Beginners Guide to Water Treatment (plus links to more advanced water treatment in post #1)

[Argentum]

My tests arrived today

KH = 60ppm
Ca = 35ppm

From what I’ve read in this thread, it’s a good water to work with?

so I basically need to drop the Alkalinity of my sparge water, and depending on the style decrease/increase the ph for the mash.

I need to increase the calcium somewhat

my next planned brew is a punk ipa clone

I need to lower the mash water by 40ppm alkalinity for a target of 20ppm mash which I worked out to be 0.07ml per litre using lactic acid.

my mash water is 13.5l = 0.945ml

I need to lower the sparge water by 30ppm for a target of 30ppm which is about 0.06ml per litre.

sparge water 15.5L = 0.93ml

I plan to add calcium sulphate to increase the calcium at a rate of 0.4g per litre 92ppm to bring it up to 127ppm.

works out 5.4g to the mash and 6.2g to the sparge water.


Does this sound about right?

I’m super excited to brew this now!

I would lower the sparge water to where only 10 ppm of alkalinity remain for it. That should place it at about 5.4 pH.

 

[Jakeyboi]

@Argentum ok will do, thanks. Does everything else look ok? Not too heavy on the gypsum?

 

[Argentum]

127 ppm of sulfate sounds fine for an IPA. If it was me I would also target about half of this 127 ppm for the chloride ion. I.E., ~63 ppm Cl- ion.

 

[Jakeyboi]

127 ppm of sulfate sounds fine for an IPA. If it was me I would also target about half of this 127 ppm for the chloride ion. I.E., ~63 ppm Cl- ion.

My tap water report says it has 47 mgcl/l of chloride and 34 mgso4/l of sulphate.

Are they the same as ppm?

 

[Argentum]

mg/L and ppm are for most practical purposes the same measure.

There are nominally 1000 grams of water in 1 Liter. 1 mg is 1/1000 of a gram. 1/1000/1000 = 1/1,000,000 = 1 ppm

 

[St00]

Who put this together?

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/pages/water-calculator/#results

Was it you @strange-steve ?

Would there be any chance of future updates what with NEIPA's, saisons and other beer styles?

I'm working on a Two Hearted Ale Clone and it seems a shame not to have an American IPA option.

Target Ca 130 Mg 1 Na 43 SO4 209 Cl 75
Current 48 3.81 10.8 40.2 21.2

 

[strange-steve]

No it wasn't me, as far as I know that calculator has been around for many years, before my time here so I have no idea who set it up.

I also know absolutely nothing about IT so I've no idea how difficult it would be to add new styles to the drop down menu. That'd be a question for Admin @Chippy_Tea?

 

[St00]

It's mighty handy for someone like me who failed maths GCSE 4 times. I'm in IT so I'm used to computers doing everything for me (happy with it too!).

 

[Lee Brown]

Dumb post alert.

And for my second water chem brew, I’ve made a Citra hop bomb IPA. I have also recently bought a Cornelius keg, whilst I am upping my brew game!

The dumb question is: do I need a constant feed of Co2 for the period of carbonation, or do I fill to pressure and then take off tap and let the keg sit in the fridge? I suspect I am going to need to cut a hole in my fridge to have the line on the cooling keg.

 

[Lee Brown]

I went ratio of 2.5 /1 gypsum to CaCl for this brew.

 

[Jakeyboi]

Dumb post alert.

And for my second water chem brew, I’ve made a Citra hop bomb IPA. I have also recently bought a Cornelius keg, whilst I am upping my brew game!

The dumb question is: do I need a constant feed of Co2 for the period of carbonation, or do I fill to pressure and then take off tap and let the keg sit in the fridge? I suspect I am going to need to cut a hole in my fridge to have the line on the cooling keg.

You will need to leave it connected to the gas until carbonation is complete. The pressure at which you leave the gas on and the temperature of the beer will determine what level of carbonation you get

 

[Lee Brown]

Thank you. In that case should I warm carb or cold carb? Does it matter?

 

[Jakeyboi]

@Lee Brown cold is better as liquids absorb gas easier at lower temperatures.

 

[Lee Brown]

2 days in and it is lightly carbed now. I've set it at 14psi.

On another note, how do you get that light, slightly hoppy session IPA taste. It's very bright and light and clean tasting. Would it be best to go RO? I doubt commercial breweries do RO, as it'd be not very cost effective. Maybe I have too much chloride and sulphate in my water to get this sort of light tasting beer?

 

[Hanglow]

Good hops, a decent amount of them and no oxidation would be key for that I think.

I'm looking into getting kegs at the moment, I think I'll end up going the closed transfer and spund route, it seems best for stopping O2 ruining the beer. Saves on buying as much CO2 as well

 

[strange-steve]

@Lee Brown I'm not the best person to advise you on that cos I'm not a fan of session IPAs at all, but I wouldn't think RO water is the answer. I'd probably keep the chloride fairly low and add a good bit of sulphate to make the hops shine and keep it crisp.

 

[pottsworth]

@Lee Brown I'm not the best person to advise you on that cos I'm not a fan of session IPAs at all, but I wouldn't think RO water is the answer. I'd probably keep the chloride fairly low and add a good bit of sulphate to make the hops shine and keep it crisp.

Which bit of the hop profile is it that the high sulphate emphasises - is it the hop bitterness or the late addition aroma / flavour contributions?

From what I read, I had always assumed it was (at least in part) the late addition hop character, but this seems to go against the recommendation to use high chlorides in a NEIPA.

 

[strange-steve]

Supposedly it increases all round hop character but it particularly enhances perception of hop bitterness, giving the crisp, clean, dry finish you expect in an IPA (West Coast style anyway).

 

[Lee Brown]

Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to @strange-steve and @Argentum Yesterday I pulled a pint from my first ever kegged beer (probably lost half of the keg trying to balance out the beer line to stop getting pints of foam!) and this was the first beer I have brewed that I can honestly say that I would prefer to drink than any commercial brew. What I've learnt about water profiles and mashing ph has moved my brewing on. I am genuinely excited by what I can brew going forward. There was a time that I was thinking of giving it up, as my beers all tasted the same and had a tonne of sediment - and had to give out an instructional manual to people I gave it to. Now, with water chemistry stuff, cold crashing, kegging and temp control, I have gone from hit and miss to having much more control over what I want to make.

Still an absolute tonne to learn, but it's the beginning of a new journey.

Thank you again.

 

[Argentum]

FWIW, I'm tentatively ballparking the pH 5.5 acid strength of typical "Acid Malt" in the vicinity of 0.34 to 0.35 mEq/gram.