Water profile questions

[patchedboard]

So I've had some efficiency problems for a couple of years now and I keep chalking it up to water but have been too cheap to go ahead and get a water test done. Found out that our city will email me a weekly water profile. Anyhoo...here's what I got from the city, in ppm:

Fluoride|Chloride|Nitrate|Sulfate|Calcium(Ca+)|Iron|Potassium|Magnesium(Mg=^2)|Sodium|Hardness(CaCO3)|Bromide|Alkalinity|Bicarb(CaCO3)
0.858----24.2----0.20---38.4------34.5------<0.02---4.38-----------8.77-----------17.6-------122----------0.029-----80----------72

Ph: 8.9

I was going to use EZ Water calculator for a 10gal batch with 7.75g strike and 8.9gal sparge. Now I'm not sure how much CaCl and gypsum to add, I don't want to add too much. EZWC said that it would take 15 grams of each to bring my mash below 5.6. That seems like a lot to me. I know I can use phosphoric acid to bring it the rest of the way, but how much mineral and acid is too much? I don't want to have grainy beer and I don't want it to taste like Coca-Cola either. Thanks!

 

[normonster]

...sorry. Realized I wasn't qualified for this one...lol.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Consider acid malt if your shop has it. A little goes a long way. For mineral additions I mostly use their basic profiles at the bottom. When I'm at my target range or close enough I call it good.

 

[mabrungard]

The alkalinity in that tap water isn't terribly high, so you won't ever have to worry about the beer tasting like Coke. However, the alkalinity is high enough that you do need to employ an acid addition in the sparging water to avoid problems with tannin extraction. You can use either acid addition or acid malt in the mash to manage pH there.

That tap water isn't that bad, as long as there isn't a problem with iron or manganese.

Remember, brewing water chemistry is not EZ. You should adopt better water software ;-)