My Water Chemistry Results

[Ultryx]

I decided I wanted to start brewing with the addition of salts recently and paid for a test from Ward Labs. Here are my results - the only thing that seems high to me is the bicarbonate. Do I just have to add acid for that? Otherwise this seems like a fairly reasonable water source to work with for a variety of styles. Am I correct in thinking this?

pH 7.7
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 143 ppm
Sodium, Na 7
Calcium, Ca 38.0
Magnesium, Mg 5
Total Hardness, CaCO3 116
Sulfate, SO4-S 6
Chloride, Cl 4
Bicarbonate, HCO3 114
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 94

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Otherwise this seems like a fairly reasonable water source to work with for a variety of styles. Am I correct in thinking this?

That would be my thought as well. You have a pretty low level for most of the important ions. So decent for lighter styles and can be built up for most styles.

I generally don't think much about Bicarbonate levels and just use software to help calculate acid additions to lower my pH (or in the rare case, add Bicarbonate to raise pH). I have seen reports in my area that range from 70-ish to 110-ish. Bicarbonate is one of those areas I struggle a bit with, but I generally follow the advice (I think I heard from John Palmer) that you are not targeting a bicarbonate level, but you are targeting a mash pH and bicarbonate impacts that.

 

[day_trippr]

The "hardness" number to pay attention to is Residual Alkalinity and 94 is a good value to have.
Along with the rest of the values one can brew anything with that water...

Cheers!

 

[mabrungard]

That's actually a great starting point. Most ions are at low levels. As usual, the alkalinity is too high for pale beers, but that's easily adjusted with the guidance of good brewing water software. Do remember that the sulfate content is actually 18, not 6ppm.

 

[Ultryx]

That's actually a great starting point. Most ions are at low levels. As usual, the alkalinity is too high for pale beers, but that's easily adjusted with the guidance of good brewing water software. Do remember that the sulfate content is actually 18, not 6ppm.

I see that Bru'N Water has some info about that, but I use Brewfather and it doesn't say anything about multiplying the values. Do I just do the same within Brewfather?

 

[VikeMan]

I see that Bru'N Water has some info about that, but I use Brewfather and it doesn't say anything about multiplying the values. Do I just do the same within Brewfather?

It's not the software that drives that requirement... it's the fact that Ward reports SO4 "as S." You need to multiply that by three for any software.

 

[VikeMan]

The "hardness" number to pay attention to is Residual Alkalinity and 94 is a good value to have.
Along with the rest of the values one can brew anything with that water...

Couple things here. The 94 in OP's profile is Total Alkalinity, not residual. And hardness (which does affect residual alkalinity) is a function of Calcium and Magnesium (not Total Alkalinity).

 

[day_trippr]

Lol. Could've sworn I saw RA but you're right, of course

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

The "hardness" number to pay attention to is Residual Alkalinity and 94 is a good value to have.
Along with the rest of the values one can brew anything with that water...

Cheers!

Total Alkalinity and Residual Alkalinity are not the same thing. And Alkalinity also has little relationship with hardness, sans that Alkalinity generally increases as hardness increases (though not in a linearly quantifiable sense).

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Nice water! As a rough ballpark guideline:

For light beers (~3-6 SRM) add sufficient acid to offset ~1.7 mEq's/L of Alkalinity.
For medium dark beers (~14-18 SRM) add sufficient acid to offset ~0.8 mEq's/L of Alkalinity.
For dark beers (~28+ SRM) brew with this water 'as is'.

Example for a light beer and 5 gallons (18.927 L) of your water:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.927L x 1.7mEq/L = 32.18 mEq's of Alkalinity to be removed (from each 5 gallons)
88% Lactic Acid has 11.451 mEq's of Acid per mL (to a pH of 5.4)
32.18 mEq/11.451 mEq/mL = ~2.8 mL of 88% Lactic Acid to be added (to each 5 gallons)

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

As to Residual Alkalinity (RA), it is a man made (I,E., contrived) valuation that can only be determined post titrating ones grist whereby to 'back' determine its initial state. Therefore RA is useless as a "forward looking" computational tool. Ignore it.

Short version: You can only determine a malt or composite grist RA's initial state by looking through the rear view mirror.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

It was once thought that:

RA (in mEq's) = Total Alkalinity (in mEq's) - [Ca++ (in mEq's)/3.5 + Mg++ (in mEq's)/7]

But more recent work indicates that the divisors (I.E., 3.5 and 7) are malt dependent. For Ca++ it was recently determined that what was once presumed to be a fixed value of 3.5 is in reality (and in specific relation to the mash proper) anywhere from about 7 to a bit more than 14 depending directly upon the malt.

RA is a dead horse.

 

[Brooothru]

Couple things here. The 94 in OP's profile is Total Alkalinity, not residual. And hardness (which does affect residual alkalinity) is a function of Calcium and Magnesium (not Total Alkalinity).

That makes perfect sense, but which value (Ca or Mg) needs to be increased x3 to account for the difference in expression of sulfate in the Ward Labs report? In my particular case sulfate is listed as "5". How do I correct my values for sulfate without also increasing the values of the anions Ca and Mg? (non-chemist here!).

 

[VikeMan]

How do I correct my values for sulfate without also increasing the values of the anions Ca and Mg? (non-chemist here!).

You just multiply the "SO4-S" or "SO4 as S" number by 3 to get the true SO4 number to enter in software. You don't do anything to change Ca or Mg.

If the ions aren't balancing, it may be that you have significant amounts of other cations (such as Potassium (K+)) that are either unreported or that are not inputs in the software.

Note: By balancing, I don't mean just add up the PPMs. Its the total charges that have to balance, and you can't tell if they do or not simply by eyeballing the PPMs.

 

[Brooothru]

You just multiply the "SO4-S" or "SO4 as S" number by 3 to get the true SO4 number to enter in software. You don't do anything to change Ca or Mg.

If the ions aren't balancing, it may be that you have significant amounts of other cations (such as Potassium (K+)) that are either unreported or that are not inputs in the software.

Note: By balancing, I don't mean just add up the PPMs. Its the total charges that have to balance, and you can't tell if they do or not simply by eyeballing the PPMs.

O.K., now I see the corrections necessary. For example (I primarily use the Brewer's Friend Advanced Brewing Water Calculator), so the modified entry (x3 "S") is made on the Source Water entry section. In my case Ward Labs lists the value of "5" for "Sulfate, SO4, S" so all I need to do is enter the value "15" in the calculator. Correct?

 

[VikeMan]

In my case Ward Labs lists the value of "5" for "Sulfate, SO4, S" so all I need to do is enter the value "15" in the calculator. Correct?

Exactly.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

To convert 'NO3-N' to 'NO3' multiply by 4.4

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

To explain the -S and -N multipliers is simple. Just look up the respective MW's (molecular weights). Molecular weight and molar mass for chemistry problems

Molecular weights:
S = 32.065
O = 15.9994
N = 14.0067

MW for SO4 = 32.065 +4(15.9994) = 96.0626
SO4/S = 96.0626/32.065 = 2.996 as the multiplier (call it 3)

MW for NO3 = 14.0067 +3(15.9994) = 62.0049
NO3/N = 62.0049/14.0067 = 4.4268 as the multiplier (call it 4.4)