Water chemistry help needed!

Shady Lane Brewing

Shady Lane Brewing

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Hi, everybody. Besides being a newb, I'm not very good with chemistry. I'm going to brew the Hefe recipe below, and I'm using RO water. The target water profile is right there on the sheet for me to see, but I have no idea what it means in terms of how much of the minerals I'm supposed to add in grams or teaspoons or whatever. Can anyone lay out specifically the amounts I should use? I'm lost!

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/257467/the-real-authentic-german-hefeweizen
 
Those target mineral numbers are pretty low. If I were you I would use straight RO water without any salt additions. Good luck with the brew, and let us know how it goes!

Honestly a lot of focus is put on water chemistry and hitting certain water profiles, but it mostly comes down to changing subtle aspects to the flavor and mouthfeel of the final beer. The yeast do perform a little better in certain mineral concentrations, but brewing with just RO water won't cause you any issues.
 
Sunfire96 said:
Those target mineral numbers are pretty low. If I were you I would use straight RO water without any salt additions. Good luck with the brew, and let us know how it goes!

Honestly a lot of focus is put on water chemistry and hitting certain water profiles, but it mostly comes down to changing subtle aspects to the flavor and mouthfeel of the final beer. The yeast do perform a little better in certain mineral concentrations, but brewing with just RO water won't cause you any issues.
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The small amount of reading I've done suggests that going straight RO/no minerals will leave you with a beer lacking flavor. I guess that's my biggest concern here. Is there some minimum amounts of minerals I should throw in there? Just for my fragile peace of mind? :)
 
I agree with @Sunfire96 . There is not allot of change that needs to be made those numbers are for amount of ions required. Its not for grams.

I use a spreadsheet called "ezwater" plug in your grain, what profile you want to hit, and it tells you how many grams of each item to use. it is handy.
You can Google it, it's a free program.
 
Minbari said:
I agree with @Sunfire96 . There is not allot of change that needs to be made those numbers are for amount of ions required. Its not for grams.

I use a spreadsheet called "ezwater" plug in your grain, what profile you want to hit, and it tells you how many grams of each item to use. it is handy.
You can Google it, it's a free program.
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Thanks! I'll check it out. In general, when do you add the minerals? During the boil?
 
Brewer #376079 said:
The small amount of reading I've done suggests that going straight RO/no minerals will leave you with a beer lacking flavor. I guess that's my biggest concern here. Is there some minimum amounts of minerals I should throw in there? Just for my fragile peace of mind? :)
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I don't think your hefeweizen will lack flavor :) that style of yeast is very potent. I have done many brews with just RO water and no minerals and they were very flavorful; I've also known other homebrewers that do the same. Just brew it as is until you start to feel more confident in your brewing process, and then maybe delve into some water chemistry research. The spreadsheet that Minbari mentioned is quite useful, but can be overwhelmingly dense if you don't know what you're looking at.

If I were you I would get more comfortable with all grain brewing using RO water, and then worry about water chemistry later. Also most of the time, minerals are added to the mash water to help with the mash pH :) Cheers!
 
Sunfire96 said:
I don't think your hefeweizen will lack flavor :) that style of yeast is very potent. I have done many brews with just RO water and no minerals and they were very flavorful; I've also known other homebrewers that do the same. Just brew it as is until you start to feel more confident in your brewing process, and then maybe delve into some water chemistry research. The spreadsheet that Minbari mentioned is quite useful, but can be overwhelmingly dense if you don't know what you're looking at.

If I were you I would get more comfortable with all grain brewing using RO water, and then worry about water chemistry later. Also most of the time, minerals are added to the mash water to help with the mash pH :) Cheers!
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That is good news! I've got enough on my plate with this first all-grain batch that I don't need anything that's "overwhelmingly dense." What I've noticed in my short time with homebrewing is that paranoia is lurking around every corner. I'm trying to keep it to a minimum!!!
 
Brewer #376079 said:
That is good news! I've got enough on my plate with this first all-grain batch that I don't need anything that's "overwhelmingly dense." What I've noticed in my short time with homebrewing is that paranoia is lurking around every corner. I'm trying to keep it to a minimum!!!
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Relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew friend :D it's so easy to get bogged down with details, I totally get it. But it will be beer! Let us know how it goes
 
I agree with @Sunfire96 that you could easily skip any mineral additions without a concern. But...when you're ready...the most common brewing mineral additions are:

CaSO4, adds Calcium and Sulfate = aka Gypsum
CaCl, adds Calcium and Chloride = (No cool nickname that I'm aware of)
NaCl, adds Sodium and Chloride = Table Salt (non-iodized is preferred)
NaHCO3, adds Sodium and Bicarbonate = Baking Soda (usually only used to raise Mash pH when brewing dark beers)

There are others, but they aren't as common.

I don't brew with RO, but I think that Gypsum and CaCl are the "salts" that you should keep around since Ca, Cl, and SO4 are the most commonly adjusted ions. Baking Soda also, if you like to brew Stouts and Porters.

If you are using Brewer's Friend for recipe development, it's very simple to use the "Other Ingredients" and "Water Chemistry" sections. Just for fun, in your recipe add 1 gram of Gypsum to the Mash (in "Other Ingredients") and note the changes in both Ca and SO4 (in "Water Chemistry").

Also, this is very helpful:
Brewing Water for Beginners | Brewer's Friend (brewersfriend.com)

Cheers!
 
Megary said:
I agree with @Sunfire96 that you could easily skip any mineral additions without a concern. But...when you're ready...the most common brewing mineral additions are:

CaSO4, adds Calcium and Sulfate = aka Gypsum
CaCl, adds Calcium and Chloride = (No cool nickname that I'm aware of)
NaCl, adds Sodium and Chloride = Table Salt (non-iodized is preferred)
NaHCO3, adds Sodium and Bicarbonate = Baking Soda (usually only used to raise Mash pH when brewing dark beers)

There are others, but they aren't as common.

I don't brew with RO, but I think that Gypsum and CaCl are the "salts" that you should keep around since Ca, Cl, and SO4 are the most commonly adjusted ions. Baking Soda also, if you like to brew Stouts and Porters.

If you are using Brewer's Friend for recipe development, it's very simple to use the "Other Ingredients" and "Water Chemistry" sections. Just for fun, in your recipe add 1 gram of Gypsum to the Mash (in "Other Ingredients") and note the changes in both Ca and SO4 (in "Water Chemistry").

Also, this is very helpful:
Brewing Water for Beginners | Brewer's Friend (brewersfriend.com)

Cheers!
Click to expand...

There's a good chance water chemistry is going to put me over the edge. I can see it already!!!o_O
 
Brewer #376079 said:
There's a good chance water chemistry is going to put me over the edge. I can see it already!!!o_O
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Don't sweat it. Water chemistry has been made overly complicated by brewing nerds. I brew with RO all the time, the salt additions are almost always two salts; calcium chloride and calcium sulfate.

A couple of things to remember:

1. Use a calculator like on Brewers Friend to get total calcium to @ 60-100ppm. This is mostly for yeast health, without it the yeast doesn't flocculate (drop out) when the beer is done.

2. There is a lot of talk about chloride to calcium ratios, this is also exaggerated and recently questioned. Malt adds @ 200ppm of chloride to the beer, so the ratios don't always work out. Generally speaking, equal parts of each salt works for most beers. If you want a little more mineral/hop character, add more sulfate than chloride. I sometimes add nothing but calcium sulfate, the beers are not too bitter or too dry. That's because the malt is bringing in boat loads of chloride.

3. Keep your sodium below 100-125ppm. Sodium can be a nice addition to malty dark beers.

4. It's really hard to screw it up. There are so many other things to go wrong, don't worry too much over water.

5. Relax, everything is going to be totally fine.
 
With water chemistry you can nudge your beer one way or another. While there are exceptions to every rule, water adjustments will not make or break your beer. As others have said, wait until you are comfortable with the all-grain brewing process before diving into water chemistry. Patience is the hardest part of homebrewing. Patience when waiting for the beer to finish fermenting and conditioning as well as patience in the learning process.
 
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While I have you wonderful people, one more question: I have a Brewer's Edge Mash & Boil with no pump. How often should I stir during the mash?
 
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