Basic water treatment

[Eric]

I've ordered a Salifert kit in case this helps

You are unlikely to make a better brewing investment.

So let's be silly to see what your alkalinity might be.
Forget the phosphate, it probably won't make much difference and I meant to ask for potassium, not phosphorus, but it shouldn't be very much either.
While I don't know what your water composition might be, if it had 100ppm calcium and 3ppm magnesium it's hardness would be 262.3mg/l CaCO3. Others with experience of similar water might care to give a better approximation than that.
All in all, those figures would suggest that your water's alkalinity would likely be of the order of 195mg/l CaCO3, needing near 0.9ml of CRS to every litre of water to bring its alkalinity to a level to ensure the pH of your mash would be in the optimum range. Do it when you can check the result with the Salifert kit.

[barneey]

We don't want another case of a member adding twice as much CRS as they need to

So test the alkalinity first with your new kit when it arrives.

Another simple test to carry out when you get the kit, measure your alkalinity, measure out 10 litres of water, treat with the required dosage of CRS, check alkalinity of water (after a bloody good stir) = It will test your technique.

IMHO CRS is rarely the best acid to use for water treatment, a single acid or a combo of acid will produce a better end result, for your initial stage of water treatment master the basics and then progress further.

Whilst finding a water report from your supplier might be useful, ALWAYS check the alkalinity before any treatment.

Let us know how you get on.

One final note. if you are using CRS don't splash it on anything metal.

[WallyBrew]

If you are within the old ILEA area of London then the alkalinity of that water tends to remain fairly constant at about 210 as calcium carbonate. The remaining figures should be Mg 4 to 5, K 4 to 8, Phosphate about 3 and Ca 95 to 105

[HopIt]

So after playing around in Brun Water and based on wally brews post, I think my water profile could be something like this:

Calcium – 100
Magnesium – 4
Sodium – 35
Potassium – 6
Iron – 2.9
Bicarbonate – 241.7
Carbonate – 1.1
Sulfate – 56
Chloride – 48
Nitrate – 26
Nitrite – 0
Fluoride - 0

Obviously this is highly approximated, just wanting to have some rough numbers to play around in brun water. Does this look vaguely like London water?

[Eric]

Yes, that doesn't seem unreasonable and a balance at 7.0 meq/l. I think the figure for iron will likely be in micrograms per litre, but in any case, as with nitrite and fluoride, needn't be included.
Alkalinity is measured in various units, probably that most commonly used in this country is mg/l CaCO3 but USA would seem to use HCO3. Multiplying the calcium carbonate figure by 1.22 gives the equivalent figure of that in units of bicarbonate. Both figures can be input to Bru'n Water, but it is normal to just use one such designations and you may wish to do similar.
It would be wise to get a sample fully tested, but meanwhile measuring alkalinity will help you to go in the right direction.

[HopIt]

So I tested the alkalinity of my water and its about the same as predicted. Here is my updated profile

Calcium – 100
Magnesium – 5
Sodium – 35
Potassium – 6
Bicarbonate – 236
Carbonate – 0.5
Sulfate – 56
Chloride – 48
Nitrate – 26

So I'm brewing another pale this weekend hopefully. I was thinking to make the following additions to 15 litres in the mash:

Gypsum - 11
Epsom Salts - 4
CRS - 0.5ml

That should give me a mash ph of 5.4 and a profile not too far off the burton one in bru'n water

That seems like quite a lot of salts to be putting in the mash, does it look roughly right?

[HopIt]

Bump

Anyone.got some advice on this before the weekend?

[mozza]

I have softer water than yourself and in a 23L batch I would not normally go over 6 grams of gypsum so might be worth making sure you're not adding too much. What's the grain bill?

[HopIt]

4700g pale malt
500g crystal malt
100g oat flakes

Plus 500g brown sugar in the kettle, not mashed

[Eric]

Could it be that there's been little response as we all wait to be told what you learned?
Yes, agree with Mozza, a lot of salts there, but that's what Burton's water had. The question in modern days has generally been "Did they in earlier times brew with that actual water?" I find it hard to think they didn't. There can be little doubt that their beers were enjoyed.
1777 saw the completion of the Trent and Mersey Canal when Burton beers could be more easily transported to both sides of the country, as well as Ireland and the Continent. When the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars stopped Imperial Stout supplies to Russia, apparently they produced a better IPA to take that trade from London. Whatever research work they did for their water during the nineteenth century seems to have been kept to themselves, so please tell us what you find.

From a letter written on August 31st, 1803.
"Dined at Tyndrum, walked a brisk pace under the inspiration of a Bottle of Burton Ale, from Tyndrum to Inverooran, a fine road thro' a perfectly houseless Moorland"
written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Interestingly, he made no similar comment about Tennent's.

Good luck with the brew.