Is this water profile good enough?

[BIGRUGBY]

My second to last batch was an IPA and tasted great, best beer yet. (My neighbor even liked it and he is a bud light drinker. In hind sight, I think my lack of water chemistry kept the IBU's muted for him)
Last batch was a double IPA and is very drinkable, but seems "ehhh". Not as bright as the commercial version.
Last week I went to Hyvee (grocery store) and bought a mix n match 6 pack. I noticed a lot of the commercial beers seemed pretty tart and crisp.

Anyways, started connecting the dots that my dad said the drinking water at my house is a lot harder than his. Hardness is probably correlated to being more basic and less acidic... I probably have a pH issue. So now I'm wanting to jump into water chemistry as my next improvement/step in brewing. I googled to see if my city (Des Moines, IA) posted a water analysis online and found this (below). So my question is, is this enough to start playing with water chemistry or do I need to quit being so cheap and order a water report to test my tap water (will do it this winter if I can wait). In the chart below, I believe I get water from the "Fleur" facility.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

That's kind of a high pH. Are you brewing all-grain or extract?

 

[BIGRUGBY]

Currently brewing all grain, double crushing, and don't brew very many recipes that use roasted malts. Currently just use tap water and add 1/4-1/2 a camden tablet before mashing.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I can only state what I'm doing. I'm a not-very-experienced AG brewer; some more experienced brewers will have to chime in.

I have a charcoal-filter on my kitchen sink, and I had that water tested by Ward Labs. I plugged those numbers into the Brewer's Friend water calcs, then I adjust my mash water to hit the "Balanced" profile. It's worked pretty well for me so far. I'm really only concerned with the mineral profile and pH. I know you can get a lot more complicated with water (e.g., historical profiles), but I want to keep it as simple as possible.

I'd recommend some reading before jumping in to water adjustment, and do the minimum required to get tasty beer. That's my theory, anyway.

 

[VikeMan]

I googled to see if my city (Des Moines, IA) posted a water analysis online and found this (below). So my question is, is this enough to start playing with water chemistry or do I need to quit being so cheap and order a water report to test my tap water (will do it this winter if I can wait). In the chart below, I believe I get water from the "Fleur" facility.

Here's what you need to know about your water...
Ca
Mg
Na
Cl
SO4
Total Alkalinity

Hardness is probably correlated to being more basic and less acidic... I probably have a pH issue.

Hardness by itself doesn't really tell you much. And pH of the base water also doesn't mean much...Alkalinity (which is not the same as pH) is very important to mash pH.

I'd recommend getting the values listed above from your water authority if possible. If not, get your water tested by Ward Lab. In the meantime, maybe read or download "Intro to Brewing Water Treatment (PDF)" from this link:
http://sonsofalchemy.org/library/It provides an introductory overview and also lists some further reading and some tools available for working with mash pH and water profiles.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

In the meantime, maybe read or download "Intro to Brewing Water Treatment (PDF)" from this link:
http://sonsofalchemy.org/library/It provides an introductory overview and also lists some further reading and some tools available for working with mash pH and water profiles.

Oh, wow. That's a great resource!

 

[BIGRUGBY]

Here's a more in depth report that they sent me. Are the 3 sources relatively close enough that I wouldn't need to test the water out of my faucet and just use their numbers (thinking that Iowa water is Iowa water and won't vary much by the time it gets to my house)? Or is there enough variance that I shouldn't really use these as general guidelines and should just buck up and get my tap water tested?

 

[VikeMan]

Here's a more in depth report that they sent me. Are the 3 sources relatively close enough that I wouldn't need to test the water out of my faucet and just use their numbers (thinking that Iowa water is Iowa water and won't vary much by the time it gets to my house)? Or is there enough variance that I shouldn't really use these as general guidelines and should just buck up and get my tap water tested?

I see some pretty significant differences, particularly in Total Alkalinity. Personally, I'd get my water tested.

However, if you decide to use any of these numbers, note that Calcium and Magnesium have been expressed "as CaCO3" here (see the asterisk/footnote), so those numbers will need to be converted back to their natural mg/L.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

mg/L Ca++ = (Calcium Hardness)/2.5
mg/L Mg++ = (Magnesium Hardness)/4.12

I agree that the alkalinity exhibits appreciable variance.

 

[Redhouse Brewing]

Definitely get a water report. It made a huge difference in my brewing once I got the water report to know where I was starting. I have pretty good tap water but as you mentioned the IPAs were just a little muted. Once I started adding the right amount of salts now all my IPAs come out just as intended. Of course RO water is always a good choice, you start with clean slate and build from there depending on the style you are brewing. In my case I don’t need to use RO water. I filter through charcoal which reduces most of the unwanted and use campden for the chlorine/chloramines. I use brewfather app which has my starting (source) water and choose the desired (target) profile to match. It tells me exactly what salts and amounts to add to both mash and sparge water. I have been keeping my sparge water at 5.5 ph and believe this has also helped. I collected my water sample post charcoal filter so I would know exactly what was left in the water and sent it to ward lab. It didn’t take very long for the results.

Here is a very good source on brewing water from John Palmer: Using Salts for Brewing Water Adjustment - How to Brew

Do you currently have a ph tester? It is very important to test ph of both mash and sparge water to get the outcome you desire.

 

[VikeMan]

I filter through charcoal which reduces most of the unwanted and use campden for the chlorine/chloramines.

I collected my water sample post charcoal filter so I would know exactly what was left in the water and sent it to ward lab. It didn’t take very long for the results.

FWIW, if you ever get your water tested again, consider also treating it with campden (at the appropriate dose) before sending it, as that will give you a more accurate baseline.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Do you currently have a ph tester? It is very important to test ph of both mash and sparge water to get the outcome you desire.

I don't treat my sparge water. Brewer's Friend has a selection for "Add Salts to Mash Only." I thought that pH was really only important during the mash, when the enzymes are doing their thing. What am I missing by not treating my sparge water?

 

[VikeMan]

What am I missing by not treating my sparge water?

Depending on the pH and alkalinity of your sparge water, it could cause the runoff pH to get too high, extracting tannins, especially if fly sparging, and especially toward the end. So it's not a bad idea to acidify the sparge water. If using distilled/RO water, it's not necessary.

ETA: I should have mentioned... the way to acidify sparge water is to add lactic or phosphoric acid to hit a pH close to the mash pH.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Depending on the pH and alkalinity of your sparge water, it could cause the runoff pH to get too high, extracting tannins, especially if fly sparging, and especially toward the end. So it's not a bad idea to acidify the sparge water. If using distilled/RO water, it's not necessary.

ETA: I should have mentioned... the way to acidify sparge water is to add lactic or phosphoric acid to hit a pH close to the mash pH.

I'm batch sparging. I'm already using lactic acid in my mash, so it should be pretty easy to add it to the sparge.