Soft water and it's effects on the mash

[Cactus]

I'm trying to track down if my water profile is effecting my mash or i have a problem with my sparging / technique

The reason being is i'm fortunate to live in a soft water area. That said the mineral composition is really low.

PH: 7.34
Calcium: 16.50
Magnesium: 2.47
Sodium: 7.55
Sulfate: 30.30
Chloride: 16.70
Bicarbonate: 16.50

Alkalinity was tested using a Salifert kit, measuring 0.92 which gives 0.33 * 50 i believe so 16.50

The problem i now realise i had was that i was still sparging way past 1.008 infact continued on to 1.000 (i didn't realise at the time this would extract tannins) had i stopped at 1.008 i would have been 5+ litres short of preboil volume. Water was treated with a single campden tablet nothing else.

Is this down to a problem with low ph due to lack of calcium? or a problem with how i was flysparging? / channeling in the grain bed?

I'm tempted to try batch sparging this weekend but also to treat the water to bring it more inline with the various calculators.

Any thoughts?

 

[Aleman]

A tsp of Gypsum or calcium chloride in the mash and one in the boil would go a long way to improving your calcium levels . . .you can possibly even go up to two tsp for darker beers / highly hopped beers

 

[Cactus]

Thanks Aleman, i'll continue with flysparging and adjust the water on the next brew.
Might even try get 2 brews going this weekend.