Water Profile/Chemistry - Raleigh, NC - HELP!

[htm6934]

Hi Everyone,

I've been AG brewing for about 2 years but have never locked down my knowledge about water chemistry so for that reason i've never dabbled in adding salts/chalk/minerals to my beer. Right now, I ONLY use an inline charcoal filter but that's it for my water treatment.

Raleigh, NC Water Profile:
http://www.raleighnc.gov/services/content/PubUtilAdmin/Articles/WaterQualityReports.html
Water Quality Characteristic
Calcium 6.01 mg/l
Sodium 33.00 mg/l
Magnesium 2.50 mg/l
Potassium 2.60 mg/l
Hardness (as CaCO3) 25.00 mg/l
Hardness (grains per gallon) 1.47
Alkalinity (as CaC03) 27.8 mg/l
pH (SU) 8.42
Sulfate 46.7 mg/l
Chloride 12.4 mg/l

I primarily brew IPA's, Pumpkin, Reds, and Pales. All of these styles turn out good; especially the pumpkin and IPA's. The stouts always turn out to be my worst beers. They end up "soda" like and have a sharp taste. I have to think there is something going on with the water but I truly don't understand the chemistry of water or how the calculators work 100%. In general, are there any rules of thumbs that can be applied when brewing certain styles? Or can someone help identify what I need to add/subtract based on the profile or the water for Raleigh when brewing a Stout and/or IPA?

Thanks in advance.
Cheers

 

[McKnuckle]

Wow, the Raleigh water report actually has a section called "Beer Brewer's Corner." How cool is that! Cheers, Raleigh.

In general, with no treatment your mash pH values are probably kinda high - in the 5.6-5.7 range - with dark beers like stout ironically coming in at the lower end of that range. Dark beers are good at 5.5, while pale beers are ideal in the 5.4 zone. There is leeway down to 5.3 and up to 5.6. So it's a little odd that your stouts are your worst efforts, because they should be the closest. But it could be that the pH is high even with those, and the extra roasty/acid quality of such beers exacerbates the harsh bitterness that comes from high mash pH.

The water is pretty darn good in general, but would benefit from acidification to get the pH lower in your mashes. You have a little more room in the chloride zone to do that (with CaCl). But SO4 is not very high either, so a combination of CaCl and gypsum would do you well. You can augment that with lactic acid, likely a small amount by the time the minerals have weighed in. Your calcium is naturally very low, and it will come up with both of the mineral additions (CaCl and gypsum).