Water profile guide

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Bottom Shelf Brewery

Bottom Shelf Brewery

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Not sure if this is any use to anyone else, but i have put this together from research i have done.
 

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From the little bit I know of water, that looks to be a handy cheat sheet. Thanks for the hard work, you deserve a beer!
 
good technical information, thanks for that, its a little small, I had to blow it up to read it I guess its meant for phones and for the beginning brewer its probably going over their head but they have to start somewhere lol
 
Learner brewer would generally be well advised to focus on practices first before delving into water chemistry .( it makes a difference of course )
Depending where you are on our vast planet the starting water will be very different and as such will be treated differently if at all depending on style
 
one thing missing is the need to have your water tested first, like with ward labs reports, this is what people don't get at first. without that beginning water nothing you add matters
 
Agreed, a beginner won't get a lot of benefits from thinking about water. In the new How To Brew, Palmer gives five priorities in order: sanitation, fermentation temperature control, yeast management, controlling the boil and finally the recipe. Water chemistry doesn't make the top five.
 
Water chemistry is the difference between a good beer and a great one but like nosy pointed out its not top 5 things to focus on for new brewers
 
I never bothered to do anything with my water. I like my beer, so that's good enough for me. Maybe it could be better. Ignorance is bliss!!
 
Depending where you are you may not need to do anything at all , remove the chlorine and add a touch of gypsum is enough with mine
 
Cheers BSB top notch I thought you must be a new administration dude thanks for your hard work adding these minerals to the Mash/Boil in my opinion definitely helps with the beers outcome.
 
Sulfates emphasize bitterness - I find it harsh. Chlorides emphasize malt flavors. I can't tell exactly what you're trying to make, your water is balanced more toward a bitter outcome, more appropriate for pale ales and IPAs. Based on your final RA, you should make a good pale ale or amber style out of this. Does that help?
 
with my water this will be extremely bitter, I would never use that much gypsum even in 10 gallons, the malt vs hop/bitterness is all relative to the source water and can change drastically per person so its hard for use to tell you what you want
 
Nosybear said:
Sulfates emphasize bitterness - I find it harsh. Chlorides emphasize malt flavors. I can't tell exactly what you're trying to make, your water is balanced more toward a bitter outcome, more appropriate for pale ales and IPAs. Based on your final RA, you should make a good pale ale or amber style out of this. Does that help?
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What is it that you find harsh the anount of gypsum im using?
 
gmull70 said:
What is it that you find harsh the anount of gypsum im using?
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No, I checked the water report you attached and from what I see, you should be okay - the water will emphasize hop bitterness but it's still in the "balanced" range. Water is an area that's really easy to over-think, particularly for a new brewer. Your base water is very soft, you should be able to brew just about anything light with it with no modification. What I was saying, I generally don't add gypsum, I find the result to be a harsh taste. Lots of people like it. I tend to like softer, rounder, maltier beers so I work with chloride.

There's a really good book out there called, you guessed it, "Water." But if you're a relatively new brewer, I'd advise leaving water chemistry alone for a while and concentrating on your sanitation, your fermentation temperature, pitching enough healthy yeast, boiling vigorously and reasonable recipe formulation. Mastering these will give you much better beer than trying to emulate someone's water chemistry. And if you haven't mastered these, you'll never know the difference the salts make, your beer will vary too much to detect the effect.
 
Nosybear said:
No, I checked the water report you attached and from what I see, you should be okay - the water will emphasize hop bitterness but it's still in the "balanced" range. Water is an area that's really easy to over-think, particularly for a new brewer. Your base water is very soft, you should be able to brew just about anything light with it with no modification. What I was saying, I generally don't add gypsum, I find the result to be a harsh taste. Lots of people like it. I tend to like softer, rounder, maltier beers so I work with chloride.

There's a really good book out there called, you guessed it, "Water." But if you're a relatively new brewer, I'd advise leaving water chemistry alone for a while and concentrating on your sanitation, your fermentation temperature, pitching enough healthy yeast, boiling vigorously and reasonable recipe formulation. Mastering these will give you much better beer than trying to emulate someone's water chemistry. And if you haven't mastered these, you'll never know the difference the salts make, your beer will vary too much to detect the effect.
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Yea ive been brewing for about 5 years and in the padt year started.looking at water. I am finding it somewhat challenging. I thought about getti g that book but hear its very technical. Wondering if I would truly grasp everything
 
gmull70 said:
Yea ive been brewing for about 5 years and in the padt year started.looking at water. I am finding it somewhat challenging. I thought about getti g that book but hear its very technical. Wondering if I would truly grasp everything
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I didn't find it particularly technical but I guess some did. Grasping everything doesn't seem to be that important. The purpose of water treatment, as long as you're not trying to get a particular mineral flavor in the beer - is to adjust the mash pH - it needs to be from about 5.2 to about 5.5 to avoid some problems with astringency or poor conversion. There's a (relatively) simple concept called Residual Alkalinity that will help you hit the mash pH number. If you master that, your beer will improve. No need to emulate Burton or Dusseldorf or Plzn's water as long as you hit the mash pH.
 
Nosybear said:
I didn't find it particularly technical but I guess some did. Grasping everything doesn't seem to be that important. The purpose of water treatment, as long as you're not trying to get a particular mineral flavor in the beer - is to adjust the mash pH - it needs to be from about 5.2 to about 5.5 to avoid some problems with astringency or poor conversion. There's a (relatively) simple concept called Residual Alkalinity that will help you hit the mash pH number. If you master that, your beer will improve. No need to emulate Burton or Dusseldorf or Plzn's water as long as you hit the mash pH.
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hey thanks for all the info. I went back and took a look at the water calculator, in the overall water report it states that the residual alkalinity ppm as caco3 -85.2 wondering what you could tell me about this? here is a link for the recipie I plan on making this Sunday the only change im making is Ill be brewing 10 gall
iframe width="100%" height="500px" src="https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/487189" frameborder="0"></iframe>
 
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I found a Residual Alkalinity calculator here: http://www.franklinbrew.org/tools/rac2.html. If you click the "More" button in Brewer's Friend's Recipe Builder you can see the RA range is listed among the other more advanced parameters. Plugging in the SRM of your recipe - 4.81 - the calculator tells me your RA should be -35 ppm as CaCO3. You're actually over-improving your water. Calcium decreases RA, try adding less gypsum. RA is generally given as a range, in this case the range is -64 to -5 with -35 right in the middle, a safe place to be. If you want your mash pH to be lower (more acidic), tend to the lower end of the range, that'll give a slightly tarter beer. For less tart, shoot for the high end. The critical value is your mash pH which should be in the range given above. I prefer the lower end - a tarter beer. Your call. But less calcium will increase the RA, as will less magnesium to a lesser extent.
 
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