Beginners Guide to Water Treatment (plus links to more advanced water treatment in post #1)

[Manxnorton]

hallow steve,
been ages since I tested my water...was using my old dosage, but best to test as 'skill fade' is on me again.
obviously I've had probs with my battered brain so i'll try n be exact what im saying n doing..lol
i'm planning a pale.
so I know recommend 20ppm for alkalinity.
I want 16.33l strike n 14.47l sparge.
ive use a 1l of tap water to use, and here my reading...….bit confused is it back or top of the small black thingy on the 1ml syringe?
think my reading is wrong..
heres the reading for alkalinity.
0.68= 4.8 x 17.9
=85.92 PPM
Soooo for the pale ale 85.92-20=65.92 to remove is that right?
and as im 16.33l strike water, is the removal dosage for one litre its starting to get my heed in.....
in your table its says alkilinty removal (ppm) 0.2ml/l....38ppm....0.4....76ppm.
but as you know its in the middle of calculation...
if I get this right...do I multiply the ml/l x 16.33l strike water?
cacluim
(recommend 100-150ppm)
0.75 = 130ppm.
anyway of removing to get it down say 100ppm? confused as your table just says INCREASE.
obviously I need to put it all together...
hope my woffle you can understand pal....try my best to not confuse you.....and myself in the mean time...…..lol
any help i'll appreciate once again...
Bri

 

[strange-steve]

@Manxnorton
Hello Bri, apologies for the late reply I've been busy lately and rather preoccupied so not been about the forum much recently. Anyway I'll try to help where I can.

bit confused is it back or top of the small black thingy on the 1ml syringe?

If you hold the syringe facing up like the picture below, then you take the reading at the top of the black bit. So the reading in this picture is 0.42:

If you used 0.68 ml of KH then you are correct, alkalinity of 86 ppm (rounded up) meaning you want to remove about 66 ppm. You're right, the table in the OP is rather badly done, I've revised it below and hopefully @Chippy_Tea will be able to replace the original, I think this one is a little more user friendly.

So about 0.35ml per liter of CRS will do the job.

if I get this right...do I multiply the ml/l x 16.33l strike water?

Correct, 0.35 x 16.3 = 5.7ml of CRS in your strike water.
0.35 x 14.5 = 5.1ml CRS in your sparge water.

cacluim
(recommend 100-150ppm)
0.75 = 130ppm.
anyway of removing to get it down say 100ppm? confused as your table just says INCREASE.

That recommended range is a minimum amount, so if you have 130 ppm that is perfect, you don't need to adjust your calcium at all. You may want to add a little gypsum to bring out the hops though, say around 2g in both the mash water and sparge water.

 

[rich1985]

Hi Everyone,

So I am looking to make my second kolsch. This time with water treatment. Using the kits, my alkalinity is 172ppm and calcium is 180ppm.
From my reading I do not need to alter calcium but I need to drop the alkalinity by 150.
We mash with 23l straight off with 5kg of grain so as to make approx 18l of wort to maxi biab.
So to change 23l of water I need to add 18.4 CRS. Does this sound correct>
I do have gypsum and calcium chloride so if anyone feels I should add any of this too then I am all ears! I also have campden tablets too!

 

[strange-steve]

@rich1985
This is a good example of how some water profiles are very unsuited to certain styles, meaning you can't really add your way to a good profile.

Kolsch is a rather delicately flavoured beer and your results probably wouldn't be too good if you dumped a load of CRS into it.

My advice would be to blend your tap water half and half with Tesco Ashbeck (something like £1.20 for 5L) and treat from there. That would give a starting profile of around 90 ppm alkalinity and 95 ppm calcium which means all you'll need to add is 8.5ml of CRS (0.37ml/L) and half a campden tablet. The calcium level doesn't need adjustment.

 

[Saisonator]

Steve are you still mixing RO water with your tap water or are your just using RO with additions to create the desired profile?

 

[Ben034]

@rich1985
This is a good example of how some water profiles are very unsuited to certain styles, meaning you can't really add your way to a good profile.

Kolsch is a rather delicately flavoured beer and your results probably wouldn't be too good if you dumped a load of CRS into it.

My advice would be to blend your tap water half and half with Tesco Ashbeck (something like £1.20 for 5L) and treat from there. That would give a starting profile of around 90 ppm alkalinity and 95 ppm calcium which means all you'll need to add is 8.5ml of CRS (0.37ml/L) and half a campden tablet. The calcium level doesn't need adjustment.

I've recently switched from lactic acid to CRS as with certain styles I was noticing a sour flavour profile. With CRS is there a similar upper limit per litre, with regards to taste, as with lactic?

 

[strange-steve]

Steve are you still mixing RO water with your tap water or are your just using RO with additions to create the desired profile?

Yeah I still use a 50:50 blend for most styles. My tap water doesn't have much in it anyway so it gives me a fairly blank slate to work with.

 

[strange-steve]

I've recently switched from lactic acid to CRS as with certain styles I was noticing a sour flavour profile. With CRS is there a similar upper limit per litre, with regards to taste, as with lactic?

Well sort of, but in a different way. The problem with lactic acid is, as you point out, that lactate is an off-flavour in most styles, meaning that it's really only suitable for minor adjustments. CRS is different because it leaves behind sulphate and chloride, both of which are already present in tap water and are generally desirable when it comes to flavour. The caveat though, is that certain styles tend to work better with an overall lower mineral content, kolsch being an example. So the upper limit for CRS, if there is one, is style (and personal taste) dependant.

 

[rich1985]

Thanks Steve!

@rich1985
This is a good example of how some water profiles are very unsuited to certain styles, meaning you can't really add your way to a good profile.

Kolsch is a rather delicately flavoured beer and your results probably wouldn't be too good if you dumped a load of CRS into it.

My advice would be to blend your tap water half and half with Tesco Ashbeck (something like £1.20 for 5L) and treat from there. That would give a starting profile of around 90 ppm alkalinity and 95 ppm calcium which means all you'll need to add is 8.5ml of CRS (0.37ml/L) and half a campden tablet. The calcium level doesn't need adjustment.

 

[Ben034]

Well sort of, but in a different way. The problem with lactic acid is, as you point out, that lactate is an off-flavour in most styles, meaning that it's really only suitable for minor adjustments. CRS is different because it leaves behind sulphate and chloride, both of which are already present in tap water and are generally desirable when it comes to flavour. The caveat though, is that certain styles tend to work better with an overall lower mineral content, kolsch being an example. So the upper limit for CRS, if there is one, is style (and personal taste) dependant.

Thanks Steve, very helpful. Will stock up on ashbeck water for the next lager planned.

 

[BeerCat]

I found out the other day that any bicarbonate you add to the mash will disappear. So even though it makes the water taste horrible its not a problem in the finished beer.

 

[Gerryjo]

Thanks @strange-steve for the help with water treatment.
Brewed a light lager a few weeks back using flaked corn and pilsen malt only with the following salt additions
5g gypsum
2g calcium chloride
1.2g epsom salts
50g aciduated malt
PH was bang on and transferred to secondary last night with the missus trying a sample which she loved and would need to as it was for her.
Ironic thing is I'm brewing an EPA today using a light and hoppy profile on BF and the exact same additions are in spec also.
Found it strange but if it works I'll be chuffed.
Cheers again for the help.[emoji106]

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Sbond10]

Weres the current best place for crs or ams

 

[strange-steve]

I found out the other day that any bicarbonate you add to the mash will disappear. So even though it makes the water taste horrible its not a problem in the finished beer.

Exactly, the idea is to add just enough bicarbonate to achieve the desired mash pH. If this is done properly then there won't be any bicarbonate, the reaction with acids from the malts will neutralise to water and CO2.

 

[strange-steve]

Weres the current best place for crs or ams

Have you tried your home brew shop, I think most good ones should have it?

 

[Sbond10]

I know a few i was just checking to see if i was getting the best deal

 

[strange-steve]

I've never actually bought any so I don't know what a good price would be, maybe someone else can help.

 

[Martybhoy]

I'm brewing a stout in a few weeks, and need to make different water treatments than I normally do for pale beers (usually just gypsum).

Brewers friend has a Dublin water profile for a dry stout which I can almost match, with the exception of my alkalinity (HCO3). My water is 9ppm, and the Dublin water profile is 280ppm. Big difference.

How can I adjust my water to anywhere near this, and will this treatment impact on other levels?

 

[strange-steve]

@Martybhoy1980
I'm not a fan of matching historical or geographic profiles. A better option is to choose a water profile that will give the the desired mash pH and flavour profile.
For example, a dry stout might need about 120ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 (146ppm HCO3) and 100-150ppm calcium with a 2:1 sulphate:chloride ratio.

 

[MartinHaworth]

Hope to do my first saison tomorrow. Very alkaline water at 212. Looking at circa 1ml per litre of crs.

This is my first go at water treatment, having only recently got my report from Phoenix analytical.

Any issue with this much crs? Should I cut my water with ashbeck? ... I'm trying to use fewer single use plastics...

Thanks

Martin