Getting Started with water

[tuffty22]

Evening gents.

So I want to dabble with water treatment in 2015. I am happy with my beers and my soft water seems to do me just fine.

However I just wanted to see if there was any marked difference if I treat my water.

I have used a couple of different calculators and they both came out pretty much the same when I put in my water profile details.

The calculator on the homebrewuk forum tells me to add stuff to the total water volume but also into the boiler after I have sparged. As I have never done this before, I assume this method is sound as everything I read describes treating the water or adding to the grains.

Below is my profile and additions calculator. Pale Ale. Total water is 31L, 13.5 in the mash.

Calcium - 19mg
Magnesium - 2.3mg
Sodium - 4.15mg
Sulphate - 15.5mg
Chloride - 5.5mg
Carbonate(CO3) - 49.2mg
Alkalinity(HCO3) - 37mg

Treatment
CRS - 9.7ml
Gypsum - 6.13g (add to mash)
Gypsum - 7.95g (add to boiler)
Salt - 1.04g (add to boiler)
Epsom Salts - 5.56g (add to boiler)

Do any of you guys have enough experience to look at this and see if it looks right?

[Eric]

From where did you get that water report? It doesn't balance nor make much sense to me. Are those quantities in mg/l?
From where did you get that treatment? It doesn't seem to be suitable for that water even if it could exist.

If I'm reading that right, alkalinity is supposedly 37mg/l (HCO3), but the values given for cations suggest it would be a lesser amount. However, the amount of CRS advised is sufficient to totally eliminate roughly double any amount that might be present.

I would doubt your soft water needs any CRS whatsoever unless those ion amounts are at the very least twice as much.

[keith1664]

I wouldn't base any water treatments on your water suppliers report, the alkalinity my supplier quotes was nowhere near that tested by 2 different labs.
If you want to play about with your water you need to start with a report from a reputable lab (pm Wallybrew on here) and then carry out an alkalinity test (salifert) everytime you brew.

[Charles1968]

It looks like you're adding too much to water that doesn't need much treatment for pale ale.

I would double check the alkalinity figure with a £10 salifert test kit. A bit of gypsum or calcium chloride to raise your calcium might be worth adding, but leave out the rest.

[tuffty22]

Yeah I got all my details from my water board, I asked for the specific elements and thats what I got and they are Mg/l

I'll try the Slaifert test and see what that says.

Cheers guys

[tuffty22]

Ok so I bought the salifert kit and I have carried out the test.

My reading on the syringe was 0.70 - 1.59 Alkalinity in meq/L.

So in order to calculate the CaCO3 its x50 I believe, this is the alkalinity level yes and not the hardness ?

Just a bit confused as the kit is for alkalinity/hardness but these are different things are they not ?

Sorry for the basic questions, just really want to understand this.

p.s my reading is double what my water board have reported, I assume this is not surprising given the previous comments ?

[Eric]

Yes, it is all very confusing. If this is what you have, alkalinity is what it measures.


Yes, you have measured your water's alkalinity as 79.5 mg/l CaCO3. This makes part of its total hardness, the other component is commonly called permanent hardness.

Your findings don't match well with the water company numbers either.

Remarkably, in such circumstances, that treatment would very likely be quite suitable for a pale ale. So where did that come from?

[BenB]

People talk about carbonate hardness and calcium hardness. Obviously this measures carbonate hardness as per the box. This is different I believe to what water companies state which is calcium hardness. Certainly there are two measurements of hardness. At least that's what I understand but I'm a water science noob also

[tuffty22]

Thanks Eric

Yeah that's the test I have.

I'm sure the treatment I quoted was from the homebrewforumuk site.

I'm brewing on Sunday but so I'll add a little gypsum as this seems like it would be of some benefit but I'll leave the rest!

[Eric]

All treatments must be tailored to suit the water used. It would be a gamble to just pick one out of the air, although that said, many waters will benefit by ensuring it contains sufficient calcium.
That measured level of alkalinity is OK for brewing darker beers, but lighter ones would benefit if it was to be reduced.
Making an all pale malt beer with just sufficient bittering hops for balance and a reasonable amount of late ones for aroma, if the alkalinity were to be adjusted down to between 20 to 30 mg/l CaCO3 you should get a noticeably better beer.

Good luck.

[orlando]

I am happy with my beers and my soft water seems to do me just fine.

Begs the question but if you are serious about investigating the benefits of water treatment start here.

[Jim]

Similar information also here.