Porter Water Profile

dlowe1992 · Dec 15, 2024

Evening all,

I’m brewing a porter this week, which is a step into the unknown for me, so after a bit of water advice. All previous brews have been golden ales / pales of some variety or bitters. My water here (Severn Trent, Shropshire) is high in carbonates and so I’m used to having to reduce this a fair bit with CRS and address the Cl/so4 balance for hoppier beers…

I’ve had a look at a few darker water profiles and seems my tap water is fairly well suited?
The below figures are a best estimation of my base tap water…

Ca 104
Mg 7
Na 17
Cl 53
SO4 29
HCO3 189

Would I be along the right lines if I balanced the Cl / so4 out and kept the carbonates as is?

Ta,
Dan

foxy · Monday at 12:28 AM

dlowe1992 said:
Evening all,

I’m brewing a porter this week, which is a step into the unknown for me, so after a bit of water advice. All previous brews have been golden ales / pales of some variety or bitters. My water here (Severn Trent, Shropshire) is high in carbonates and so I’m used to having to reduce this a fair bit with CRS and address the Cl/so4 balance for hoppier beers…

I’ve had a look at a few darker water profiles and seems my tap water is fairly well suited?
The below figures are a best estimation of my base tap water…

Ca 104
Mg 7
Na 17
Cl 53
SO4 29
HCO3 189

Would I be along the right lines if I balanced the Cl / so4 out and kept the carbonates as is?

Ta,
Dan

Use some software like Brewers Friend or whatever you use now. If you do not have one use any of the software available enter your water profile, enter your target water profile. London profile if using Brewers Friend. Add your grain bill as this will have a buffering effect on the water profile due to the minerals in the grain.
The Delta will give you the additions needed to achieve your mash pH according to your water profile and the grain bill.

peebee · Monday at 1:18 PM

Where'd you get that report? At best that report is giving me an Alkalinity (as HCO3) of 266mg/L (not 189!). Although in Shropshire "189mg/L as HCO3" wouldn't be unusual.

[EDIT: Oops ... not hitting the keys hard enough! 266 not 66! Allowed for 3mg/L Nitrates, a conservative guess 'cos they're always in there. Numbers corrected above ... sorry if the original "66" caused confusion (it was confusing me when I looked at it again!).]

UKSkydiver · Monday at 1:43 PM

I brewed a porter a little while ago and I was very happy with it (as a normally, quite self critical brewer)

My profile (Oxfordshire) is roughly:

Ca: 120 Mg: 5 Na: 26 Cl 38 SO4: 74 HCO3: 220

so not that dissimilar to yours.

Suggested Robust Porter profile from BrewFather was:

Ca: 62 Mg: 15 Na: 50 Cl 100 SO4: 100 HCO3: 120

According to my notes I didn't add any water additions or acids, and it turned out pretty good. But as per above, put your starting point, desired profile and malts in to a calc for a better idea,

Sadfield · Monday at 2:02 PM

I use one based on Graham Wheeler's profile.

Ca-141
Mg-10
Na-100
CO3-50
SO4-100
Cl-300

dlowe1992 · Monday at 2:49 PM

peebee said:
Where'd you get that report? At best that report is giving me an Alkalinity (as HCO3) of 266mg/L (not 189!). Although in Shropshire "189mg/L as HCO3" wouldn't be unusual

My fault there for being a little misleading. That figure is taken from regular Salifert Carbonate test kit readings.
The rest was interpreted by plugging in data I could get into your good selves' water defuddler!

Thanks for the other suggestions. I've made some minimal additions to balance Cl / SO4 and reduce carbonate a touch..