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Post by shaggaroo on Jun 25, 2020 10:08:00 GMT -6
From Ward Lab:
Ca 40
Mg 10
Na 17
K 2
SO4 27
Cl 25
HCO3 132
pH 7.9
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Post by Ken on Jun 25, 2020 10:11:46 GMT -6
Good water. Decent calcium, balanced SO4:Cl. The HCO3 is very similar to mine (138ppm) and lactic acid or acid malt is your friend to neutralize the bicarb and also lower the pH. You can do almost anything with that water. Now you need to go to the BNW, LOL, OMG, WTF thread and join the sh!t show over there.  |
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Post by shaggaroo on Jun 25, 2020 10:19:18 GMT -6
Good water. Decent calcium, balanced SO4:Cl. The HCO3 is very similar to mine (138ppm) and lactic acid or acid malt is your friend to neutralize the bicarb and also lower the pH. You can do almost anything with that water. Now you need to go to the BNW, LOL, OMG, WTF thread and join the sh!t show over there. Ken, I noticed our water is practically the same... yours probably comes from Lake Michigan and mine comes from Lake Ontario. And I just read the shitshow thread Listen, I'm a PhD chemist and I find BNW to be very cumbersome and unnecessarily user unfriendly. Don't beat yourself up about it lol. |
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Post by Ken on Jun 25, 2020 10:32:30 GMT -6
Good water. Decent calcium, balanced SO4:Cl. The HCO3 is very similar to mine (138ppm) and lactic acid or acid malt is your friend to neutralize the bicarb and also lower the pH. You can do almost anything with that water. Now you need to go to the BNW, LOL, OMG, WTF thread and join the sh!t show over there. Ken, I noticed our water is practically the same... yours probably comes from Lake Michigan and mine comes from Lake Ontario. And I just read the shitshow thread Listen, I'm a PhD chemist and I find BNW to be very cumbersome and unnecessarily user unfriendly. Don't beat yourself up about it lol. ALRIGHT!! Shaggaroo is on MY side!  Yes, our water is very similar. My treatment is 3.5 to 4ml of lactic acid in the strike water and usually some CaCl to raise the calcium number and also get a smoother, rounder, fuller character. I have been playing with that. It seems that too much CaCl can create a sweetness that may not be desired but I have also found that if my grain bill is simple and does not have a lot of vienna, munich, crystal, etc. and the SO4 and Cl numbers are about even, I will get a chalky, harsh, coarse character in the beer. But... I make the palest lagers and the darkest lagers (or ales) with this water so I feel like you could go in any direction. You could dilute with distilled if you wanted to make a very soft Czech Pils or something but it's really not necessary. Congrats on having good brewing water. |
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Post by shaggaroo on Jun 25, 2020 10:39:34 GMT -6
I haven't ever used lactic acid, but what I generally do is almost always include 0.25# acid malt, though for that Vienna-ish "lager" I actually added some carbonate as an article I read suggested that style benefitted from a good deal of it. I think it came out well. Funny, I've been brewing since about 2006, but never a whole lot per year. Just started stepping up my game!
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Post by Ken on Jun 25, 2020 10:47:32 GMT -6
The water thing feels like you're getting better control over your brewing and you definitely are. But you can get lost in it and second-guess yourself too. You may also talk with other homebrewers who add [what sounds like] massive amounts of gypsum or CaCl to their water and you wonder what's going on. Back in the day I made many dreadful batches of gold beer. Addressing water composition and getting better pH control changed that for me and I am thankful to have that information. But I continue to look at it, tilt and twist the way I control it to make sure I am doing it as best I can. Clearly the grain bill has a lot to do with the beer's balance as well. It's a lot of information and someone should write a book. Wait.  |
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Post by bklmt2000 on Jun 25, 2020 10:56:44 GMT -6
The water thing feels like you're getting better control over your brewing and you definitely are. But you can get lost in it and second-guess yourself too. You may also talk with other homebrewers who add [what sounds like] massive amounts of gypsum or CaCl to their water and you wonder what's going on. Back in the day I made many dreadful batches of gold beer. Addressing water composition and getting better pH control changed that for me and I am thankful to have that information. But I continue to look at it, tilt and twist the way I control it to make sure I am doing it as best I can. Clearly the grain bill has a lot to do with the beer's balance as well. It's a lot of information and someone should write a book. Wait.
Learning about water chemistry is one of the 2 areas where I think my beer's quality made a quantum leap forward (the other was scoring a spare fridge for lagering/cold-conditioning my beers).
Took a bit of time to get the hang of, but these days I wouldn't brew a batch if I couldn't ensure the water was adjusted appropriately w/ lactic, salts, etc. In years past, I'd get lazy and skimp on treating my brewing water, and the resulting beer would tell me that I screwed up by cutting corners.
Not worth wasting the time and ingredients to brew, only to half-ass the water part. No thanks.
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