Water Adjustments and Extract Brewing

[BMWillis]

Hey all!

I was gifted a day off from work, so I thought I'd sit down and try and brush up on my very limited knowledge of chemistry in order to figure out what I need to do to get the perfect brewing water.

I got my latest local water report, did some reading, and found the Bru'n Water spreadsheet. Everything is a little overwhelming, but this is definitely the most fun I've had studying chemistry!

Obviously Bru'n Water is more tailored towards the all-grain brewers, but am I still able to put in my water data and figure out if I need to make and adjustments as an extract brewer? Is it just a matter of only using the Water Adjustment tab and overlooking the Sparge and Mash Acidification tabs until I get my BIAB set up?

I knew I should have taken a couple more chem classes instead of loading up on physics!

 

[MrHadack]

Water adjustments are used in part to obtain the correct pH for mashing and sparging, so as you indicated you don't have to worry about that right now with extract brewing. But other additions can help the flavor of your beer.

Making sure you have at least 50 ppm calcium will help all brewers, so you can modify your water to achieve that. You would use either Calcium Chloride or Calcium Sulfate to do so. But as you can probably guess by their names, they will also raise other levels aside from calcium (Chloride and Sulfate respectively).

Higher Chloride levels will enhance the malt qualities of a beer, while higher sulfate levels will increase the bitter hop characteristics. You can tailor these levels to suit specific styles. For example, if making an IPA, get the sulfate up and keep Chloride low.

 

[JimRausch]

MrH said it very well.
When they make your extract, the companies adjust their water chemistries. So, for that reason you don't have to adjust.
However, if you're making a hoppy IPA, then adding sulfate to your boil will help the hop flavor pop out. If making a malty amber or Scottish ale, then adding chloride will help make the malty flavor stand out.
Brunwater is great. Don't let it throw you. And yes, you should be able to just look at the adjustment tab until you do the inevitable step up to AG.

 

[BMWillis]

Thanks guys! Just so happens I have an amber and an IPA planned out for my next couple brews, I'll have to make a quick stop by the LHBS to grab a little bit of calcium chloride and calcium sulfate and give it a shot.

One other thing; my local water always tastes great, and I've never gotten any chlorine smell from it. Should I bother with campden tablets if thats the case? I checked my water report for any mentions of chloramines and there was none. Chlorine clocked in at 0.46ppm in the water report. Should I skip it, or treat with campden just for peace of mind?

 

[MrHadack]

Thanks guys! Just so happens I have an amber and an IPA planned out for my next couple brews, I'll have to make a quick stop by the LHBS to grab a little bit of calcium chloride and calcium sulfate and give it a shot.

One other thing; my local water always tastes great, and I've never gotten any chlorine smell from it. Should I bother with campden tablets if thats the case? I checked my water report for any mentions of chloramines and there was none. Chlorine clocked in at 0.46ppm in the water report. Should I skip it, or treat with campden just for peace of mind?

0.46 ppm is below the threshold for detectable flavor, but typically water reports list an average and the amount can fluctuate. I'd use them to be safe. As far as I know there's no downside to using them so I'd consider it good practice.

A couple other pieces of advice for when you finally get to doing all-grain batches: among other items, a gram scale and a pH meter will become two of your favorite things. Make sure both display two decimal places (e.g. 0.00) for the best accuracy.

Good luck with the amber and IPA!