9 replies to this topic

[Pseudolus]

One of my brew-year's resolutions this year was to get a handle on water chemistry. I'm not sure I'm there, but I know enough to at least get myself into trouble using Palmer's spreadsheet. So I'm going to post my plan here and let you smaht folks tell me if I'm way off base.My starting water:

pH 7.3Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 112Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.19Cations / Anions, me/L 1.5 / 1.4ppmSodium, Na 12Potassium, K 1Calcium, Ca 15Magnesium, Mg 2Total Hardness, CaCO3 46Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)Sulfate, SO4-S 6Chloride, Cl 22Carbonate, CO3 <1Bicarbonate, HCO3 26Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 21

Spreadsheet says my starting water has a RA of 9. That's not going to be enough.The beer I'm brewing has a SRM of 48. (Biggish American stout.) 6G recipe. 16.5 lbs of grain. Mashing with ~4 G of waterThe spreadsheet tells me I want a RA in the 451-510 range. From what I recall of the "Brew Strong" podcasts I don't really want it quite that high. An RA of 250 will be plenty. (Correct?)So, what I want (at least what I think I want) is:1) RA up around 250.2) Ca up around 50-100 ppm3) Reasonable Chloride/Sulfate ratioTo raise the RA I can add chalk, baking soda, or some combination thereof. If I use just chalk my Ca figure goes way high (450+ ppm). If I use just baking soda my Ca figure stays way low. So I'll try a blend. 3g chalk, 6g baking soda of each gets me to an RA of 255, Ca at 86 ppm. So far so good.Chloride/Sulfate ratio is "Very Malty". I think I want to be more in the "balanced" range. So I add gypsum. Takes juuuust a touch - 1/2 gram of gypsum - to get that to balance. This also raises the Ca to 92 ppm, which is fine.So, am I done? Add 3g chalk, 6g baking soda, and 1/2g gypsum to my mash and call that good water for a stout?Final water:(ppm)92 Calcium2 Magnesium317 Alkalinity as CaCO3108 Sodium22 Chloride22 SulfateRA = 250

[Pseudolus]

Hmm. Another way to go (at least in spreadsheet world) is to use just baking soda (8g) to get the RA up and then add a combo of Calcium Chloride (2g) (have to check and see if I have this) and gypsum (2g) to give me enough Calcium and to balance malty/bitter. With this balance Sodium and Chloride are both substantially higher than in the first (chalk and baking soda) method.Final water:(ppm)74 Calcium2 Magnesium301 Alkalinity as CaCO3141 Sodium79 Chloride72 SulfateRA = 247Better? Worse? Same difference?

[3rd party JKor]

Looks pretty good, the only thing may be an issue is the sodium. Does Palmer (or other) list a typically acceptable range for sodium? I vaguely recall it being mentioned in the BS Waterganza, but I'm not positive.

[3rd party JKor]

What I've taken away from the water chemistry stuff I've read/heard, the Cl and SO4 quantities shouldn't matter until you get above 250ppm as long as the ratio is what you want.It would be interesting to brew it both ways and see if there is a discernible difference.

[Pseudolus]

My watergazm notes list the acceptable sodium range as 0-150. So that second method is kind of pushing it.

[Slainte]

I would just add chalk until your pH is correct.

[Pseudolus]

Chalk alone (14 g) gets to the desired RA. But it puts the calcium way high (329 ppm) and leaves chloride and sulfate both quite low, and tilted well towards the chloride. Is that not anything to bother about?

[Darterboy]

Get some Calcium Chloride and use that to adjust your chloride level without adding sodium. It's a good salt to have in the toolbox.

[3rd party JKor]

Careful how you store the CaCl2, it's very hygroscopic. I was weighing some out the other day, it was very hot and humid. It's was turning to mush just in the few minutes I had it out.

[Pseudolus]

Hmm. Another way to go (at least in spreadsheet world) is to use just baking soda (8g) to get the RA up and then add a combo of Calcium Chloride (2g) (have to check and see if I have this) and gypsum (2g) to give me enough Calcium and to balance malty/bitter.

Just mashed in. I went with this ^^^ method. (My actual salt amounts were slightly higher since I upped the strike water amount from 4G to 5.2G.) Will have to see how it goes.Yeah, I'd be curious, too, to know how it would work both ways (chalk vs. no chalk) too. Not curious enough to do all the work required, but curious enough to say, "Yeah, I'd be curious, too".