Water Treatment_Newbie

[Rogue_Atom87]

So up until now I have only used spring water for my brews with no treatments. Through my research I can tell water quality is of significant importance especially with NEIPA which I am mainly brewing. Due to this I went ahead and ordered all the salts, etc I need to adjust water in future brews. Before I get started I did have a few questions.

-I currently use brewfather and was wondering if their water calculations are accurate. Any other software I need to look at?

-I also have a NEIPA currently in the fermenter and was wondering if I can add the treatments post fermentation. The spring water I used has the below quantities
Ca - 65, Mg - 5, Na - 8, Cl - 15, SO4^2 - 11, HCO3 - 140. I was just going to start with the hoppy NEIPA profile in Brewfather and gave me the following 1.2g gypsum, 1.2g calcium chloride, 1.1g epsom salt, 1g mag chloride, .3g canning salt ( I am assuming kosher salt is fine here)

-Going forward I plan to use distilled water with the Hoppy NEIPA above and use the recommended water treatments to get to Ca - 100, Mg - 18, Na - 16, Cl - 186, So4^2 - 93, HCO3 - 0. Is there a better NEIPA profile should be using?

 

[mabrungard]

That's a reasonable profile for NEIPA, but definitely stop using spring water. It's terrible for most brewing since its alkalinity is somewhat high. RO or distilled with the proper salts is much better.

I have no idea if Brewfather calculations are accurate. There is better software out there.

 

[Coastalbrew]

I use brun'water and really like it. It is really easy to use and the water knowledge page is awesome.

If you are in to NEIPA you should read this thread American IPA - "Northeast" style IPA It is loaded with info.

Cheers!

 

[Rogue_Atom87]

I DL BruNwater and played around with it. Took me a little bit to figure out amounts you enter are per gallon. Comparing to brewfather there was significant difference in calcium and chloride amounts

 

[pwortiz]

Your post is aligned well to the one I made earlier today regarding a NEIPA (which I've never brewed and will probably jack up tremendously considering what unholy amount of hops I'm thinking of using). The main struggle with the profile in Brewfather is exactly what I was trying to figure out myself. There is no "target style" for NEIPA in their water profile calculator and after reading the BJCP guidelines I went with American IPA for the autocalculation of salts/minerals. I do use RO water now in my process - only 3 batches in and the first two came out so well the highest praise I got was, "this doesn't taste like your beer"

For the NEIPA using the American IPA with my RO water as source, the water additions are below (5 gallon batch)

 

[Coastalbrew]

I DL BruNwater and played around with it. Took me a little bit to figure out amounts you enter are per gallon. Comparing to brewfather there was significant difference in calcium and chloride amounts

By all accounts Brun'water is one of the most accurate water adjustment programs out there. It's worth taking the time to learn to use it, your beer will love you for it.

 

[Rogue_Atom87]

Does Brun'water take into account grain bill or does that even matter? I didnt utilize that page and just plugged in the water treatment variables.

Is it possible to add water treatment post fermentation. I can factor it based on probably the 2.5 gallons going into serving keg and can add prior to transfer. If possible should I just add salts straight to keg or dilute them in 1 cup of water first. How would this water affect profile of beer?

 

[Coastalbrew]

Does Brun'water take into account grain bill or does that even matter? I didnt utilize that page and just plugged in the water treatment variables.

Is it possible to add water treatment post fermentation. I can factor it based on probably the 2.5 gallons going into serving keg and can add prior to transfer. If possible should I just add salts straight to keg or dilute them in 1 cup of water first. How would this water affect profile of beer?

Yes Brun'water does take grain bill into account. Also if you're using something besides RO or DI, you will need to enter your water profile. If using RO or DI you can just set the solution amount to 100% and set the solution water type on the water adjustment page. There are instructions for how to use the whole program on the first page.

I've never added salts post fermentation, so can't help you there. How does the beer taste? If it tastes ok, just let it ride and add salts next time.