Water profile - pre boil strike and spare water

[kchomebrew]

I was listening to the Sour Hour interview and they were interviewing Tim Clifford from Sante Adarius. I'm a big fan of the mouthfeel/softness of their beers - which I attribute to the way they treat their water. And there are a few other breweries out there producing a similar profile (Hill Farmstead is one that comes to mind). In thinking through a lot of this, I'm interested to formulate some idea of what their water profile might be. He mentioned the water in Capitola is very hard and that they pre boil all of their water and transfer it to a holding tank to use for strike and spare purposes. He mentioned that this is done to drop out a lot of particulate and reduce the hardness of the water. He also mentioned they have never actually obtained a lab report on what the water profile is after they boil. He also said their water has a lot of salinity out of the tap and he would never serve the tap water to anyone - but that it works great for their brewing process.

You can check out the Capitola water quality report, here: http://www.soquelcreekwater.org/sites/default/files/documents/water_quality_report_2014_final.pdf

The report gives a range / avg. noting high end pH is 8.0, 79ppm Cl, 170ppm SO4, 90ppm Sodium, and 355 CaCO3. No data provided for Ca - but can assume it might be around 50+ppm ?

I understand that as the water is boiled, CaCO3 precipitates and settles to the bottom of the kettle.*And I also understand the water needs to be transferred off the precipitate or it will eventually reabsorb back into the water (thus why Sante Adarius moves it to a holding tank).

I've read that boiling reduces both bicarbonate and calcium content of the water and can reduce the bicarbonate content to between 60 and 80 ppm.*

So if I'm thinking through all of this, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that their pre-boil is producing something similar to the Hainaut region profile of: pH 7.1
Bicarb 350
Ca 52
Cl 20
Mg 17
Na 35
SO4 107

If that's the case, then I think that the water profile might not be their X factor with their beers. I know a lot of brewers use the Hainaut profile for saisons. So, from a mouthfeel perception and "softness" of the beer they brew, it might be something that the malt bill contributes. He mentioned flaked oats are used and I know flaked oats can contribute a bit of a soft mouthfeel.

I'm in KC, MO and our water profile is:
pH 9.8
Sodium, Na 28
Potassium, K 6
Calcium, Ca 29
Magnesium, Mg 6
Total Hardness, CaCO3 98
Sulfate, SO4 81
Chloride, Cl 15
Carbonate, CO3 22
Bicarbonate, HCO3 28
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 59

In my opinion, with a bit of a CaCl addition, KC water is pretty damn perfect for saisons...... but my interest is to figure out if Santa Adarius water profile is even softer than that (would I need to cut the water with some distilled). Anyway, any input or thoughts on what their water profile might be, feel free to post some comments.

 

[mabrungard]

One good thing about high alkalinity water is that you have to add more acid to the water to neutralize the alkalinity and along with that dose is the acid's anion. Of course, that adds flavor in a sour beer. The only question is: is that the desirable flavor you want in that beer?

 

[kchomebrew]

One good thing about high alkalinity water is that you have to add more acid to the water to neutralize the alkalinity and along with that dose is the acid's anion. Of course, that adds flavor in a sour beer. The only question is: is that the desirable flavor you want in that beer?

I think so. I believe sante and HF both have some sourness in the profile. Maybe not "sour" but it's a light tartness. So perhaps that's some of it. Good item to ponder. Thanks.