Water profile

[rafaelpinto]

Hey guys,

what do you think about the water profile below? Is it good for any specific style and bad to others? Is it good for hoppy beers?

pH at 25ºC: 4,75

Magnesium - 0,058 ppm
Potassium - 0,315 ppm
Sodium - 0,525 ppm
Nitrate - 0,10 ppm
Sulfate - 0,03 ppm
Chloride - 0,11 ppm
Bicarbonate - 2,8 ppm​

 

[ajdelange]

As it is, practically speaking, devoid of mineral content you can use it for anything by adding appropriate minerals to it. See the Primer under Brewing Science to get started and move on from there if you want to.

 

[mabrungard]

It should be a great starting point for many styles. However, you would probably find many of those styles taste better with a little more ionic content. In the case of hoppy beers, maybe a lot more ionic content! Follow AJ's advice above and use the Primer for now. You can explore more mineral addition later.

 

[rafaelpinto]

What do you think about tha formula below, for hoppy beers like American Pale Ales and IPAs?

• SULFATE: 175 ppm
  
• SODIUM: 30 ppm
  
• CHLORIDE: 50 ppm

Other question: what will that components add? Stronger flavor? Better and smothier bitterness? Stronger and fresher aroma?

 

[MaxStout]

What do you think about tha formula below, for hoppy beers like American Pale Ales and IPAs?

• SULFATE: 175 ppm
  
• SODIUM: 30 ppm
  
• CHLORIDE: 50 ppm

Other question: what will that components add? Stronger flavor? Better and smothier bitterness? Stronger and fresher aroma?

You can drop the sodium. It's not needed and can add a salty flavor.

 

[mabrungard]

• SULFATE: 175 ppm
  
• SODIUM: 30 ppm
  
• CHLORIDE: 50 ppm

Those levels will be fine in an IPA or PA. That is a good starting point for sulfate level. You can then explore higher levels of sulfate (say 300 to 350 ppm) to see if you prefer that by dosing gypsum in your glass.

At 30 ppm sodium, there is no way to incur 'salty' flavor, so don't worry about that. The sodium level would need to be boosted well over 200 ppm to begin to note saltiness in the flavor. The taste threshold for sodium is typically reported as 250 ppm.

Keeping the chloride level modest as you have done, is appropriate when boosting sulfate to higher levels. Boosting both chloride and sulfate to high levels is the way to produce 'minerally' flavor in beer.

 

[rafaelpinto]

Thanks for the good info!

 

[rafaelpinto]

As for my other quesiton: what will that components add? Stronger flavor? Better and smothier bitterness? Stronger and fresher aroma?

 

[rafaelpinto]

Hey guys, I brewed a 5gal APA last saturday and tried another water brand. I also added gypsyum and chloride. Lets see it the difference in pH and mineral will do any noticeable change on final product.

What do you guys think?

Here is the water profile:

pH at 25ºC: 6,77

• Calcium - 1,55 ppm
• Fluorite - 0,05
• Magnesium - 2,37 ppm
• Potassium - 0,911 ppm
• Sodium - 1,67 ppm
• Nitrate - 0,13 ppm
• Sulfate - 0,09 ppm
• Chloride - 0,02 ppm
• Bicarbonate - 21,92 ppm

And here is what I added:

Added 40ppm of Chloride and 160ppm of Sulfate. Not much, but the result is a 1:4 ratio (which is pretty high).
​

 

[nh_homebrew]

What about mine?

 

[ajdelange]

You listed no substances that have relevance to brewing (other than that the beer is safe to drink from the pesticide etc. POV).