Opinions Welcomed on Water Chemistry

[brewing_clown]

Hello,

I've been brewing all grain for about a year, and have been underwhelmed with the results. I brewed a Vienna Lager that smelled wonderful, but had a bitter astringency at the end of the taste. It also had a slight haze despite having correct mash temps, a good hot break and a fast chill to ferm temp, etc.

Through a process of elimination, I finally got a water analysis (should have been first on the list). The results were:

Calcium: 44
Sodium: 70
Magnesium: 6
Chloride: 37
Bicarbonate: 244
Total Alkalinity: 201
pH: 7.7

I plugged these numbers into Brewer's Friend, together with the grist for my Vienna Lager, and found that my mash pH was almost 5.9: http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/?id=BQNSZLL

I think this caused the astringency, but would value opinions.

I would really value some advice from the experts on this forum, because I am in two minds as to what my approach should be. My thoughts are to either:

1. Dilute my source water with distilled, at a 34% source to 66% distilled ratio, and then add 3g Gypsum and 5g CaCl (the Calcium is low also in the source, which I think is causing clarity issues). That would get me to 5.4 I think, and give me a malty balance; or

2. Get a RO system and then build the necessary profile from scratch

Many thanks!

 

[mabrungard]

Both sodium and alkalinity are high. The sodium isn't crazy high, but higher than I would want. If you weren't performing some sort of acidification on the mash and on the sparging water, that could easily be a large contributor to the problems you note. Figure out the acidification needs and that will go a long way toward solving your problems.

 

[brewing_clown]

Thank you, Martin. I haven't been treating the water at all, but will be acidifying. I ordered some Phosphoric Acid (85%) after doing some additional research.

 

[brewing_clown]

I acidified my mash and sparge water in my latest batch; what a difference! My wort was crystal clear and the color was vibrant compared to earlier batches. I'm only just moving this batch to secondary this weekend, but have high hopes. Thanks, Martin and Bru'n Water!