Total alkalinity question

[oldbullgoose]

I'm trying to adjust my brewing water seriously for the first time. I'm following Palmer's Hoe to Brew and using the nomographs to figure out how to get it where I need to get it. I have my water report and it gave me everything but carbonate and bicarbonate amounts. It did give me Total Alkalinity, CaCO at 361mg/L.

Is this possible? This makes my mash ph 6.2 with base malts according to Palmer.

Is this extremely high? Looking around the internet, I haven't seen an example this high.

 

[Yooper]

I'm trying to adjust my brewing water seriously for the first time. I'm following Palmer's Hoe to Brew and using the nomographs to figure out how to get it where I need to get it. I have my water report and it gave me everything but carbonate and bicarbonate amounts. It did give me Total Alkalinity, CaCO at 361mg/L.

Is this possible? This makes my mash ph 6.2 with base malts according to Palmer.

Is this extremely high? Looking around the internet, I haven't seen an example this high.

That's high, but with only basemalts and such a high alkalinity it's certainly possible.

Try a water chemistry spreadsheet- EZ water calculator is one, and Bru'n Water is another, both easy to find online, and see how you do. EZ water is much easier at first, but do look at Bru'n water because he has tons of wonderful water information in there and it's a valuable resource.

 

[oldbullgoose]

Thanks. I'm going to give those calculators a shot.

 

[jbsg02]

that's a lot of alkalinity, I would be getting RO water or something else if I had that water

 

[Denny]

Brunwater gives me the most accurate and best tasting results of all the water calculators I've tried.

 

[jbsg02]

Brunwater gives me the most accurate and best tasting results of all the water calculators I've tried.

I have found the EZ Water Calc's estimated ph to be higher than Brunwaters, but wasn't sure which one to trust

 

[ArcLight]

I prefer BrunWater myself.

>. I have my water report and it gave me everything but carbonate and bicarbonate amounts. It did give me Total Alkalinity, CaCO at 361mg/L.

That is high. BrunWater or EZ Water may suggest adding a bit of Acid, either Lactic or Phosphoric. Also, dark grains add more acidity. The spreadsheets will help you our.

 

[oldbullgoose]

After treating the municipal water with campden to treat the chloramine, I diluted it with 50% distilled water to make the alkalinity a little more manageable. With the 50/50 solution, I ended up adding 10g of Gypsum, 4g of Epsom Salt and 6g of Calcium Chloride to the mash, as the EZ Water Calculator suggested. My pH estimate was 5.5 and I measured the pH to be around 5.2 before I sparged. I'm guessing the sparge bumped up the total pH of the wort in the BK, but I forgot to check the final pH. Doh...

Speaking of, as a point of clarity, I remember that Palmer suggested adding a portion of the salts directly to the boil kettle. Something about accounting for the sparge water, since the sparge water will not dissolve them fully. I couldn't figure out or find anything on the internets on brew day, so I just added what I mentioned above directly to the mash. Can anyone clarify this?

I'll report back how the beer is. I've brewed the Porter before with store bought spring water, so I'll have some point of reference.

Thanks all. Looking forward to this beer AND to making water adjustments a regular part of brewing for me.

 

[Denny]

In Brunwater, Martin lists sparge additions but states that they can be added to the kettle. That's what I do. Also, for something like APA or IPA my mash pH is fine, so if I added gypsum to the mash it would drop it too low. In that case, I add the gypsum to the kettle as a flavor addition rather than to the mash.