Water Profile

[nolabrew85]

I just got the water profile from my local municipality water department (Eastbank Jefferson Parish, Louisiana) and here it is. Looks like everything is pretty close to normal ranges...? (the numbers are averages). Just seeing what y'all think and if anyone else has similar profiles, any tips/techniques on any adjustments that may be necessary for certain styles.

Sulfate (mg/L): 59.8
Alk Bicarbonate (mg/L): 115
Calcium (mg/L): 39.6
Magnesium (mg/L): 14.38
Sodium (mg/L): 31.4
Chloride (mg/L): 2.3

 

[nolabrew85]

Correction* it is not stated as chloride but as "Total CL2 resid" which is listed as 2.3 on average. and "Free chlorine" average is listed as .0437 mg/L (with maximum being 2 mg/L), and "monochloramine" at 2.1 mg/L and dichloramine at 0.18 mg/L. Any help deciphering this? All the stuff I read about brewing water does not go into as much detail as my water report.

 

[user 108580]

I just got the water profile from my local municipality water department (Eastbank Jefferson Parish, Louisiana) and here it is. Looks like everything is pretty close to normal ranges...? (the numbers are averages). Just seeing what y'all think and if anyone else has similar profiles, any tips/techniques on any adjustments that may be necessary for certain styles.

Sulfate (mg/L): 59.8
Alk Bicarbonate (mg/L): 115
Calcium (mg/L): 39.6
Magnesium (mg/L): 14.38
Sodium (mg/L): 31.4
Chloride (mg/L): 2.3

Sulfate will accentuate hop bitterness.
Calcium is necessary for good mash conversion. Yours is a little low. You'd be better off with at least 50 ppm
I believe chloride accentuates maltiness.

Btw, chloride and chlorine are not the same thing. Generally speaking you want to get rid of all the chlorine in your brewing water.

I'm not to sure about the rest. Still learning myself.

 

[progmac]

calcium chloride would be a good salt to have on hand. a tsp (3.5-4 grams) might help many of your beers. i plugged your numbers into the EZ water calculator spreadsheet and it looks like you'll need to adjust your Ph downward for lighter beers.

 

[nolabrew85]

how is too high for the chlorine? "Total CL2 resid" which is listed as 2.3 on average. and "Free chlorine" average is listed as .0437 mg/L (with maximum being 2 mg/L), and "monochloramine" at 2.1 mg/L and dichloramine at 0.18 mg/L. Not sure what all this means for me.

 

[progmac]

how is too high for the chlorine? "Total CL2 resid" which is listed as 2.3 on average. and "Free chlorine" average is listed as .0437 mg/L (with maximum being 2 mg/L), and "monochloramine" at 2.1 mg/L and dichloramine at 0.18 mg/L. Not sure what all this means for me.

well, this just got out of my depth. i think any chlorine is too much, right?

 

[user 108580]

Ignore all that stuff. Only look at the total. And yes, remove it all. There are filters you can buy to remove chlorine. They're like Brita filters but larger. They will also remove some minerals.

I find it too much of a hassle to use city water and just buy RO water from the store and build my own profile. It's like $0.30 a gallon.

 

[Randy_Bugger]

It sounds like you have chlorine and chloramine in your water which aren't the same thing as chloride. You don't want either of them, but you do want chloride. Filter your water AND use a campden tablet to remove them unless you like to taste and smell bandaids.

It would be good to know the pH of your water, but assuming it's 7.5-8, you may want to add some gypsum, calcium chloride and lactic acid for lighter colored hoppy brews.

Plug your recipe and water stats into the mash calculator at Brewers Friend. Select the water profile you want and it will tell you what you need to add.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/

When you are done, you can post the link to your mash calculation and someone can tell you if you did it right.

 

[peterj]

how is too high for the chlorine? "Total CL2 resid" which is listed as 2.3 on average. and "Free chlorine" average is listed as .0437 mg/L (with maximum being 2 mg/L), and "monochloramine" at 2.1 mg/L and dichloramine at 0.18 mg/L. Not sure what all this means for me.

Like mrrshotshot said before Chloride is different than Chlorine. Chloride accentuates maltiness and is good in beers. Yours is low so you will probably want to add Calcium Chloride like progmac said. That will also help your Calcium which is a little low. Use some kind of water calculator (Brewer's Friend, EZ Water, Bru'n Water, etc.) to figure out how much exactly to add, and it will vary depending on the beer style you're brewing.

Now for Chlorine you want to remove all of it. The yeast will turn it into off flavors with a medicinal or band aid type taste. And it looks like your water company adds Chloramine which is harder to get rid of than the free chlorine. If it's just free chlorine you can let it stand overnight and it will all off gas, but chloramine is more stable and will not. Get some Campden tablets and that should neutralize all of it. You can read this for more info: http://morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water.

EDIT: Oh and Cl2 = Chloride

 

[nolabrew85]

Like mrrshotshot said before Chloride is different than Chlorine. Chloride accentuates maltiness and is good in beers. Yours is low so you will probably want to add Calcium Chloride like progmac said. That will also help your Calcium which is a little low. Use some kind of water calculator (Brewer's Friend, EZ Water, Bru'n Water, etc.) to figure out how much exactly to add, and it will vary depending on the beer style you're brewing.

Now for Chlorine you want to remove all of it. The yeast will turn it into off flavors with a medicinal or band aid type taste. And it looks like your water company adds Chloramine which is harder to get rid of than the free chlorine. If it's just free chlorine you can let it stand overnight and it will all off gas, but chloramine is more stable and will not. Get some Campden tablets and that should neutralize all of it. You can read this for more info: http://morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water.

EDIT: Oh and Cl2 = Chloride

Thanks man. campden tablets are cheap. sounds like it will help bump up my low CL2 levels also.