Extract Brewing should I bother about water chemistry?

[PaisleyExport]

Hi guys, partial mashing on my 5th batch. Getting Into this hobby in my usual obsessive way. Question is: should I be bothering about water chemistry while partial mashing or is this for the All Grain realms only ? Cheers JP

 

[Sandimas]

I often think partial-mashing is a misnomer when mentioned in some of these extract kits: more often than not you are steeping the grains rather than mashing. Mashing is a very specific process needing a constant temperature for an hour or longer, and ideally needs a pH around 5.6 for which water treatment is sometimes needed. If you're just steeping adjunct grains like crystal malt, you don't need this, although you will probably benefit from removing chlorine from your tap-water though, if that's what you are using. Some of us do that using in-line cold water filers, or Camden tablets, or just use cheap supermarket bottled water.

What extract kit are you making and what are the grains: is there any base malt requiring a full mash?

 

[terrym]

My understanding of the term partial mash brewing involves a mash with base malt and any speciality grain followed by a boil with hops. The wort is then bulked up with additional water added direct to the FV with malt extract, although a portion of that malt extract may have been added to the boil. That's what I mostly do using spray malt instead of liquid malt.

 

[PaisleyExport]

Evening Gents thanks for the replies.
I’m doing extract brewing to recipe and adding adjuncts for approx 30mins prior to the boil with LME so not kits and probably not mashing either by the sounds of it ? I was interested in the seasoning aspect of adding salts i.e. maltier or bitter. I’m using bottled water as I know my tap water is very heavy in chlorine. Given I don’t know the mineral content of the base water of the LME I guess I’m shooting blind but I was thinking of giving it a go.

 

[terrym]

Evening Gents thanks for the replies.
I’m doing extract brewing to recipe and adding adjuncts for approx 30mins prior to the boil with LME so not kits and probably not mashing either by the sounds of it ? I was interested in the seasoning aspect of adding salts i.e. maltier or bitter. I’m using bottled water as I know my tap water is very heavy in chlorine. Given I don’t know the mineral content of the base water of the LME I guess I’m shooting blind but I was thinking of giving it a go.

LME is about 20% water, so even if you are using say 3kg to make 20 litres wort its only contributing about 600ml water which isn't significant in my view.
And its easy to treat your tap water for chlorine and/or chloramine. I fill an old sanitised PB with my brewing water add half a crushed campden tablet and leave it overnight prior to brewday although the reaction is apparently completed in less than an hour.
Finally you should be able to get a typical tap water analysis from your water company website using your postcode. I use that and the basic calculator here to adjust my water salts although other calculators are available
https://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/