs 2 row and 1lb flaked rice. SRM is 3.54. I wanted to get my magnesium and calcium up and possible drive down sodium by cutting with distilled 50%. I was going to add following:

10.5 gallons total water(5 gallons Distilled/5.5gallons regular)
2grams Calcium Chloride
2grams Magnesium Chloride

My estimated Mash PH was 5.59 so didn't know if I should add in 4ml of Phos Acid to bring it down slightly? Any help would be appreciated. I have someone helping me but, I am most likely driving him nuts with all the questions.haha

 

[Denny]

Use this...

https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

 

[mabrungard]

Its soft, but more importantly its alkaline. Alkalinity control is the primary concern.

Boosting the calcium content is appropriate, but there is little need to boost the magnesium content unless you want its flavor contribution in the beer. Malt provides sufficient Mg to the wort and additional Mg in the water is not needed.

The CaCl addition is a good way to go. Add the mineral to bring the Ca concentration to at least 40 ppm (if not 50 ppm) to promote good yeast health and flocculation.

Whether these Ca concentration goals are sufficient is debatable. I just saw a presentation by Jim Mellem with SN and apparently they aim for a Ca concentration of 50 ppm in the kettle. Since there are reactions in the mash that precipitate Ca from the wort, they overdose the mash with Ca minerals and add additional Ca minerals directly to the kettle to end up with 50 ppm for the boil. The Ca loss in the mash due to the precipitation effects is about 40% of the total. That suggests that a better goal for mashing water is about 85 ppm Ca in order to end up with 50 ppm in the kettle. I am not sure if that Ca goal of 50 ppm in the kettle is beneficial since there are plenty of beers brewed with less Ca in the water and wort (Pilsen for instance). I don't know what the answer is yet.

The Na and K are a little high, but not excessive. Dilution with RO or DI would be OK, but may be unnecessary. If no dilution is performed, then the alkalinity will remain at its full strength and would require neutralization. Acidification is appropriate. It shouldn't take excessive amounts of acid to neutralize the alkalinity. Lactic acid may be suitable and phosphoric would have less flavor impact. This is a brewer's choice and I think either could be used.

Enjoy!

 

[vanwolfhausen]

Thanks!! I can't get that Brunwater to download. I get it but haven't been succesful to input numbers in spreadsheet. I have been using Kai's spreadsheet. I seem to be a little in dark with the acids since I don't have a PH meter YET!! I get to a mash PH calculation of around 5.57 and not sure if I should use acid to drive it down? The amounts the spreadsheet want me to use seem a little high. Sometimes over 12mls. Any comment on that?

So I am going to stick to adding my Calcium and don't worry about the magnesium. I will use the Phos Acid sparingly at maybe around 1.5-2mls spread out between mash and sparge?

I would rather not use distilled if I can get away from it but, my Sulfate seems high without it and didn't know if that should be addressed?

 

[mabrungard]

Did you click on the file name or the downward pointing arrow? If you click on the file name, all it does is open the file in Google Docs which disables all the program's capabilities. You can't even enter data. If you click the downward pointing arrow on the right side of the page, then it will give you the download. Sorry for the confusion, but its a Google thing that I have no power over.

The sulfate content of that water is modest, but I wouldn't add to it for a malty beer.