Water report from Germany need some help...

FuelshopMcgee · Aug 6, 2009

I live in Bitburg, Germany (stationed with the USAF) Im doing my first AG batch soon and would like to also begin w/ a little bit of water manipulation to help get the best beer possible. I'm not quite ready to try and split atoms yet but I would like to tweek a bit to improve my water *if needed* The thing is the water report that I got from the Air Force base is written differently then most others and I cant accurately compare it. I was hoping some of you may be able to help...

What I want is a good water style to clone the Green flash west coast IPA a very hoppy beer. That being said I planned on buying some Gypsum and ph 5.2 to help get me there...

Please take a look and let me know what you think

The water that they use at green flash is in this link and he says that all he does is add Gypsum to their water for this brew.

http://www.vid-h2o.org/pdf/publication/CCR_2008.pdf

Help me out fellas!

Thanks!!!

BigEd · Aug 6, 2009

That's not exactly a complete report as far as brewing ions go, it's more of a health quality report but there is enough there to say your water looks very soft, almost Pilsen like. That's a good thing in that it is fairly simple to add to water compared with trying to take stuff out. The calcium is very low and the sulphate virtually nonexistent so adding calcium sulphate (gypsum) for a pale ale is a no brainer. If you add enough gypsum to get the ppm up to about 100 there should be plenty enough SO4 to help out with the hop presence. Personally I would also add a little magnesium sulphate (Epsom salt) and calcium chloride for that beer to round out the profile. A bit of magnesium, maybe 25ppm, will add complexity and provide trace nutrients. Some chloride, maybe 75ppm, will help balance the SO4 and give a touch of support to the body and flavor of the beer. Save your money on the 5.2 stuff, I can't see where it will be needed. Your mash pH should be fine with just simple brewing salt additions. :mug:

Piotr · Aug 7, 2009

What do we have here:

Ca 14
Mg n/a
Na 6
Cl 6
SO4 0 (?)
HCO3 n/a

pretty good report, better than mine

What you need is Mg and HCO3. Mg is not that important, we can safely assume it is in single digits, let's say 5 ppm.
More important is HCO3, bicarbonates. I'm pretty sure that having all the kations and anions it is possible to calculate it, but I don't know how. It must be rather low, let's say 30-50 ppm. If you want you can measure it with some KH aquarium tests.

You can take the numbers above and run it through some water calculation spreadsheet to get what you want.

I see your water is pretty soft, good for brewing. Definitely you will have to add some Ca, for IPA let in be in the form of gypsum CaSO4.

FuelshopMcgee · Aug 7, 2009

Awesome thanks guys...I still have some questions however. How are you calculating PPM? I'm just not sure which column on the water report shows how much of that stuff was used to gather those amounts of minerals. I just want to be able to make sure I'm accurately calculating how much is getting tossed in as opposed to freestyling!

Thanks again though you guys rock!