Best way to get Octoberfest water from what I have?

Mashing
1

Ok here is my water and water profile I want to get to. I have been playing with all styles to get profile I want but, this one is tricky to me.

Mine
Ca 0
Mag 2
BiCarb 103
Sulfate 0
Na 26
Cl 2

Octoberfest
Ca 109
Mag 21
BiCarb 171
Sulfate 79
Na 2
Cl 36

Any help is appreciated.

2

Looks like you need to cut with some RO water, add back in some gypsum and calcium chloride. You don’t need to be exact when it comes to water, just ballpark. And if it were me, I wouldn’t bother cutting with RO. 26ppm of Na isn’t that much.

3

What about the magnesium? I don’t have any Magnesium to add. Will the Gypsum and the calcium add to that?

4

[quote=“vanwolfhausen”]Ok here is my water and water profile I want to get to. I have been playing with all styles to get profile I want but, this one is tricky to me.

Mine
Ca 0
Mag 2
BiCarb 103
Sulfate 0
Na 26
Cl 2

Octoberfest
Ca 109
Mag 21
BiCarb 171
Sulfate 79
Na 2
Cl 36

Any help is appreciated.[/quote]

Don’t overthink this. Add enough Calcium Chloride to get your Ca+ up to 75ppm and brew your beer.

5

Without knowing your water pH, grain bill, mash and sparge volumes, here’s my best shot.

Gypsum 2.1 g - mash 5.5 g - sparge
Calcium Chloride 1.0 g - mash 2.8g - sparge
70% Phosphoric Acid 1.5 ml - mash 1.25 ml - sparge

If you can provide the additional info I can fine tune it for you based on your specific grain bill. If your doing an Oktoberfest which has a malty profile why is your sulfate higher than your chloride. Just as an FYI I would base your water on the grain bill and beer SRM along with the malt/hops profile and not necessarily the region the water came from.

6

I disagree with targeting that O’fest water profile. It is much too mineralized for a malt focused style with some toastiness. The main problem with the starting profile is that it has too much bicarbonate content and the alkalinity is too high. That starting profile also does not balance, so that suggests that one or more of the concentrations is incorrectly reported by the lab or entered in the post.

I agree with Bryan that just adding calcium chloride to the starting water would be a good way to go. It also appears that minor acid additions might be needed if the alkalinity is really that high. Don’t go aiming for that overly mineralized water profile.

7

[quote=“BryanH”][quote=“vanwolfhausen”]Ok here is my water and water profile I want to get to. I have been playing with all styles to get profile I want but, this one is tricky to me.

Mine
Ca 0
Mag 2
BiCarb 103
Sulfate 0
Na 26
Cl 2

Octoberfest
Ca 109
Mag 21
BiCarb 171
Sulfate 79
Na 2
Cl 36

Any help is appreciated.[/quote]

Don’t overthink this. Add enough Calcium Chloride to get your Ca+ up to 75ppm and brew your beer.[/quote]

I’m not a guru of water chemistry, but that’s what I’d do. Looks to me like 1/2 gram of CaCl2 per gallon of water should get you there.

8

Thanks guys soo much. With being soo new to this I feel some guys just do the KISS method and some guy all out. Have to find my style I guess and I do tend to overthink everythink everything.haha

Here is extra info:

PH of water 7.5
Grain bill 14lbs
Total water used 10gallons(6.5gal mash in/3.5gal sparge)