Beers Turn Out Darker Than Should, Water Report

[jlangfo5]

Hey guys!

I have had a few beers that I have brewed recently that have turned out quite a bit darker than what I would have expected they would. I don't know if maybe the malt I am using isnt the SRM I am calculating with or, if there is something going on with the water chemistry.

I was wondering if some one here could take a look at these numbers from my water report and give me some input

I have a munich helles right now in a carboy that looks strikingly similar to a red oktober fest

pH 7.7
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm -------170
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm -----------0.28
Cations / Anions, me/L / -------------------2.6/2.5
ppm Sodium, Na ---------------------------16
Potassium, K -------------------------------2
Calcium, Ca --------------------------------27
Magnesium, Mg -----------------------------6
Total Hardness, CaCO3 ----------------------93
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.5 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S -----------------------------12
Chloride, Cl ---------------------------------15
Carbonate, CO3 -----------------------------< 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 ---------------------------79
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 -----------------------65

I plan on getting pretty heavy into brewing some Vienna and Helles Laggers, perhaps some oktoberfest.

Can anyone tell me what I might expect from my water profile, I really don't know much about water yet, but it's what I want to hit next along with good pitching rates

Always ready to learn!

 

[mabrungard]

Fairly modest hardness and somewhat high alkalinity. This is likely to push the mash pH higher than desired. The higher pH does draw more color out of the grain...along with tannins and their astringency.

Overall, that is a fine tap water. But some acidification is required for the mashing and sparging water to produce desirable pH's. Lactic acid will be fine for adjusting that water since the amount of alkalinity to neutralize is modest.

 

[ajdelange]

The only real problem I see with the lagers here is the rather high sulfate at 36. This should be knocked down quite a bit for beers like the ones you are planning to brew. A 3:1 dilution with RO will take the sulfate down to 9 which should be enough and will also get your alkalinity down to 16 both of which should be low enough but I always ask in such cases "If you are going with 8 gallons of RO for 10 gallons of water why not just go with 10 gal of RO and get rid of the sulfate and alkalinity completely?" Some acid will be needed in any case to overcome the proton deficit of the base malt (especially as you will not be using colored malt in order to get the light color you want).

WRT color your enemies here are heat and oxygen. Obviously you should use the palest malts possible but also eliminate any malt with any color, keep the boil as short as possible and protect the hot side wort from air. The lightest beer I have ever brewed came in at 4.1 SRM and I just don't see how a home brewer is going to do better than that. I have heard of some adding metabite to the kettle but have never had the testosterone to do that.

 

[jlangfo5]

Sulfate at 36? Is there something that I am interpreting about the information from the table?

Sulfate, SO4-S -----------------------------12

By the way, thanks both of you for taking a look at my numbers for me

 

[mchrispen]

SO4-S needs to be converted to read as sulfate. That measurement is sulfate as sulfur.

 

[jlangfo5]

Thanks for the input! Now to start playing with BrewnWater!