Does anyone brew with Poland Spring Water

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by HelloMyNameIsHuman, Jun 16, 2021.

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  1. HelloMyNameIsHuman

    HelloMyNameIsHuman Aspirant (257) Mar 6, 2017 New Hampshire

    I use exclusively Poland spring gallon water to brew , I have never added anything like gypsum. I brew IPA/NEIPA. Anyone have any experience or advice on what to add to the water profile. My beers come out just fine but if there is something I can add to help make it even better ....
     
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    What's the starting water profile?
     
  3. HelloMyNameIsHuman

    HelloMyNameIsHuman Aspirant (257) Mar 6, 2017 New Hampshire

    I’m not sure , that’s why I was wondering if anyone had experience with that specific brand of spring water
     
  4. Beer_Life

    Beer_Life Initiate (0) Dec 5, 2020 New York

    riptorn likes this.
  5. Beer_Life

    Beer_Life Initiate (0) Dec 5, 2020 New York

    To answer the original question... you should be able to plug the parameters from the PDF I linked to into a brewing water calculator (e.g. the BrewCipher spreadsheet that VikeMan made - just search this forum - or Bru'n Water, EZWater, whatever) and adjust according to standard procedures.

    Because Poland Springs comes from different sources, you'll notice that for some of the key variables it has a pretty wide range. I would use the midpoint of each range. It should be good enough - no one is going to tell the difference that 10 ppm of sulfate (or whatever) makes.

    My reference to "standard procedures" above is maybe a bit deceptive since water chemistry is a complicated subject. But with water as soft as Poland Springs, it shouldn't be too bad, particularly for hoppy, light-colored beers. You're basically just going to add calcium chloride and maybe calcium sulfate in order to get the mash pH into the recommended range and in order to get enough calcium for the yeast. Plus I think NEIPA calls for a lot of chloride in general? Sorry, it's complicated, there must be good resources out there but the only ones I can think of are books (How to Brew by John Palmer being the one I would recommend). I guess there's an old version of that book online, which would be a decent place to start.
     
  6. HelloMyNameIsHuman

    HelloMyNameIsHuman Aspirant (257) Mar 6, 2017 New Hampshire

    Thanks for the info
     
  7. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    So now you have your starting water profile, and you need a calculator to make sense of it in the context of a particular batch of beer. If you're not already using brewing software, I'll plug BrewCipher, a spreasheet you can download at:

    http://sonsofalchemy.org/library/

    From the same library, you can download (or view) the presentation "Intro to Brewing Water Treatment" which is a primer on what ions (components of brewing salts) are important and why, and also contains an easy to follow approach to building your water for a given batch of beer.

    If you already are using other brewing software and/or you just want a standalone water calculator, try MpH:

    http://homebrewingphysics.blogspot.com/2020/

    It's authored by @utahbeerdude and has the same model (i.e. his model) behind the scenes as BrewCipher.
     
  8. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    OP, are you brewing with extract or grain? The answer I would give depends on your wort production.
     
  9. HelloMyNameIsHuman

    HelloMyNameIsHuman Aspirant (257) Mar 6, 2017 New Hampshire

    I’m doing all grain BIAB
     
  10. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Well, you need more CA or acid.

    You say your beers are good, but who else beyond family and friends?
     
    VikeMan likes this.
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