Hi all. I live in an area with hard water, and did a test batch with 100% tap water and got a very unpleasant alkaline-like bitterness from the resulting beer. I believe the source of the problem here is water that's too hard, so I've gone down the path of trying to figure out how to adjust/dilute to get to a good target water profile. My struggle is that many of the articles I've read, including Bru'n Water, expect measurements for Calcium, Magnesium, and Sodium. My water report, link, doesn't have Magnesium. I'm a little lost as this is my first foray into water profiles and adjustments, so I'd love some advice on first steps to getting water that will work well for light ales. (3-8 SRM) Should I dilute with 25% distilled? 50%? Besides trying to lock in correct mash pH, are there other additions I should be making to get levels in line for a good hoppy beer? Thanks in advance for any help.
That report is nearly useless for brewing. If you're going to use and adjust your tap water, you need to know Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4, and Total Alkalinity. The only one your report has is Na. (The "Total Hardness as Calcium" is not the Calcium number you need). Call your water supplier and ask if they'll give you those numbers. If they won't, you can get your water tested by a lab like Ward Lab. Any advice anyone might give you on adjusting your unknown water profile will be BS.
@VikeMan thank you very much. This helps me understand why I've struggled so much to figure out how to adjust. The water district is right down the street so I'll see what other info I can get or go with Ward Labs.
I will point out that hardness is Ca and Mg. Both are beneficial for all grain brewing, Ca is flavor neutral, Mg starts to have negative flavor impact over 30 ppm. High alkalinity is not good for brewing, especially light colored beers. You may need acid to reduce the alkalinity, RO water, or a blend of RO and tap. You have to know your water report to make decisions on what to adjust, or not to.
@VikeMan I got these numbers from the water manager. They don't test for sulfates. Any advice on how to proceed? Bru'nWater doesn't seem to be happy that I don't have a number for So4. Ca: 50.5 (all are mg/l) Mg: 24.94 Na: 29.4 total hardness/alkalinty is 228.7 mg/l as CaCO3 "Cl or chlorine": he says it's probably above 1ppm where I am.
If your water has a total alkalinity as CaCO3 of 228.7 that means it has a 275 ppm of Bicarbonates , that´s why your water is not good for pale beers. You can try mixing 30% of RO water and 70% tap for pales , 50%/50% for reds and 100% tap for very darks. It is very likely you will need to add salts to get a proper mash Ph. Take a look here : http://howtobrew.com/book/section-3/how-the-mash-works/an-allegory
"Cl" actually means the Chloride ion, not free chlorine, which it sounds like the water manager thought you wanted. But my guess is that if they didn't test for SO4, they probably didn't test for Cl either. The good news is that you don't need the SO4 and Cl numbers for calculating mash pH, but you do need them to build profiles targeting particular flavors. Personally, I'd either send a sample off for a more relevant test, or just decide to build from RO or distilled water. I'm confused that he said "total hardness/alkalinty is 228.7 mg/l as CaCO3." Hardness and alkalinity are not the same. Based on your Ca and Mg numbers, it looks like the number he gave you is the total Calcium and Magnesium Hardness expressed as CaCO3. You need the Total Alkalinity instead.
