Water Profile For Bishops Finger Clone

[private4587]

Hi everyone i am hoping in the next few days to make a Bishops Finger Clone and was wondering if anyone could help me with a water profile for this brew, i have the option of using 100% RO water or 50/50 home water and RO water. Many thanks in advance

[Eric]

Have you managed to have your water analysed?

[private4587]

I use test kits to achieve calcium and carbonate levels the rest i take from my water supplier water report.

[Eric]

I use test kits to achieve calcium and carbonate levels the rest i take from my water supplier water report.

And what have you found?

[private4587]

Sorry for the delay in answering you Eric, from the test kits my Alkilinity was 57 and Calcium was 60. the water report gave my water as soft.

[Eric]

No problem.

You once wrote your supply comes from Northumbrian Water. They say that soft water has a calcium content from 0 to 20ppm, not that they are particularly precise in their descriptions, but I'm also surprised by the almost equal measures you found for calcium and alkalinity. It is more usual for alkalinity to be around double the level of calcium and the historical figures I have for your area are slightly higher than your findings for alkalinity but only 30ppm for calcium. From the report you provided in a previous posting, your alkalinity measurement and data of my own, I will suggest the following might serve your purpose until you get an accurate report, preferably by WallyBrew.

Calcium 33mg/L
Magnesium 6
Sodium 7
Sulphate 48
Chloride 11
Alkalinity 57mg/l as CaCO3.

While there are many different waters in Kent, nearly all are hard with something like 100ppm calcium and 200ppm alkalinity as CaCO3. Shepherd Neame say they use their own artesian mineral water which suggests theirs is hard. I don't know what recipe you intend to use, but my thoughts are that it is made with a substantial amount of crystal malt which significantly lowers mash pH which an equivalent of alkalinity will balance. The Hops are given as Admiral for bittering with aroma from EKG and First Gold in a video here.

As your water is moderately soft and Shepherd Neame say they use mineral water, I wonder what your purpose would be for adding RO which reduces its mineral content?

I don't know how you intend to brew this as single vessel with full volume mashes are starting to outnumber traditional methods. I would be inclined to boost calcium by about 150ppm using gypsum and calcium chloride and reduce alkalinity slightly with acid for the mash. For the sparge alkalinity would be lessened further . If I didn't have acid but had RO as you seem to have at your disposal, I'd consider mashing in with most of the additional salts and alkalinity as it is, then sparge using initially tap water and towards the end use RO to avoid pH rising too high. A full volume mash with the alkalinity of the tap water may result in a higher mash pH than would be desirable.