Water Chemistry!

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timcunnell

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Right - following my other thread on stuff that's made your beer better, I reckon my main things to focus on are decent liquid yeasts and water chemistry.

Now, the water chemistry stuff looks very interesting. Very interesting indeed! I've just downloaded the water chemistry info for my area from the Angian Water website, and I've plugged this info into the water chemistry calculator on here. The output is very intriguing!

Some of you may have read another thread I started on here regarding my recent brew of a "Fursty Ferret" clone - which hasn't turned out to be as malty as it should be. I wonder if my water explains the answer?!

I've selected "light colored and malty" as my target profile, but the "sulphate : chloride ratio" is saying "highly bitter"! All I can see is that my Cl is very low (I assume this is chloride) which is 0.6 average according to my water report. If I change this to 95 this then changes the sulphate : chloride ratio to "malty".

So adding 2tsps of calcium chloride in 30 litres is all I need!?
 
You want to remove chlorine (Cl). A little Campden* does this.

Adding calcium chloride increase the maltiness of beers.

*(Have editied Clibit's 'campden' as the predictive text/spell check came out as "Clampdown" - MyQul)
 
You want to remove chlorine (Cl). A little clampdown does this.

Adding calcium chloride increase the maltiness of beers.

Ah I am a little confused now. On the calculator (on this site) is Cl referring to chlorine, or chloride?

My average chloride is 79 (which is much closer to where it should be). Chlorine is 0.6, so there's quite a difference.
 
Don't use that calculator, but it probably refers to chloride.
 
Ah okay - thanks Clibit.

Is there a better calculator anywhere that I can use?

Not sure atm, I always used the one on this site until Austin, who bought the site, removed it and linked to Brewersfriend, which he owns. I believe he's now sold this site. Actually Google 'Graham Wheeler water calculator', that's good. And British. No American internet entrepreneurs in sight.
 
Not sure atm, I always used the one on this site until Austin, who bought the site, removed it and linked to Brewersfriend, which he owns. I believe he's now sold this site. Actually Google 'Graham Wheeler water calculator', that's good. And British. No American internet entrepreneurs in sight.

Most helpful thanks Clibit! Will check it out!

Its a shame the other one on here got changed!
 
Just noticed the recipe section has changed, call me slow :lol:

Another area of destruction, there was a great recipe section developed over a long period of time by British home brewers that were all swept away to promote and link to Brewersfriend in America.
 
Another area of destruction, there was a great recipe section developed over a long period of time by British home brewers that were all swept away to promote Brewersfriend.

Yeah that was a shame i remember when i was a mod, some members complained about the recipes disappearing i think it was because alot of the threads contained no recipes? if my memory serves me well they were all deleted but members brought the section back to life and there was quite a few new recipes added to it! just looked for one of yours actually thats what brought it to my attention, shame though i did like the old Recipe section
 
The old recipe section had loads of recipes posted by members, it was just removed.
 
When is this forum going to evolve and have a website with calculators and recipes? It's obvious to me that loads of members here have the knowledge and experience and maybe a British brew app could be a possibility. I've found in the electronics field that many just gather information that is freely available to make apps and websites but they're no way better than experience and knowledge.
 
It's devolving. It had a healthy recipe section which is now a link to Brewersfriend. It had a great calculators section. Which is now a link to Brewersfriend. How long before the forum links to the Brewersfriend forum?
 
Tim, I use Brun Water; free download. It accepts lots of inputs, over several tabs, and is quite clear if you know what you are doing. More involved, but clearer.

I'm quite sure water chemistry is the most complex area of AG, if you really want to get into it. It won't bring the biggest gains, but is another step on the path to perfection. It took me several months of heavy reading to start to make sense of it all. Be warned.

My water report suggested I had unusual water, so I bought SALIFERT Alk test kit and SALIFERT Ca test kit to be sure. They are not that expensive and give an absolute value of the most critical values of your own water on brew day [acceptable for the other 4 ions to be assumed from the water report and ion balance]. A general water report is generic, doesn't take into account time of year, time of day even, or periods of heavy or low rain etc. Only a direct test of your own water will be accurate. Even then, when I informed the forum of my own results, they couldn't believe it. It took me a while to accept that my kit results were correct, and now I have, i have a much better idea of what I need to do to prepare my own water for the mash.

Most people stop there with their explanation, leaving the real life adjustments as a magic unknown. I prefer to inform. Obviously this is personal to my own water, but in my last brew (brew length 23l, 39.3l total water), I added 1.6g of gypsum, 1.6g of calcium chloride, and 12.6g of 75% strength phosphoric acid. Probably no surprise that my recent birthday present was a weigh scale of 0.01g accuracy.
 
Tim, I use Brun Water; free download. It accepts lots of inputs, over several tabs, and is quite clear if you know what you are doing. More involved, but clearer.

I'm quite sure water chemistry is the most complex area of AG, if you really want to get into it. It won't bring the biggest gains, but is another step on the path to perfection. It took me several months of heavy reading to start to make sense of it all. Be warned.

My water report suggested I had unusual water, so I bought SALIFERT Alk test kit and SALIFERT Ca test kit to be sure. They are not that expensive and give an absolute value of the most critical values of your own water on brew day [acceptable for the other 4 ions to be assumed from the water report and ion balance]. A general water report is generic, doesn't take into account time of year, time of day even, or periods of heavy or low rain etc. Only a direct test of your own water will be accurate. Even then, when I informed the forum of my own results, they couldn't believe it. It took me a while to accept that my kit results were correct, and now I have, i have a much better idea of what I need to do to prepare my own water for the mash.

Most people stop there with their explanation, leaving the real life adjustments as a magic unknown. I prefer to inform. Obviously this is personal to my own water, but in my last brew (brew length 23l, 39.3l total water), I added 1.6g of gypsum, 1.6g of calcium chloride, and 12.6g of 75% strength phosphoric acid. Probably no surprise that my recent birthday present was a weigh scale of 0.01g accuracy.

this one...
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/home/files

I had to buy my own scale.
 
Tim, I use Brun Water; free download. It accepts lots of inputs, over several tabs, and is quite clear if you know what you are doing. More involved, but clearer.

I'm quite sure water chemistry is the most complex area of AG, if you really want to get into it. It won't bring the biggest gains, but is another step on the path to perfection. It took me several months of heavy reading to start to make sense of it all. Be warned.

My water report suggested I had unusual water, so I bought SALIFERT Alk test kit and SALIFERT Ca test kit to be sure. They are not that expensive and give an absolute value of the most critical values of your own water on brew day [acceptable for the other 4 ions to be assumed from the water report and ion balance]. A general water report is generic, doesn't take into account time of year, time of day even, or periods of heavy or low rain etc. Only a direct test of your own water will be accurate. Even then, when I informed the forum of my own results, they couldn't believe it. It took me a while to accept that my kit results were correct, and now I have, i have a much better idea of what I need to do to prepare my own water for the mash.

Most people stop there with their explanation, leaving the real life adjustments as a magic unknown. I prefer to inform. Obviously this is personal to my own water, but in my last brew (brew length 23l, 39.3l total water), I added 1.6g of gypsum, 1.6g of calcium chloride, and 12.6g of 75% strength phosphoric acid. Probably no surprise that my recent birthday present was a weigh scale of 0.01g accuracy.

Thanks mate this is really helpful! Really appreciate it!
 

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