Soft water treatment

[brucestevenson916]

Right, so I've found out that my supply water is pretty much rain with no hardness whatsoever. I am putting this down to the cause most of my brews finishing at 1.020 since I moved here.

Here are the stats;

10.51mgCA/l calcium
0.63mgmg/l magnesium
28.80 Hardness as mg/l CaCo3

My plan is to add salts to my mash and take ph readings, now a few questions for anyone with previous experience.

1. Ph strips or buy a meter?
2. Burton salts or use a combination of calcium cholride, sulfate, carbonate and magnesium sulfate?
3. Should I just aim for a base level, or go all out and add salts at different levels for different styles of beer?

 

[Twostage]

1-meter. It costs a quid more than a set of strips.
2 - the separate salts as it allows you to tune the water.
3 - full monty. If you haven't already read the online version of 'how to brew' by John Palmer, check it out. Good (if complicated) section on water but explains why you can't brew Guinness in Pilsen and vice versa.

 

[Brew_Mike]

Hardness is not the same as alkalinity which is what you have to worry about., although with your calcium and magnesium levels your alkalinity is going to be pretty low.

For pale beers with little crystal malt ( <5%) all you really need to do is add a level tsp of calcium sulfate to the grist and one to the boiler, if you want to brew more malt forward beers change once of the additions for calcium chloride, there is no need to use magnesium sulfate as the malt supplies more than enough magnesium, and you need to boost calcium levels not magnesium.

If you are brewing beers with a lot of crystal in it then consider adding 2g of sodium bicarbonate to your mash liquor to boost the alkalinity

If you are going to measure mash pH then a meter is essential, and you must do it at room temperature.

For the time being keep it simple, you are correct in that low calcium levels can have an adverse effect on fermentation, if you do want to learn a bit more about it after a few brews to see what the simple treatment does for you, buy The 3rd edition of How To Brew from Amazon, the online even John Palmer says the 1st edition is out of date, incomplete, and contains errors.

 

[clibit]

I have very soft water too, and I don't have problems with brews sticking at 1020, with or without water additions. I just add gypsum to pales and/or calcium chloride to dark beers, but I don't understand chemistry much at all. I've just read a bit and tried water calculators and gone round the houses, and now stick to gypsum in the mash and boil for pale beers and gypsum / calcium chloride for dark beers.

 

[ManseMasher]

I have very soft water too, and I don't have problems with brews sticking at 1020, with or without water additions. I just add gypsum to pales and/or calcium chloride to dark beers, but I don't understand chemistry much at all.

There's only one formula that sticks with me, and that's how to turn paper to liquid (I go to cashpoint, get paper out, I go to pub and hey presto).

 

[Twostage]

Hardness is not the same as alkalinity which is what you have to worry about., although with your calcium and magnesium levels your alkalinity is going to be pretty low.

For pale beers with little crystal malt ( <5%) all you really need to do is add a level tsp of calcium sulfate to the grist and one to the boiler, if you want to brew more malt forward beers change once of the additions for calcium chloride, there is no need to use magnesium sulfate as the malt supplies more than enough magnesium, and you need to boost calcium levels not magnesium.

If you are brewing beers with a lot of crystal in it then consider adding 2g of sodium bicarbonate to your mash liquor to boost the alkalinity

If you are going to measure mash pH then a meter is essential, and you must do it at room temperature.

For the time being keep it simple, you are correct in that low calcium levels can have an adverse effect on fermentation, if you do want to learn a bi?t more about it after a few brews to see what the simple treatment does for you, buy The 3rd edition of How To Brew from Amazon, the online even John Palmer says the 1st edition is out of date, incomplete, and contains errors.

The ph meter I got does automatic temperature compensation, haven't tested it at mash temperatures yet :hmm:

The downloadable water treatment spreadsheets and chart things that indicate what various water levels dictate in terms of bees styles are interesting. I compared the salt levels from some supermarket (think it was sainsburys) bottled highland water against his table of location v. style and the closest match was scotch ale .

Yes, he does mention that the online one is out of date, think I'll buy the proper book. Thanks for the nudge.

 

[Brew_Mike]

The ph meter I got does automatic temperature compensation, haven't tested it at mash temperatures yet :hmm:

Don't! It's a good way to kill a probe, and apart from that does not give a representative reading of pH.

Mash pH must be measured at room temperature, that is what all the literature references, so If you see a mash pH quoted as being between 5.2 and 5.7 they mean that is what it was measured at at room temperature, it is different at mash temperatures and that is NOT what the ATC feature on a pH meter is supposed to compensate for.

What I do is to stick a couple of heavy shot glasses in the freezer, then take one out and use that to take my sample of the mash. By the time I get my probe ready the liquid has cooled down to 68F, and I can take the reading correctly

 

[Twostage]

Don't! It's a good way to kill a probe, and apart from that does not give a representative reading of pH.

Mash pH must be measured at room temperature, that is what all the literature references, so If you see a mash pH quoted as being between 5.2 and 5.7 they mean that is what it was measured at at room temperature, it is different at mash temperatures and that is NOT what the ATC feature on a pH meter is supposed to compensate for.

What I do is to stick a couple of heavy shot glasses in the freezer, then take one out and use that to take my sample of the mash. By the time I get my probe ready the liquid has cooled down to 68F, and I can take the reading correctly

OK. Sound advice.