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Help with my water report, please

Mashing
#1

Hello,

I have received my water report, but my end results in Bru’n state that my “findings” are imbalanced…if anyone has the time, could you attempt to load these numbers for mistake comparison?

An opinion of the water profile would be appreciated as well; suggested styles, etc…

pH 7.7
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 64
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.11
Cations / Anions, me/L 0.9 / 0.9
ppm
Sodium, Na 15
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca 2
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 9
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 2
Chloride, Cl 6
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 38
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 31
“<” - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

Thank you and Merry New Year!

#2

The report says that the cation/anion balance is 1:1, so I’m not sure what the problem could be, other than a typo or a bug in Bru’nWater.

That’s great water, really nothing in it. Add flavor ions as needed, and alkalinity for darker beers.

#3

Well that’s good to hear, thank you…I’ll input the numbers again after getting home from work and see if I made some kind of input error.

#4

Since your water has such a low ion content minor differences will show huge imbalances when they really arent. Some of your ions lets say if they are less than 1 but are actually like . 5 it makes more of a difference than water with a higher ion content. I inputed your numbers and showed an imbalance but if you fudge the numbers that show less than 0 it balances out. You are probably fine.

#5

aT, I see a ratio of .94 The one thing that you might be seeing the 1.1 is due to the sulfate I almost glazed past it also but his SO4 is reported as SO4-S. What this means to you darth is you have to times your 2ppm x 3 to get your 6ppm SO4.

Irregardless I also see nothing wrong with your water it is really a good base for everything. My water relationshship is always “out of balance” typically .90 on the calculator but it really means nothing as I know I have great brewing water base not as good as yours but close. I am in the heart of the St Paul watershed and it is beautiful water to have a my disposal. Martin is the creator of the spreadsheet and happens across all the forums from time to time so he may chime in as to what this might mean if anything.

Regarding styles you will need to add a touch of Phosphoric or lactic acid for styles <5 SRM
And may need to add a bit of salts like pickling lime when making >20
Without entering a bunch of beers I see >6 SRM to about 14 SRM will naturally hit 5.2-5.5 PH without any adjustment.
The only thing that stands out IF you really what to alter anything is to add a touch of calcium to every beer via pickling lime and then adjust PH down with acid depending on beer style. Thats what is great about the suite you can weigh the benefits and downfalls of different choices.

And as (aT) said you can add some gypsum to bring your SO4/CL ratio up if you wish. Currently you are at 1.0 which is very close to balanced. So any malty beers will be fine without adjusting this. But hoppy beers can benfit from a ratio of 1.5-2.5 depending on actual beer style and hops chosen. But yes, great water to work with.

#6

Thank you for the great advice; I’ll be brewing a bit over the next week and I will take all of this into account…luckily, I thought to buy some of the basic additives.

Cheers!

#7

IMO this is a great example of why calculating a SO4/Cl ratio is a Bad Idea. Sure, his water is “balanced”, but it has essentially no chloride or sulfate. Adding enough gypsum to bring the ratio to 2.5 would mean having 15 ppm SO4 - still almost none.

#8

I can see what path your driving down with that comment but your not calculating a figure like an IBU that needs to be up or down a high percentage. The ratio is showing what your “percieved” or the perception of bitterness to malty will be your not really making the wort more “bitter/ Malty” so If you have 1ppm CL and 1 ppm SO4 you will still end up with a balanced “profile” No? So if you in effect add 3ppm SO4 to 1ppm CL you will in fact enable the wort to have a slightly more bitter profile even though your not balancing high numbers.

Your theory then rides on the fact you need what over 50ppm of each then to leave a balance in the wort? Whats your ppm threshold to enable a perception of malty to bitter 10ppm? See what path I am driving on?

The topic is (by me) considered mute. If you have empirical evidence or Black and white that backs up your claim I would be happy to read any written material that would support your theory. But Anecdotal opinions are just that and I respect your opinions but I have a right to support my assertions that the ratio is a supposed aspect in general and therefore does not have a certain Ppm carrier. So I agree in the fact that when looking at water SO4/CL you should in fact first be analyzing the Grist, mash regimen and hopping choice and rate to dictate the primary guidelines of the beer and if you feel a small dose of gypsum is warranted then go for it and the bottom line is dont monkey with CL or SO4 in attempts to make a beer bitter or malty you are only changing a perception.

#9

I’m building a neutrino detector, involved with lots of meeting with physicists and I can tell you by substituting a few words in the above post, you capture how some of our meetings go.

i think i understand neutrino physics more than beer water.

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