28 replies to this topic

[Humperdink]

Hey ken, I"m home and this is my regular water profile to be amended:calcium 4.1magnesium 1bicarbonate 20sodium 5chloride 3sulphate 2ph 7.3amend that with2 G gypsum7 G cacl26 G epsombring my final PPM adjusted in 12 gallons 56 calcium78 sulphate78 chloride23 bicarbonate13.7 magnesiumThat should nail a RA of -50 which is right in the ballpark for a 3.5 SRM helles.

[Big Nake]

At first, you blew my mind because those quantities seem very high. But I see that's 12 gallons. So for the 8ish gallons I use for 5-gallon batches, I would use 66% of all that... 1.3g of gypsum, 4.6g of CaCl2 and 4g of MgS04. Still seems like a lot of additions for such a light and delicate beer, no? Especially the MgS04. The sulfate and the chloride both seem a little higher than I would have envisioned, but I'm going to put all of this information in a blender and map out this helles recipe with the grains, hops and water profile and make it next week. I will report back! Thanks gang!

[positiveContact]

makes me sad that you don't live near me Ken b/c I'd love to sample your brews.

[Humperdink]

At first, you blew my mind because those quantities seem very high. But I see that's 12 gallons. So for the 8ish gallons I use for 5-gallon batches, I would use 66% of all that... 1.3g of gypsum, 4.6g of CaCl2 and 4g of MgS04. Still seems like a lot of additions for such a light and delicate beer, no? Especially the MgS04. The sulfate and the chloride both seem a little higher than I would have envisioned, but I'm going to put all of this information in a blender and map out this helles recipe with the grains, hops and water profile and make it next week. I will report back! Thanks gang!

A few things, My water starts off REALLY soft so those additions may seem high if your water source starts off higher. I ahve to add that much epsom to get to the minimum recommended magnesium count for yeast health. Given how much I have to add of that, I generally don't need to add gypsum to increase my sulphate numbers. I would NOT recommend you adding those amounts of salts to your water because your base water will be different than mine and odds are your water is much harder. I was blown away with how soft my muni water was when I moved here.Now, that being said, those numbers aren't high at all for this style of beer. Actually even softer than Munich water in everything but chloride, and way lower in carbonate, sulphate and fairly lower in magnesium. munich water#sca 75mg 18sodium 2carbonate 180sulphate 120chloride 60Now, compare that to another light lager from Germany, dortmunder exportDortmund water #sca 225mg 40sodium 60carbonate 180sulphate 120chloride 60and you see that even though the beer has a delicate flavor profile, you don't need pilsen soft water to brew it properly or even to traditional style.that being said, I generally like my water softer than harder. i never run my numbers up to dortmund quantity nor do I really burtonize my water when making a english ale. I generally try to strike the right balance on minerals as opposed to actual content levels.

[Humperdink]

One more thing, You wouldn't use 66% of those #s because the 8 gallons will boil down to your 5. that's my mineral content in a FINISHED 12 gallons, not my starting volume.

[Big Nake]

One more thing, You wouldn't use 66% of those #s because the 8 gallons will boil down to your 5. that's my mineral content in a FINISHED 12 gallons, not my starting volume.

Oh, so I would use more like 40% of your addition numbers? So .8g of gypsum, 2.8g of CaCl and 2.4g of MgS04? This sounds MUCH more reasonable if I got my starting water point to around where yours was. Hell, I could start with distilled and just add a smidge more than what I just posted and it would probably be okay... except I wouldn't have any bicarb/alkalinity in there. Okay... this is a good spot to start. I'll probably dilute my tap water with distilled and then get back to the numbers shown here... should be very much in the zip code. Cheers!

[Humperdink]

Oh, so I would use more like 40% of your addition numbers? So .8g of gypsum, 2.8g of CaCl and 2.4g of MgS04? This sounds MUCH more reasonable if I got my starting water point to around where yours was. Hell, I could start with distilled and just add a smidge more than what I just posted and it would probably be okay... except I wouldn't have any bicarb/alkalinity in there. Okay... this is a good spot to start. I'll probably dilute my tap water with distilled and then get back to the numbers shown here... should be very much in the zip code. Cheers!

Sounds good to me. I'm not saying mine is the "right" profile, but I like it a lot! Enjoy and please report back. Water profiles is a fun topic.

[Big Nake]

Water profiles is a fun topic.

Lame! Water profiles give me nightmares!

[Humperdink]

Lame! Water profiles give me nightmares!

Without question, I am a little offcentered