Please help me understand my water report

[bmcwood]

I got my results back from Ward Lab and I don't really know how to interpret them. I want to add gypsum to my apa's / ipa's but I am not sure how much with these results. Anything else I should be adding? Thanks!

pH 7.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 135
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.22
Cations / Anions, me/L 1.9 / 1.7

Sodium, Na 8 ppm
Potassium, K 3 ppm
Calcium, Ca 26 ppm
Magnesium, Mg 2 ppm
Total Hardness, CaCO3 73 ppm
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE) ppm
Sulfate, SO4-S 15 ppm
Chloride, Cl 8 ppm
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0 ppm
Bicarbonate, HCO3 33 ppm
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 27 ppm
Total Phosphorus, P 0.15 ppm
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01 ppm

 

[JonM]

You have really good, soft water. Adding gypsum will bump up the calcium and the sulfate numbers. Do you use software like Bru'n Water?

 

[ajdelange]

Take one of your APA or IPA beers and taste it. Now add a bit of gypsum and taste it again. Does it taste better? If so add a bit more gypsum and taste again. Keep doing this until you arrive at a level where further addition does not result in an improvement. Now scale the amount of gypsum you added to brew length and add that amount to your brewing liquor. This should get you in the ballpark but should continue to experiment with small adjustments to the amount in the brewing liquor. You should be doing a similar set of taste tests with calcium chloride as your water is also quite low in that. Note that the sulfate level as is would be adequate for some people and grossly inadequate for others.

 

[mchrispen]

Is this really the water from your tap? amazing. No wonder brewing thrives in Portland!

Your alkalinity is very low and low levels of sulfate and chloride - a great candidate for the Primer in the sticky section of this forum. I would start there. It is easy, convenient and provides excellent results.

If you wish to have a more advanced approach, first read up on water chemistry. The Water book by Kaminsky and Palmer is good, but a great starting point is the Knowledge section of Bru'n Water spreadsheet (google it). Second, download and experiment with Bru'n Water, EZ Water or Brewer's Friend website to setup and manipulate water profiles toward your specific goals. Purchase (if you haven't) a quality pH meter and keep it calibrated and use it often. You can find recommendations in this forum.

A word of caution... you will find a lot of confusing information about Residual Alkalinity, Sulfate to Chloride ratios and so forth - ignore them until you grasp the chemistry. Practically what is most important is hitting a proper mash pH between 5.2 and 5.6. This ensures the proper enzymatic activity and flavor/body/fermentable extraction when mashing. Further, adjustments to 'seasoning' your water for a beer will impact the pH and may have a lesser effect than you might expect, unless pushing extremes of sulfate or chloride levels. Do NOT add both alkaline additions and acid additions into your mash/liquor - they have opposing effects. Use just enough acid or just enough alkalinity (baking soda or pickling lime) to achieve your goal. When working with matching a profile - ignore the bicarbonate and RA levels (assuming you are managing mash pH). Simply try to match the sulfate and chloride levels, which seem to bring the most to the table. When you have mastered this level, you might consider the nuances of adding magnesium and sodium as portions of the profile match. You should not need to acidify your sparge water at 27 ppm alkalinity.

That said - artificially manipulating my water profiles have made my beers better. I use RO water as a base, and add salts to different levels for most of my recipes. Water management does not replace good recipe creation and proper mashing and fermentation techniques.

 

[mabrungard]

That is a fine starting point. The sulfate content (45 ppm) might be a little high for some styles, but is not excessive. My experience is that this sulfate content would be entirely insufficient for creating a nice crisp, dry-finishing pale ale or IPA. 100 ppm sulfate is barely adequate for me, but its tolerable. I prefer the dryness that about 300 ppm provides in my pale ales.

Do recognize that even though you have relatively low alkalinity, you will have add acid for most pale-colored beer brewing. You need to be ready to dose with acid. Conversely, your alkalinity is not high enough to brew some dark styles. So you also need to be ready to dose with baking soda or pickling lime for those styles.