Need to understand water profile chemistry

PaiboonL

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Hello Friends,

Base on my recipe, water profile recommedation is :
Residual Alkalinity (as CaCO3 ppm) (Palmer) 31.32 to 90.28
If my batch is 5 gallon and current water is neutral. What exactly I have to do with the above recommendation and what kind of chemistry require? Please advise. Thanks.

Best regards,
Paiboon
 
Not sure on that exactly BUT the recipe builder let’s you add brewing salt to match profiles. Try that. Welcome to the forum. This is a great place. There are people on here they can explain all the scientific stuff. The recipe builder lets you build water profiles. I’d start there.
 
Hello Paiboon,

Would you be able to post a link to your recipe? That will help us determine what steps are needed for the water chemistry.

Also, there are lots of theories and practices behind "proper" water chemistry, so you may receive lots of advice, some of it contradictory. My recommendation is to read everything you can, but at the end of the day, it's your beer and your brewery and you should do what makes sense and tastes best to you :)

Cheers!
 
Yeah like @Sunfire96 says there are differing ways of looking at it. All up to your taste. There are some good resources on this site dealing with water chemistry and books elsewhere.
 
Hello Paiboon,

Would you be able to post a link to your recipe? That will help us determine what steps are needed for the water chemistry.

Also, there are lots of theories and practices behind "proper" water chemistry, so you may receive lots of advice, some of it contradictory. My recommendation is to read everything you can, but at the end of the day, it's your beer and your brewery and you should do what makes sense and tastes best to you :)

Cheers!
Not quite sure if you can see my recpie under the following link. Thanks.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1148665/v2-paulaner-weissbier-clone
 
Yeah like @Sunfire96 says there are differing ways of looking at it. All up to your taste. There are some good resources on this site dealing with water chemistry and books elsewhere.
Hi John,

I just hit to the wall, do not know what to do next...
Still tring to learn the water profile and chemistry....
Thanks.
 
If I got the following, what is the unit of measure? Is it grams?

Ca+2 60
Mg+2 5
Na+ 10
Cl- 95
SO4-2 55
HCO3- 0
 
If I got the following, what is the unit of measure? Is it grams?

Ca+2 60
Mg+2 5
Na+ 10
Cl- 95
SO4-2 55
HCO3- 0
This will be parts per million, is this the water profile that your recipe suggests? Or is this the water profile that you are targeting?
 
This will be parts per million, is this the water profile that your recipe suggests? Or is this the water profile that you are targeting?
Hi,
This is targeting water profile. Thanks.
 
The blog articles on this site, that Josh directed you to, are very good at explaining brewing water.

What is more important than a specific water profile is whether there is chlorine in your water. If you brew with chlorinated water you will get a plasticy or bandaid off flavor. You can deal with this by adding a half of one campden tablet for a 5 gallon batch. It is metabisulfate and will eliminate the chlorine almost instantly when added.

Are you brewing all grain? Extract?

If you are brewing extract, I would only be concerned with chlorine. Water profile is important, mostly, for the mashing of the grains. Extract is dehydrated, or syrupized (just made that word up) wort.

If you are brewing all grain, I have a lot more to share with you.

It will take time to learn about water, but once you get it, it isn't really all that complicated.
 
The blog articles on this site, that Josh directed you to, are very good at explaining brewing water.

What is more important than a specific water profile is whether there is chlorine in your water. If you brew with chlorinated water you will get a plasticy or bandaid off flavor. You can deal with this by adding a half of one campden tablet for a 5 gallon batch. It is metabisulfate and will eliminate the chlorine almost instantly when added.

Are you brewing all grain? Extract?

If you are brewing extract, I would only be concerned with chlorine. Water profile is important, mostly, for the mashing of the grains. Extract is dehydrated, or syrupized (just made that word up) wort.

If you are brewing all grain, I have a lot more to share with you.

It will take time to learn about water, but once you get it, it isn't really all that complicated.
Hi,
I'm brewing all grain recipe. Thanks.
 
Once you go through the blog posts on water chemistry, let me know, and I will be pleased to help you further. Probably best to read through them each a couple times. I still refer to them, real good info there.
 
Once you go through the blog posts on water chemistry, let me know, and I will be pleased to help you further. Probably best to read through them each a couple times. I still refer to them, real good info there.
Reading that....thanks..
 
@PaiboonL, water chemistry helps you make better beer but, don't overwhelm yourself by diving into it too deep, too fast. By all means read what @Josh Hughes suggested but, if it gives you a headache, put it aside for now. About the only thing you have to deal with is removing chlorine/chloramine as @Craigerrr, suggested.

Do you have access to a water quality analysis for your local water supply. You really can't start treating your water until you know where you are starting from. If you are using distilled or reverse osmosis (RO) water then you don't need a report.
 
@PaiboonL, water chemistry helps you make better beer but, don't overwhelm yourself by diving into it too deep, too fast. By all means read what @Josh Hughes suggested but, if it gives you a headache, put it aside for now. About the only thing you have to deal with is removing chlorine/chloramine as @Craigerrr, suggested.

Do you have access to a water quality analysis for your local water supply. You really can't start treating your water until you know where you are starting from. If you are using distilled or reverse osmosis (RO) water then you don't need a report.
Hi,
At home I have RO system to produce a nice and clean water. so, asking the water analysis from local water supply is out. For now, I'm just use my RO water to produce my beer. The water profile and adjustment will be my later lesson learn. Thanks.
 
If you are starting with RO water that makes it fairly simple really. Tomorrow I will look at your recipe and your water profile and give you an idea what to do to get there. To me it is no more of a rabbit hole than learning what the different malts do, or when to add what kind of hops. In fact to me it is less of a mystery.
 

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