Water Chemistry Help Needed (Extract)

[Wantok Brewing]

I in the past have brewed some pretty good beers using my standard city water. However I have added a whole house water purifier (Puronics) and have reduced the hardness and removed the chlorine from the water. And many other minerals. Below is what my water profile is post purifier. Water sample was sent to Ward Labs for results.

All values are (ppm)
pH=8.1
Sodium=20
Potassium=<1
Calcium=0
Magnesium=<1
Nitrate=.2
Sulfate=3
Chloride=5
Carbonate=<1
Bicarbonate=22
Total Alkalinity=18
Total Hardness CaCO3=<1

I am mainly an extract brewer. Occasionally will do partial mash, but lets not worry about that process right now.

1) Is my pH okay to brew with? Or is this really only a concern with Mashing.

2) Do I need to increase my Hardness? Or again is this really only a concern with Mashing.

3) Should I add 1/2 tsp of Gypsum for a hoppy beer i want to brew?

4) Finally does the Extract contain all the necessary minerals for the yeast?

Thank you

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Extracts are factory concentrated post mash (to a liquid or dry form) with all of the requisite mash minerals already present, so any water without minerals or with minimal mineralization should prove to be ideal for extract brewing.

 

[Rev2010]

Agreed, with that water and brewing with extract you don't need to do anything to the water. Your levels are quite low so just go make beer and don't worry about it.


Rev.