Struggling to get my head around the water chemistry.

[LazyWhippet]

Hi all,

I'm struggling with the calculators to get my water right for brewing. Until now I have just used the water as it comes out the tap as it tastes fine but I do want to start getting the profile correct for different beer styles.

I live in a hard water area, here are my values from my water report:

Alkalinity (mgHCO3/l): 325
Calcium (mgCa/l): 119
Hardness (mgCaCO3/l): 298
pH: 7.1
Sodium (mgNa/l): 9.2
Chloride (mgCl/l): 21
Sulphate (mgSO4/l): 11
*no reading for Magnesium

Is the water too hard? Should I look at using bottled water? Should I concentrate more on the pH of the mash more than anything? One calculator suggested using a Carbonate Reducing Solution, would this be a good idea? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Clint]

Look on the forum for strange Steve's basic water thread...read it carefully..10 times...then apply using his water calculator on the other thread...

 

[Keruso]

Hi all,

I'm struggling with the calculators to get my water right for brewing. Until now I have just used the water as it comes out the tap as it tastes fine but I do want to start getting the profile correct for different beer styles.

I live in a hard water area, here are my values from my water report:

Alkalinity (mgHCO3/l): 325
Calcium (mgCa/l): 119
Hardness (mgCaCO3/l): 298
pH: 7.1
Sodium (mgNa/l): 9.2
Chloride (mgCl/l): 21
Sulphate (mgSO4/l): 11
*no reading for Magnesium

Is the water too hard? Should I look at using bottled water? Should I concentrate more on the pH of the mash more than anything? One calculator suggested using a Carbonate Reducing Solution, would this be a good idea? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I agree with Clint, @strange-steve calculator (i'll dig out the link and post) works really well, i've used it for the 1st time recently and the beer is just so much better. I also started with Tesco Ashbeck water rather than my local Portsmouth water because it's a far better starting canvas to adjust than a public supply and cheap too.

@strange-steve also posted some target profiles to aim at for different beer styles, I used his IPA profile and i'm so pleased with the result. Can't thank him enough. ​

 

[Budgie]

Another +1 for Strange Steve’s post. It can seem like a ridiculously complex subject but he manages to make it very approachable.
I’m also a fan of bottled water. I use the stuff from Lidl as there’s very little in it so can be adjusted to suit whatever you’re brewing.

 

[Galena]

Agree that Strange Steves post is one of the most understandable posts on the subject and well worth a read. Also I found this Video fairly easy to follow and then if you watch this video it may help, it did me anyway.

 

[Hew's Brews]

+1 for Strange-Steve's post as well.

I found Stuart Hardman's video very helpful too.

 

[LazyWhippet]

Thanks for leading me to @strange-steve - already in a better position about it all - will be sifting through a lot of his posts!

 

[Deadhead]

@strange-steve 's thread is great and the calculator is very good and easy to use!