Help with Santa Monica water results

[terrapinj]

here are my results from Ward Labs

I have read through the Water Primer sticky and am starting to grasp the importance of pH for the mash and adjusting using lactic acid or sauermalz but would appreciate any feedback as to any significantly high or low levels of any of the below that may benefit from adjustments

i plan on doing a lot of IPAs and have added 4g of Gypsum to a previous batch per someones suggestion



pH 8.4
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 244
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.41
Cations / Anions, me/L 3.8 / 3.6


Sodium, Na 32
Potassium, K <1
Calcium, Ca 28
Magnesium, Mg 12
Total Hardness, CaCO3 120
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.8 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 19
Chloride, Cl 25
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 89
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 83

 

[ajdelange]

Decent water typical of what many municipalities in the US produce. Cut it 1:1 with RO water, add some calcium chloride, use sauermalz and brew away. Add some calcium sulfate to taste per the sticky. Given your interest in IPA's you might want to start with calcium sulfate (and no calcium chloride) and experiment with replacement of the sulfate with chloride rather than the other way around which is what I usually recommend.

 

[terrapinj]

thank you for the reply

if I am going to do a partial mash, I should just add ~2% sauermalz based on the grain weight only and not factor in the weight of the extract, correct?

ie
5lb grain
5lb extract

i should add ~ 1.6oz sauermalz (2% of 5lbs) and NOT 3.2oz of sauermalz (2% of 10lbs)

 

[ajdelange]

To be honest I have never thought about partial mashes. I think your approach seems reasonable i.e. assume that the extract maker got his mash pH right and be sure that the pH for the part you add is right but I really have never studied this way of doing it.

 

[terrapinj]

thanks again

i don't have a pH meter so will have to rely on pH strips for now from the LHBS

 

[mabrungard]

With the undiluted water, I can envision using acid malt with an IPA recipe. But if you're diluting, then the acid malt is probably unneeded and likely to drive the mash pH too low. I'd say that an IPA mash pH would likely be best in the 5.3 to 5.4 range to brighten the flavor. I would still try and avoid going below 5.3 though.

 

[terrapinj]

undershot the pH quite a bit - added some baking soda to help raise it back into the lower 5s

6.5qt H2O: 30% RO water + 70% tap water

4.5g Gypsum + 2g Cal Chloride added to 6.75 gal of water (then took 6.5qts of that for mash)

1.6oz saurmalz was used in a total of 4.85lbs of grain

this was based of 4.6 - 6.2 range test strips from the LHBS

 

[ajdelange]

Then you probably didn't undershoot. Test strips read 0.3 low or more. A test strip reading of 4.9 thus probably means an actual pH of 5.2 - 5.3.

 

[terrapinj]

good to know

the 1st strip was reading about 4.6ish - after i added a few grams of baking soda it read 5.0 - so should be right on

thanks again for the help

 

[ajdelange]

I kinda doubt that. There is nothing in that recipe that I saw that suggests you would have pH that low or that baking soda would be required. You may occasionally need it with dark beers but with a lighter colored beer it is very rare. To be certain about what is going on you really need a pH meter. Trying to advise people who don't own pH meters on how much sauermalz to is akin to trying to advise people who don't own a thermometer on how to conduct a protein rest.

 

[mabrungard]

As AJ implies, there is little chance that the mash pH will go as low as 4.6 unless an acid was added to the mash. Acid Malt is the same as adding acid, but it should not have produced a drop of that degree. I'm in agreement that the strips are giving you a bad result.

All the data I have seen indicates that the mash pH will not ever drop below about 5.1 unless an external acid is added to the mash.

 

[grasshopperfirestarter]

Im about to brew on the 4th using santa monica, CA water. I all grain brew and normally buy water but want to see how it goes with the water from my house!