Got My Water Profile, Now What?

uvmnick

uvmnick

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Hey everyone - I recently got my water tested by Ward Lab and I'm curious how I should be using this moving forward. See profile below. I'm going to re- read the blog posts about water profiles, but wondering if these figures are good, bad, ok?

Ca+2: 14
Mg+2: 3
Na+: 87
Cl-: 114
SO4-2: 7
Alkalinity: 58 (HCO3)
pH: 7.9
 
Make a Helles. That's some soft water! Alkalinity is a bit high for light lagers but that can be overcome with acid.
 
your calcium is way low and salts a little high but overall your good, you'll be in the negative with Alkalinity once you lower the ph mines 114 and its -10 after acid
 
top right of the site, profiles water profiles, add new water profile
 
Thanks for the feedback. What's a good calcium target? What should I be adding during my brew session to make it better/balanced/on target?

I did add this to my water profile. When I am creating/editing a recipe how does selecting my water profile affect my recipe? Does it alter other aspects? Should I select my profile and input specific target ion levels?

I read that my tap water was the same as my garden hose water so for comparison sake I also got my tap water tested. Seems about the same, but do you see anything different for better or worse? Looks like alkalinity has the biggest change

Ca+2: 14
Mg+2: 3
Na+: 84
Cl-: 114
SO4-2: 8
Alkalinity: 46 (HCO3)
Total Alkalinity: 38 CaCo3
pH: 7.9

Re-examining my garden hose test, I didn't add Total Alkalinity. Not sure if 48 CaCo3 is a better measurement than 58 (HCO3).
 
your water make up does not effect the recipe on this site but it does the actual beer, you need at least 50 ppm of calcium for good yeast health and in most cases more like 70 to 100 for higher than 5% alcohol beers. our blog is a good start for info on adding brewing salts I cant really sum it up in a paragraph but in most cases I just add calcium carbonate and gypsum to boost calcium
 
uvmnick said:
Thanks for the feedback. What's a good calcium target? What should I be adding during my brew session to make it better/balanced/on target?

I did add this to my water profile. When I am creating/editing a recipe how does selecting my water profile affect my recipe? Does it alter other aspects? Should I select my profile and input specific target ion levels?

I read that my tap water was the same as my garden hose water so for comparison sake I also got my tap water tested. Seems about the same, but do you see anything different for better or worse? Looks like alkalinity has the biggest change

Ca+2: 14
Mg+2: 3
Na+: 84
Cl-: 114
SO4-2: 8
Alkalinity: 46 (HCO3)
Total Alkalinity: 38 CaCo3
pH: 7.9

Re-examining my garden hose test, I didn't add Total Alkalinity. Not sure if 48 CaCo3 is a better measurement than 58 (HCO3).
Click to expand...
What's interesting to me is you have about half the alkalinity in the tap water as opposed to your garden hose. Alkalinity as HCO3 is simply a common measure that includes alkalinity from many sources such as the sulfates and chlorides in the water. Either measure will do but for the calculator, I use the alkalinity as HCO3. In your case, add enough gypsum to bring your calcium up to 50 ppm or greater, that'll balance your sulfate as well. And dechlorinate.
 
So in a semi related note that might be of use to him, and me. How do people know what water profile to pick? Like what is actually different between Balanced and Balanced 2?

upload_2018-7-26_7-58-40.png
 
I actually don't use any of those, their not based on your tested water instead go through your recipe or brew session and use the calculator, get it where you want it then write it down or open a new tab for your profile water reports add it there and name it that beer, then it shows up in that same drop down your are at
 
Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
your water make up does not effect the recipe on this site but it does the actual beer, you need at least 50 ppm of calcium for good yeast health and in most cases more like 70 to 100 for higher than 5% alcohol beers. our blog is a good start for info on adding brewing salts I cant really sum it up in a paragraph but in most cases I just add calcium carbonate and gypsum to boost calcium
Click to expand...

Thanks! I make note to focus on calcium carbonate and gypsum to boost calcium while researching.
 
Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
I actually don't use any of those, their not based on your tested water instead go through your recipe or brew session and use the calculator, get it where you want it then write it down or open a new tab for your profile water reports add it there and name it that beer, then it shows up in that same drop down your are at
Click to expand...


Good to know! I was looking at that water profile drown down menu also.
 
I'm not sure I follow, how do you know where you want it is my primary problem.
 
well selecting each of those will give you different numbers and if you study water for a while you can see what the numbers will do
read the blog brewing basics 1,2 and 3 and work on the calculator adding various salts then at the bottom it says what numbers have changed "Overall Water Report"
 
So basically just make a beer with each profile and try and figure out how they taste different?

I understand the concept of the salts and have an idea of what each one does, but it seems weird that I should need to have an in depth understanding of them to know the difference between Balance and Balance 2 in a drop down.
 
ok balanced is good for any beer , balanced 2 is for an IIpa or a higher alcohol beer in my opinion
 
Cool, that's basically what I mean. I feel that if you know enough about the salts to be able to look at the values and know what will happen, why are you using a calculator tool in the first place?

I run into the same problem trying to use Bru'n water, like I want to make a simple pale ale, what choice do I make? The learning curve is a vertical wall.
 
it's a learn as you go process words can't really tell you everything, you kind of need to experience it first hand and get that ahha moment
 
That was why I used those two as an example, Yellow and Hoppy at least tells me what to expect at the end.

It's daunting to try and make sense of this and when I initially started looking especially on other sites I got a strong "RTFM Noob" vibe that killed a lot of my desire to keep digging.
 
As an aside, what would be a good style with minimal changes for this water profile? Since we're talking about.

upload_2018-7-26_11-26-27.png
 
you just gave me a good idea we could add a color to each of those to somewhat guide the novice to the style it will make
 
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