Bobby_M's Brew Water Adventure

[Jkane101]

Bobby Give Corrado's a call, they have stcoked up on alot of HB items...including water agents. If they don't have what you need I may...I'll be happy to share. I'm brewing both a a porter and a stout this w/e and def need to make some adjustments. I have all the same questions as you so we're in the same boat.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm actually heading out crabbing tomorrow so I doubt I'll make it up to corrado's. I'm going to try a pharmacy and GNC to see if I can find pure CACO3 as a calcium supplement.

 

[boredatwork]

You can get calcium carbonate at a pharmacy. I saw a bottle of it at my pharmacy the other day.

 

[Bobby_M]

Cool, I tried the vitamin isle at Walmart on my way home but everything either had VitaminD in it or a bunch of filler chemicals. I'll go to proper pharmacy tomorrow.

 

[Bobby_M]

Ok, I stopped at like 4 different pharmacies and vitamin stores and no one had pure CaCO3. Given that and the fact that I have to brew a Smoked Porter tomorrow. Here's what I'm thinking based on the salts I do have on hand.

Given 30 SRM, I really need to get the RA up a bit. I also wanted some more sulfate and calcium but I'm trying not to put the sodium through the roof.

Here's my original water:

Calcium Magnesium Bicarbonate Sodium Chloride Sulfate
(Ca ppm) (Mg ppm) (HCO3 ppm) (Na ppm) (Cl ppm) (SO4 ppm)
30 ......... 10 ............. 73 ............. 28 .......... 53 ............. 15


Residual Best for Chloride to Best for
Alkalinity this color Sulfate Ratio this style
33 .... 8 to 13 SRM ...3.53 ... Very Malty

If I add 2g gypsum and 5g baking soda, I can get:

Calcium Magnesium Alkalinity Sodium Chloride Sulfate
(Ca ppm) (Mg ppm) (CaCO3 ppm) (Na ppm) (Cl ppm) (SO4 ppm)
50 ........... 10 ........... 191 .......... 88 .......... 53 .......... 64


Residual Best for Chloride to Best for
Alkalinity this color Sulfate Ratio this style
149 .... 17 to 22 SRM .... 0.83 ....Balanced

I guess the reassurance I'm looking for at this point is that the treated water should produce a better porter than untreated and that I'm not pushing anything out of whack.

I'll test my mash PH and maybe add a touch more baking soda if it drops below 5.
I do have some mgSO4 (epsom salt) on hand but I didn't see any positive affect in using it since my magnesium is within desired range.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[batfishdog37]

This is where I sent mine to. They sent me a box with the bottles in, I filled them up and mailed it back. I was in e-mail contact with one of their people and told them what i wanted to test for and they told me the cost. Pretty easy. Maybe someone will get use from it, or maybe not, just wanted to add my 2 cents.

Commercial Testing Laboratory, Inc.

 

[hexmonkey]

Ok, I stopped at like 4 different pharmacies and vitamin stores and no one had pure CaCO3.

I didn't see this post till today. I would have suggested The Brewers Apprentice down in Freehold, that's where I got my water salts. I probably could have even given you some.

Also, we have the same water company and at best, all I was able to get was a range for each mineral in the list. I called them and unexpectedly got someone helpful, who took my callback # when she realized the info she had wasn't going to help me.

Later that day I got a call from a nervous-sounding water quality engineer (!?) who sounded like he was calling from his cell - I got the impression he thought I was having some kind of problem. I told him that I'm a homebrewer and it helps to know specifics about the mineral content of the water. He told me he didn't have the information in front of him, but that he could get back to me the next day if I had specific things I was looking for.

The next morning he called me back and gave me the info they had, but it wasn't specific quantities, only a range. I wound up getting a test from Ward Labs anyway.

 

[Bobby_M]

I though brewer's apprentice would have the stuff but it's like a 40 minute ride for me one way and I didn't have a chance to drive down. I went ahead with the baking soda and gypsum additions and my mash PH was in the range of 5-5.2 depending on how you read the test strips. Here are the test strips I used:

 

[boredatwork]

According to Brewing Water Chemistry Calculator | Brewer's Friend after your additions you are a little low on calcium, but the color, pH, and flavor look pretty good.

 

[Bobby_M]

I agree but I was also just happy to hit what I'd consider acceptable ranges with what I had. Unfortunately my water starts out high in sodium and low in calcium. At least I was in the 50-150 range there.

 

[boredatwork]

If you are too high in any particular profile, play around with diluting with distilled.

You lower with distilled and raise with additions. Between the two you can do anything you want with you water.

At the same time, I am not sure how sensitive we need to be in terms of acceptable ranges. But, if you view your water as a part of your recipe, then you can treat it as such. For example, how much of a difference will 20 vs 25 IBU make? The only way to find out is to try it. I would say its the same for water.