Water Chemistry Question

[Ben_Persitz]

In my foray into all grain I've decided to learn water chemistry and mash ph related stuff.

I've been playing with Palmers nomograph/spreadsheet and designed water profiles for my next batches, but I've been having a hard time with something on my water report.

My city's water report doesn't specify bicarbonate levels and I called them yesterday to get more information. They said they don't test for bicarbonate levels and are unable to provide this information for me.

They do specify Alkalinity and Total Hardness though and I was wondering if I could just plug those numbers in? Have they already done the work for me? The lowest level of hardness is 67, the highest 125, so I just plugged in 95 for Alkalinity on Palmers spreadsheet.

Is this okay?

What I've done is just looked at my annual water report and taken an average of all the levels. My water is naturally good for brewing anything between 11-16 SRM on the color scale and has a good Chloride to sulfate ratio.

Also: How does adding salts affect the flavor profile? How much is too much?

Here is my water profile for my Pale Ale (SRM 10)

90/10 Tap Water/Distilled Water

.5 Grams Chalk, 1.5 Grams Gypsum, 1.5 Grams Calcium Chloride

Calcium: 110
MG: 7
Alkalinity: 107
Sodium: 18
Chloride: 71
Sulfate: 80

Residual Alkalinity: 25, Est SRM 7-12

So this should give me a mash ph within the optimum range, and produce a well balanced and bright beer with really pronounced flavors right? Since it leans towards the lower end of the RA optimum range for this beer color?

Is that too much CaCl and Gypsum to add to a 3 gallon batch?

 

[maida7]

Have you had a go at the EZ water calculator. I find it's much EZier to use the Palmer's.

What is the chalk for?
Why are you diluting with distilled water?

Your sulfate to chloride ratio is very balanced. Perhaps you could skip the CaCL and use only gypsum. This would tip the balance to heavy on the sulfate. Sulfates enhance hop bitterness. This will give you brighter firmer bitterness in your pale ale.

 

[kanzimonson]

Back up back up back up.

If you're using the same Palmer spreadsheet that I'm using, you can change cells E10 and E14 to either Alkalinity or Bicarbonate. Am I reading correctly that you have the alkalinity number from the water company? Enter that.

As for the salts, it sounds like you're going through the same issues I was trying to figure out a month ago. I finally found some resources to help me out. So here's how I treat my water:

-Use an online calculator to estimate my SRM
-Enter that number to determine my RA range
-Pick something in the range, generally higher for malty beers and lower for bitter
-Enter that in the appropriate cell
-Begin by adjusting my RA with baking soda, taking note of my sodium levels
-If I still need more RA, I add chalk
-Then I begin adjusting the other minerals based on these numbers:

Sodium - never more than 75ppm, and that's for the maltiest beers. I try to always have at least 35ppm
Chloride and Sulfate - Everybody always talks about a ratio for these. 1:2 for bitter beers, 2:1 for malty beers. But that got me thinking that there must be an optimal amount, right? I mean you don't want 10,000ppm Cl to 20,000ppm SO4 in your bitter beers, even though the ratio is correct. So what I found indicated to aim for these numbers:

Cl - 50ppm for bitter beers, 100ppm for malty
SO4 - 50ppm for malty, 100ppm for bitter

I don't really concern myself with the Mg levels because I just use gypsum to add SO4 and don't carry any epsom salts.

Hope that helps.

 

[Ben_Persitz]

I want my Pale Ale to have a nice hop character but a hint of malt smoothness to come through.

 

[kanzimonson]

Then aim for a 1:1 ratio. The numbers you listed in the OP look good. If Palmer says that's the right amount to add, and you're confident in your spreadsheet manipulation, then you're fine.

But remember, the ingredients in a beer are much more important to the final flavor than the water chemistry. Adjusting water is the sprinkling on top of the icing on top of the cake.