Water report - chloride and sodium too high?

[rprego]

Hi all, I just got my results from Ward Labs and based on what I've been reading, my sodium and (especially) my chloride levels are on the high side. I don't know of anywhere near me to get RO water, but do you think I'll need to dilute with DI water for anything that isn't a maltier beer (due to the chloride level)? Is the sodium level a concern, or is it manageable even if it's not ideal? Here's the report:

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[ajdelange]

I don't think you will have a problem. If, for some reason, you wanted to increase calcium do it with the sulfate rather than the chloride as you have lots of headroom there.

 

[rprego]

Thanks for the reply -- so you'd say even if I was brewing something like an IPA, a sulfate level up in the 200s would be okay (to hit somewhere around a 2:1 sulfate:chloride ratio?)

 

[ajdelange]

Forget sulfate: chloride ratio! See the Sticky above. What I meant was that if you wanted to increase calcium you should avoid calcium chloride as you are pretty much maxed out wrt how much of that you would ever want to have. So that leaves calcium sulfate as a source of calcium. As you only have 15 mg/L sulfate now it is clear that you can add calcium that way being cognizant, of course, that you are also adding sulfate.

 

[rprego]

AJ, thanks for pointing that out. I did read the sticky, and based on some other reading I've done on the subject, I see that for most beers it's best to keep chloride below about 100 ppm. Do you think I'd need to dilute for something like an IPA, pale ale, blonde ale, etc. that I wouldn't want too much "fullness" in? Basically I'm trying to understand for what styles my chloride level might be too high, and that I'd want to dilute for.

 

[ajdelange]

I'd suggest brewing a simple ale - not too big, not too small, not too hoppy, not a lot of specialty malts and do it with RO water to which you have added only a small amount of calcium chloride, say 1 to 2 grams per 5 gallon. When tasting this beer drip in small quantities of calcium chloride solution and calcium sulfate solution. By so doing you will learn what the effects of chloride and sulfate are on flavor and will be able to make informed decisions as to how much of those to add to your mash water when you brew.