Recipe Totals Not Matching Expected OG/FG/ABV

[Yooper]

One thing that is cheap and pretty easy is to measure alkalinity with an aquarium gH/kH kit. You use drops to see a color change. I think they are about $6 now, and would help with knowing the carbonate hardness, to see where your alkalinity is. The other things may not change that much, and if they do that is more of a flavor issue than a mash pH issue, but the alkalinity is crucial for a good mash pH.

 

[Yooper]

I'm in Milwaukie, OR, rather than Milwaukee, WI.
Here's our most recent water report that is available online:
https://www.milwaukieoregon.gov/sit...orks/page/44541/water_quality_report_2019.pdf

However, I'm sure I could call the city and get the pH, Ca+2 , Mg+2 , Na+ , Cl- , SO4-2 , and HCO3-.

Someone has loaded in a profile for "Milwaukie OR Source 3," which is where I get my water, so I was using that.

Oh, sorry! I didn't even look that closely.

Your attached report is water quality, meaning the water is safe to drink. It says that you have "moderately hard water", and if so, your numbers are incorrect in your water profile.

You need calcium, magnesium, sodium, choride (not chlorine here, but you need that too!) and sulfate along with bicarbonate/alkalinity.

 

[obesechess]

Okay, my water supplier got back to me with the following water profile:

Ca+2 and Mg+2: Calcium and Magnesium analysis determines water hardness. Our water is very soft, with hardness ranging from about 18 to 30 ppm.

Na+: 11 ppm

Cl-: 2 ppm

SO4-2 is sulfate and is not something that we analyze for.

HCO3-: Bicarbonate analysis determines alkalinity. Our water ranges from about 23 to 30 ppm

pH runs about 7.7.

I have taken the middle values of each "range" - so I've got Ca and Mg at 24 ppm and HCO3- at 27ppm -. Finding out sulfate has been tricky - I've gotten analyses from a few other suppliers in the area which match up with those number ranges and list SO4-2 as right around 5ppm. I have taken all this information and loaded it into my own water profile (publicly available as "Oak Lodge Water Supply"). I am now being told that my mash pH is 4.18.

I absolutely cannot figure out what to do next. If I remove 1lb of chocolate malt from my grain bill in the calculator, my mash pH shoots up to 5.7 and I just can't imagine that that one thing makes that much of a difference. I also can't really figure out what to do with the water calculator in the recipe. Firing up Bru'n Water tells me that these values are impossible, which suggests to me that the data I've gotten is effectively useless.

Could someone point me in the right direction?

 

[GFHomebrew]

Okay, my water supplier got back to me with the following water profile:

Ca+2 and Mg+2: Calcium and Magnesium analysis determines water hardness. Our water is very soft, with hardness ranging from about 18 to 30 ppm.

Na+: 11 ppm

Cl-: 2 ppm

SO4-2 is sulfate and is not something that we analyze for.

HCO3-: Bicarbonate analysis determines alkalinity. Our water ranges from about 23 to 30 ppm

pH runs about 7.7.

I have taken the middle values of each "range" - so I've got Ca and Mg at 24 ppm and HCO3- at 27ppm -. Finding out sulfate has been tricky - I've gotten analyses from a few other suppliers in the area which match up with those number ranges and list SO4-2 as right around 5ppm. I have taken all this information and loaded it into my own water profile (publicly available as "Oak Lodge Water Supply"). I am now being told that my mash pH is 4.18.

I absolutely cannot figure out what to do next. If I remove 1lb of chocolate malt from my grain bill in the calculator, my mash pH shoots up to 5.7 and I just can't imagine that that one thing makes that much of a difference. I also can't really figure out what to do with the water calculator in the recipe. Firing up Bru'n Water tells me that these values are impossible, which suggests to me that the data I've gotten is effectively useless.

Could someone point me in the right direction?

All i can say is your water is not far of RO my friend. As to your on discrepancies in the calc I know roast malts will drop ph. What's brun water predict?
Use some bicarbonate of soda to push the PH up a bit if below your sweet spot mashing range 5.2-5.6.

 

[obesechess]

Bru'N water says my inputs are unbalanced. I've asked homebrewtalk for further input as to what I've done wrong, but yes, our water here is quite good and a few local homebrewers plus my LHBS have told me to just ignore it. I may still do that, but brew day isn't until Saturday and I can't leave anything well enough alone.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Bru'N water says my inputs are unbalanced. I've asked homebrewtalk for further input as to what I've done wrong, but yes, our water here is quite good and a few local homebrewers plus my LHBS have told me to just ignore it. I may still do that, but brew day isn't until Saturday and I can't leave anything well enough alone.

Your brewing a stout? Well that soft water might need some tweaking for a style like that. Remember that's why they brew good stouts in places with hard water.

 

[obesechess]

A porter, so yeah, maybe a little bit of tweaking is needed!

 

[GFHomebrew]

A porter, so yeah, maybe a little bit of tweaking is needed!

It'll take that good beer and make it great is my thoughts. Think most of the brulosophy exbeeriment on water chemistry have been significant. I'd go ballanced but favour chloride and add baking soda (bicarb) until my PH looked good will only take a few grams.

 

[obesechess]

Ha ha! pH problem solved. The calculator was classifying the chocolate malt as a "base malt" rather than a "roasted malt." Adding an identical custom fermentable but changing it from "base" to "roasted" bumps my mash pH to 5.5.

 

[Island Chris]

Ha ha! pH problem solved. The calculator was classifying the chocolate malt as a "base malt" rather than a "roasted malt." Adding an identical custom fermentable but changing it from "base" to "roasted" bumps my mash pH to 5.5.

Nice detective work! I was experiencing the same issue with a recipe for a porter I'm planning to brew later this week. The predicted mash pH was 4.09 until I changed the chocolate malt from "base" to "roasted" in the water calculator. After performing that edit my mash pH is now 5.49.