Increasing calcium sulphate and chloride - Help please!

[phildo79]

Hi guys

Bit of a newbie to water treatment and this is possibly a daft question but I have a recipe that states the following: 'Build your water profile to achieve a 100:200 PPM sulphate: chloride profile.'

Now, the calcium profile of my water is about 50 ppm (according to the water company) so how do I achieve this 100:200 ppm? Do I add 50 ppm of sulphate and 150 ppm of chloride? Or is it a 75:175 ppm addition since I don't know how the original 50 ppm is made up?

Any help/advice from more learned members is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Slid]

With a similar basic water source in the Pennines to NI, both essentially run off water that has picked up little, here is practical advice:

Chuck in a teaspoon od Calcium Sulphate and one of Calcium Chloride into the mash water.
If beer is pale and hoppy go more on the Sulphate, if more dark and malt forward, go more on the Chloride.
Don't over think it too early in your journey.

 

[Clint]

Definitely read Strange Steve's water treatment guide on this forum!
All...well, enough,will be revealed to get you started.

 

[MmmBeer]

And try his water calculator Here

 

[strange-steve]

You're with NI Water so if you download your full report it will tell you what your sulphate and chloride levels are. Once you have that info then it's a simple calculation to see how much gypsum and CC to add.

Adding 0.1g/L of gypsum increases sulphate by about 53ppm.
Adding 0.1g/L of CC increases chloride by about 48ppm.

 

[phildo79]

It's actually a NEIPA but wants double the cc, which I thought was strange as having read Steve's thread, I would have expected it to be the other way around.

 

[Brewnaldo]

I have wondered about targets for sulphate and chloride, other than choosing one to go malt forward and the other to go hou forward, I thought we were generally targeting a final calcium and just preferentially selecting whether it comes with sulphate or chloride. Are we targeting all three?

 

[Justin Dean]

Brewfather will help you. Go on that....

 

[Brewnaldo]

Brewfather will help you. Go on that....

It's quite honestly.too complicated for me at this point

 

[Clint]

Just read Steve's water treatment...it's not difficult..if I can do it anyone can!

 

[Brewnaldo]

Just read Steve's water treatment...it's not difficult..if I can do it anyone can!

I do, religiously. And have got my head around alkalinity and calcium adjustment. It's just that in my mind, if you are targeting Chloride/Sulphate, you cant be targeting Calcium and vice versa.... not sure if I am makimg sense here just finished a 6.5% dubbel

 

[stubrewworx]

I do, religiously. And have got my head around alkalinity and calcium adjustment. It's just that in my mind, if you are targeting Chloride/Sulphate, you cant be targeting Calcium and vice versa.... not sure if I am makimg sense here just finished a 6.5% dubbel

I get ya, keep at it though

 

[strange-steve]

It's just that in my mind, if you are targeting Chloride/Sulphate, you cant be targeting Calcium and vice versa

Yes I get what you're saying but the aim for calcium is more of a minimum than a specific target, so you can for example aim for a minimum of 100ppm calcium while targeting a more specific sulphate:chloride ratio or level.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Yes I get what you're saying but the aim for calcium is more of a minimum than a specific target, so you can for example aim for a minimum of 100ppm calcium while targeting a more specific sulphate:chloride ratio or level.

This makes more sense now you put it like that. I will attempt to wrap my head around your more advanced thread on water treatment. I recently printed off my water report to go with my calcium and alkalinity test kits, so really I should be good to go.

 

[johncrobinson]

Wondered why there were bags n bags of calcium chloride crystals for sale in my local homebrew shop,Now i know

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

It's actually a NEIPA but wants double the cc, which I thought was strange as having read Steve's thread, I would have expected it to be the other way around.

For an IPA you’re right, you want to accentuate the dry bitterness. You have to think of NEIPA as a different beer entirely and not think of this as an IPA at all - despite IPA being in the name!

You’re trying to make the mouthfeel full, soft, and juicy. This it why you have a high proportion of oats/wheat and why the water profile is less dry and designed to accentuate the malt.

 

[LeeH]

It's quite honestly.too complicated for me at this point

It’s not really.

Fill in your water profile, tell it what you water treatments you have or are prepared to buy then press auto.

It will calculate the additions to match your chosen target profile.

Then toggle up the lactic acid if required to bring the pH down.

If I can do it so can you.

You can also blend in RO water to help. It really is easy, just have a play.

 

[Brewnaldo]

It’s not really.

Fill in your water profile, tell it what you water treatments you have or are prepared to buy then press auto.

It will calculate the additions to match your chosen target profile.

Then toggle up the lactic acid if required to bring the pH down.

If I can do it so can you.

You can also blend in RO water to help. It really is easy, just have a play.

Yeah, I will get there, being honest I didnt know about targeting sulphate and chloride, I thought we targeted calcium and just leaned one way or the other depending on if we wanted sulphate or chloride to lead.

I have a new notebook so I am going to re test my water for Alk and Ca then note down my profile based on the water report, them do a few example profiles.

 

[LeeH]

Yeah, I will get there, being honest I didnt know about targeting sulphate and chloride, I thought we targeted calcium and just leaned one way or the other depending on if we wanted sulphate or chloride to lead.

I have a new notebook so I am going to re test my water for Alk and Ca then note down my profile based on the water report, them do a few example profiles.

Wally brew on Jim’s charge 28 pounds for a comprehensive report. Without one you won’t have an accurate datum.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Wally brew on Jim’s charge 28 pounds for a comprehensive report. Without one you won’t have an accurate datum.

So Scottish water mean values not considered to be accurate enough then?