Water chemistry question

[carloscede2]

So the ph in my city is 8.4 and they use chloramine instead of chlorine. Any insights in how that affects the beer? Water chemistry is not my expertise at all.

 

[cyanmonkey]

Campden tablets will treat chloramine/chlorine. 1 pill should treat 20 gallons of water, otherwise you might get a "band-aidy" taste depending on concentration.

Water pH won't get you far. Mash pH and water alkalinity are what are important.

Depending on your grain bill, you may need to adjust your pH with something like lactic acid or acid malt. That all depends on your alkalinity which (as far as I understand it) is your water's ability to resist acidification. If you have 12 lbs of roast barley, but alkalinity is through the roof, you won't hit your target pH.

Try to get information from your water supply, or use RO/distilled water and build up from there with salts. I use distilled. It's 0.88 cents/gallon and it's guaranteed devoid of any minerals.

Check out Bru 'n Water or EZ Water (which is a bit more user friendly).

Also, see the Brewing Science section of this forum.

 

[user 4295]

Deleted. Took too long to write my response. Poster above said just about everything I was going to say.

 

[Qhrumphf]

As already mentioned, water pH means very little aside from how the alkalinity is present in terms of carbonate species. With that pH, more carbonate will be present relative to other water supplies (but still mostly bicarbonate). But it's the amount of alkalinity itself that matters, not the pH. Low alkalinity water will be very easy to acidify even at a very high pH as there's no buffering capacity. Conversely, even at low pH highly alkaline water will require more acid to adjust. It's the alkalinity that matters, not the pH.

Chlorine/chloramine should be removed. Campden tablets are one option (that's what I use). Carbon filtration is another (although to remove chloramine the flow rate has to be quite slow).

 

[carloscede2]

Ok now I get it. Do you remove that when you boil it? If not Im ****d. How can I get the alkalinity? Im taking chemistry in university so im going to show up with these questions

 

[Qhrumphf]

Using campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) will chemically neutralize the chlorine/chloramine. They're sold with winemaking supplies at just about any homebrew shop. Carbon filtration will work too. In either case, water should be pretreated with either method first before doing anything else with it. You can also just buy RO water from the store. You can remove chlorine by boiling, but chloramine takes so long to sufficiently reduce that way that it's not practical. And if you steep grains or anything like that first, then the damage will already be done and the creation of chlorophenols from chlorine/chloramine and grain husk phenols happens very rapidly, so waiting for your main wort boil is too late.

You should be able to get your alkalinity from your water company.

 

[cyanmonkey]

I assume you're doing all grain or extract?

 

[carloscede2]

I assume you're doing all grain or extract?

Al my batches are extract except my last one where I move to all grain

 

[carloscede2]

30 ppm, (considered very soft) is that the alkalinity?

 

[theseeker4]

30 ppm, (considered very soft) is that the alkalinity?

Where are you getting that number? Does it say the alkalinity is 30 ppm, or is that referring to something else?

 

[carloscede2]

Where are you getting that number? Does it say the alkalinity is 30 ppm, or is that referring to something else?

I got it from the water report of my city (I think!)

View attachment 1456685836907.jpg

 

[Qhrumphf]

I got it from the water report of my city (I think!)

Hardness is often related to alkalinity, but not the same thing. In brewing terms, hardness is often good, alkalinity is almost always an obstacle. You're looking for "bicarbonate", "alkalinity", or "alkalinity as CaCO3".

 

[carloscede2]

Hardness is often related to alkalinity, but not the same thing. In brewing terms, hardness is often good, alkalinity is almost always an obstacle. You're looking for "bicarbonate", "alkalinity", or "alkalinity as CaCO3".

That says caco3 alkalinity, now?

View attachment 1456688625282.jpg

 

[chickypad]

That is good water for brewing provided you do something about the chlorine/chloramine. Very similar to mine. If you don't want to get into water too much yet then you can use that water with the water primer instructions. I tend to use the brewer's friend water calculator for figuring additions because that's what I started with, but the water primer page will do. For example for pale beers I usually just need a little calcium carbonate and/or gypsum and a little acid malt.

If you want to learn more about water Martin's Bru'n water knowledge page is a good place to start. You can also download the Bru'n water program there.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Yep, that's some good starting water. Deal with your chlorine/chloramine, and then the water primer linked above is a good place to start if you want to get the right water chemistry for your beers without having to venture down the rabbit hole.