Water Profile Help (American IIPA)

[EyePeeA]

I am attempting the Heady Topper IIPA clone which requires a very high, 750 ppm hardness, along with the use of gypsum, calcium chloride, and 85% lactic acid.

The mash pH for this beer was suggested by the head brewer to be between 5.1 - 5.3.

My starting water volume is 8 gallons.

My water profile is as follows:

Ca: 16 mg/L
Mg: 5 mg/L
Na: 40.8 mg/L
SO4: 36.1 mg/L
Cl: 54.8 mg/L

I do not know the hardness, alkalinity, pH, or bicarbonate ~ hopefully this can be deduced with the above listed results.

Being a beginner when it comes to water treatment, I am having trouble using the Bru'n Water calculator. Hopefully, someone can help to dumb this all down for me. I want to brew this beer with the correct water profile.

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This was reported to be the actual water info from the brewery. Their liquor treatment is 776 gallons. They brew on a 15 barrel system. There are 31 gallons per barrel which is 465 gallons and they are brewing and sparging with the same water. They also sparge until the last runnings are 5-6 plato (vs. the old rule of thumb at about 3 plato).

 

[ajdelange]

We can deduce that your alkalinity is 40 ppm as CaCO3 or less. pH and bicarbonate are irrelevant (or of very little relevance).

Because your chloride is higher than the target you will have to dilute it down to get the target. You can make what you want (though why you would want it is beyond me) by adding, to each liter of your tap water, 0.54 L DI water and 1992 mg of gypsum. Note that this is approaching the solubility limit of gypsum so it may take a lot of stirring to get it all dissolve. Be sure to add the dilution water first and be sure the mix is cold.

 

[EyePeeA]

1992 mg is 1.992 grams.

So I would have to multiply this by 4 liters, and then again by 8 (for a starting volume of 8 gallons) to get 750 ppm hardness.

Are you saying I would need to add 63.74 grams, or 2.248 ounces total gypsum? Calcium chloride wouldn't be needed since the water would be diluted with 16.2 liters of distilled water (is this correct since 30.283 liters is the total volume?). Will that throw off the other ions or drastically change the ph?

How much lactic acid is needed to hit my target mash ph of 5.1-5.3... They say 5.4 is too high for this beer.

 

[ajdelange]

1992 mg is 1.992 grams.

Yes. Solubility of gypsum is 2.4 grams per liter at 20 °C. So be sure to add the dilution water before the gypsum.

So I would have to multiply this by 4 liters, and then again by 8 (for a starting volume of 8 gallons) to get 750 ppm hardness.

3.875 L/gal

Are you saying I would need to add 63.74 grams, or 2.248 ounces total gypsum?

You would start withg 19.6 L of your water and add 1922 mg of CaSO4.2H2O to each liter for a total of 37.729 gram. In addition to the gypsum you add 0.54 L DI water for each liter of your tap water but do this before you add the gypsum.

Calcium chloride wouldn't be needed since the water would be diluted with 16.2 liters of distilled water (is this correct since 30.283 liters is the total volume?).

0.54*19.6 = 10.6 L dilution water. Yes, the purpose of that water is to dilute the chloride to the target level so no additional chloride is required.

Will that throw off the other ions or drastically change the ph?

It will dilute the other ions in the same ratio as the chloride but those are, as I understand it, don't-cares. The pH of the water will not change appreciably. Ordinarily you would need acid to reduce the pH of the mash but you have so much calcium here that you will get mash pH reduction of a couple of tenths from that.

How much lactic acid is needed to hit my target mash ph of 5.1-5.3... They say 5.4 is too high for this beer.

That will depend on the particular grains you are using and how much of each.