First time water adjustments - can someone check my work?

I am no expert, but here goes. I never used brunwater either.
I would not use MgCl2 or CaCl2 for a hoppy beer. You want sulfate not chloride for hoppiness so try dropping those and using just gypsum. Get you sulfate up over 200ppm.
There is a start at least

 

I tend to stay away from any Mg contaning salt too. I dont want to shit my pants any more than I already do.

 

Agreed, but what if he requires more calcium than can be provided by the Gypsum? Should he just resort to CaCl2, use Calcium Carbonate (Chalk) and subsequently hear a shitstorm from the vets, or try to hunt down Pickling Lime, which I rarely see at any LHBS?

You think the sulfate should be THAT high for this beer?

Haha, agreed. I also think the OP can skip the lactic acid. If I added acid to a hoppy wort, I would use phosphoric acid.

A less complex calculator the OP can use -->: http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

 

What's wrong with lactic acid? If anything, when needed I find it preferable to phophoric acid as phosphoric acid can bind to calcium and precipitate out calcium ions of which my water is already low in. I've never used more than 2-3 ml in a 5 gallon batch and never noticed any off putting flavors.

 

In "Brewing Better Beer", Gordon Strong says (page 50): "Adding phosphoric acid is the easiest way to lower the pH of sparge water without adding undesirable flavors. Lactic acid is a distant second choice."

Vinnie Cilurzo says you can use either lactic or phosphoric, so both work and they each have their pitfalls and pose different effects vs. pH depending on how they are implemented. Lactic acid is generally added to the mash whereas phosphoric is generally used in the sparge.

Lactic also has a distinct taste that is either pleasant or undesirable depending on the style; for a hoppy beer, I think it's undesirable. Phosphoric acid doesn't have an off taste when used properly. A friend of mine used phosphoric acid at the rate of 5 ml in his 5 gallon batch and we didn't notice any off flavors or tang either.

 

I only use it in the mash so I can't comment on sparge water treatment. Never done that...

 

I wouldn't use Magnesium Chloride (Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate). In fact, I wouldn't use Calcium Chloride in an IPA unless the chloride levels were way too low. You want your sulfate to chloride ratio to lean heavily toward sulfates in order to bring out the bitterness.

I use the EZ Water spreadsheet, and based on that, if your starting water is the 10 Ca, 2Mg, 5 Na, 8 Cl, 13 S)4 and 24 bicarbonate, then to get a decent water profile you could add 4 grams of Gypsum and 2 grams Epsom salt to both your mash and sparge water (or some will say to the mash and boil). That gets your profile to 65 Ca, 13 Mg, and 195 SO4 without changing the others, and you'll end up with a bitter beer without it being too harsh. Adding chloride back in just mellows out the bitterness. If you really want to come close to the chloride profile, you can add a gram of CaCl to the mash and sparge to end up with 81 Ca and 37 Cl. Not out of whack, by any means.

Note that I measured that with roughly 4.5 gallons mash and sparge water, so if you stick with the 5.5 and 5, your numbers will vary a bit.

 

You can use phosphoric acid in the mash. The experts say yes it will decrease some of the calcium, but you have >1000 times that in the mash in the form of phytin, so the result is minimal. Remember that you are depending on Ca to react with the phytin to produce H+ ions that drops the pH.

I have stopped adding Mg for flavor reasons, not the laxative result, as you don't add that much.

Sparge water I treat to 5.5 pH, but I mostly fly sparge.

 

Are you saying you don't add Mg at all anymore? I have done several batches with no Mg (except whatever the malt provides), and they seem none the worse for it, but am curious if you've done the same.

 

I have been adding Mg less and less. 0.0 ppm for some beers of late. The Mg for yeast health comes from the mash.

 

This is true if doing an acid rest which no one really does these days. Also the calcium in phytin is insoluble.

Both lactic acid and phosphoric acid drop pH by directly adding H+ ions which happens immediately after addition to the mash. As I mentioned above my local water is lowish in Ca ions (42ppm) so I don't want to lower it anymore with phosphoric acid if I can avoid it.

 

Phytase breaks down phytin in the protein rest, and acidifies the mash.

Palmer refers to Kohlbach's work on residual alkalinity and the mash, and says that "3.5 equivalents of Ca react with phytin to release 1 equivalent of hydrogen ions". "How to Brew" 3rd addition page 161.

Yes phosphoric acid is a weak acid and produces H+ immediately. Sierra Nevada has pretty good water too, and acidifies all of their water used in brewing to 5.5 with phosphoric acid.

Maybe Palmer will cover more in his new book on water.

 

I know phytase acidifies the mash. But >90% of homebrewers do not do an acid or protein rest so this enzyme really does not contribute to mash pH for most of us homebrewers. At the saccharification rest it is inactive for the most part. That's why most people use an acid like lactic or phosphoric acid.

 

You were talking of the protein rest when I was talking about the Ca reacting with the phytin to produce H+ ions at the sach. temps. That is how Ca lowers the pH.

 

Point taken. There are limits though to adding calcium and lowering the pH. On top of that one has to take into account the sulfate and chloride levels. I often use calcium sulfate since my water has a relatively high Cl to sulfate ratio. That being said for very pale beers (German pils for example), I use both lactic acid and calcium sulfate (gypsum).

 

Good read: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/beer/water2.htm