Well, after being repeatedly chided by you guys for relying on buffer 5.2, I’ve decided I’m going to do water right on my next brew. Here’s my report from Ward Labs, just got it.
In case any of you live near me, this is tap water in Milford, NH, treated with campden to remove chlorine (believe me they use a lot of it.)
pH 7.9
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 155
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.26
Cations / Anions, me/L 2.3 / 2.4
ppm
Sodium, Na 37
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 9
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 31
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.5 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 4
Chloride, Cl 30
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 79
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 65
Total Phosphorus, P 0.58
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01
I’m surprised by how soft it is. Only real concern is the low calcium, but its easier to add than to take away. Anyone see anything I should be concerned with?
That is a really nice water source. The alkalinity is just a little high, but quite manageable with acid. Lactic acid will be fine, as is phosphoric. Do remember that you do need to acidify the water used for sparging as the tap water alkalinity is a little too high for that.
The alkalinity might be just a little insufficient for some really acidic mashes like some stouts and porters, but maybe not enough to worry about. Even the sodium is not too high, even though it is one of the higher concentrations.
It certainly is easier to add minerals than take away! Do check out Bru’n Water. It is well suited to helping you with the acid additions.
I think so. Many towns in the area don’t have city water and people have private wells. There’s a pretty large water treatment facility in town, god knows what all they’re doing to it, but the result looks good to me. Tastes good too, once you filter out the swimming pool levels of chlorine.
I’ve already started checking out bru’n water, looks like a great tool.
[quote=“mabrungard”]That is a really nice water source. The alkalinity is just a little high, but quite manageable with acid. Lactic acid will be fine, as is phosphoric. Do remember that you do need to acidify the water used for sparging as the tap water alkalinity is a little too high for that.
The alkalinity might be just a little insufficient for some really acidic mashes like some stouts and porters, but maybe not enough to worry about. Even the sodium is not too high, even though it is one of the higher concentrations.
It certainly is easier to add minerals than take away! Do check out Bru’n Water. It is well suited to helping you with the acid additions.[/quote]
Already got it, and thanks for the great tool. I’ll let you know how my next brew turns out, I’m thinking I’ll do a pilsner. I’ll need a smidge of acid to bring down the pH, and i’m going to add something to bring up the calcium levels, but otherwise won’t mess with it much. I’m not going to attempt to actually duplicate pilsen’s water, I’m just going to see what I get with minor corrections to what I’ve got.
BTW, do the rules for sparge water change any when you batch sparge? I haven’t actually played with the sparge tab on bru’n water yet.
Not sure what you mean by rules of a batch sparge but my bicarb is just a bit higher than your water (which is great btw) and I have found that I need to acidify for a double batch sparge. I would especially do this on a pils. I use bru’nwater to calculate additions of acid to a pH of 5.7 on my sparge. I have found bru’nwater results to be so good that I have abandoned the use of my pH meter since it needs electrode replacement.
What I mean is is there any difference in the way you treat sparge water for batch vs fly sparge. Seems like I’ve heard that water adjustment isn’t necessary with sparge water when you batch sparge, or at least less important. But I can’t remember the details.
Its somewehat less important simply because you’re blending it with the water that is left stuck in the grain, a pint per pound. So there will be some buffers still in that water that can take care of the alkalinity in the sparge water. Whereas with fly sparging you are rinsing this water out and you might want to have the sparge water buffered so it won’t extract things it shouldn’t. But really if you’re stopping collecting at 1.010 or higher you probably have some buffers still in the mix at that point.
So, I was intending to use lactic acid to reduce bicarbonate and alkalinity in my water. But turns out my LHBS didn’t have it so I bought citric instead. I figure it can do double duty as espresso machine descaler.
Anyway, I didn’t notice until just now that although citric is available as a choice on the sparge adjust tab of Bru’n water, its not an option on the water adjustment tab. Does anyone know what the formula is for what amount of citric acid reduces bicarbonate by what amount? Also, anyone know what the taste threshold of citric acid is?
Oops. The free version of Bru’n Water does not have the full-featured acid listing that includes acids like citric and CRS. That is one of the nice features of the version sent to supporters.
But, back to citric. It definitely has substantial flavor effects, so that could quickly affect your beers. The ability to neutralize enough alkalinity for your brewing purposes could be limited due to the tartness that this acid produces.
I may just have to become a supporter, cause that’s a pretty nifty tool you’ve given us. I was afraid about the taste. I may do an experiment where I add some to water and see how much it takes before I can taste it.
As it turns out, I’m probably not going to have a chance to brew this weekend anyway, so I should have time to order a more neutral acid. My LHBS owner doesn’t believe in the need for water adjustment, and the only acids he stocks are aimed at wine makers.
