Using sulphuric acid in mash water

I would not use sulfuric acid. Lactic or phosphoric are better (safer) options.

Actually, if my water profile looked like yours, I'd build from distilled/RO. (And I do.)

 

I'm not a water expert at all, but I have used 10ml of lactic in the mash before (5 gallon batch) and not noticed it in the final beer.

 

That's really my only reason. Seriously, the stuff can burn holes in you. It can blind you.

 

In addition to the potential serious safety risks, H2SO4 might even taste bad.

I wouldn't want to find out. Stick with food grade lactic or phosphoric acid.

 

If OP went this way (which I don't recommend - my vote is for phosphoric) he would hopefully purchase diluted acid. Much safer and less likely to overshoot the desired pH reduction. Concentrated sulfuric acid is the only thing I use at work that makes me pull out the full face shield.

OP's water is already chock-full of dissolved material. I'd dilute it with distilled/RO/rainwater rather than adding yet more ions, even if it does look ok on paper.

 

Excess sulfate ion can also have laxative properties.

 

That the highest bicarbonate level I have seen!

Professional Brewers do use sulfuric acid to reduce alkalinity and add SO4, but they have better chemicals to play with in general, and better Personal Saftey Equipment. They also have eyewash stations in most and safety showers in the bigger ones.

 

I would not use sulfuric acid outside of a lab environment. I used it routinely for about 10 years while working in soil chemistry labs. It's nasty stuff and deserves a lot of respect in the form of safety precautions.

I think building from RO is really your best option. Even if you can balance the alkalinity with your sulfuric, you end up with water that necessarily has a lot of ions in it, which means there are styles that the water is not well suited to producing (e.g., Czech pils).

 

I don't know if it's unheard of. But it's not common.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but you seem determined to make bad water work, when the better choice would be to make good water. If I understand correctly, your concern is having to plan your RO water purchases. But assuming you have the room, you could stock up on RO water. It doesn't really have a shelf life if stored in safe containers.

 

May be different in Canada, but in the US you can also find distilled water in most all grocery stores and walmarts for under a buck/gallon. It's more money than RO, but it's very convenient, and you don't have to worry about how well maintained the RO filter is.

 

for obvious reasons, if you do go ahead with the plan of using sulfuric acid, make sure you have plenty of vinegar on hand just in case.
I've never seen RO water at local grocery stores like many places have available to them and distilled water in 1 gallon increments gets way to pricey for me...I'm looking at like $30 just for the water for a batch of beer until I invest in an RO system (been looking). So that means using what i've got...and my carbonate level is only like 250-300ppms. Yours are up there with the hardest I've seen. Stouts and hearty porters maybe good to brew with this profile, but pale beers, not so much. 400ppm sulfate would be pretty high, you'd be getting to borderline rotten egg odors i believe once the boil concentrates the levels further. Maybe a 50/50 phosphoric/sulfuric may work for IPAs and other hoppy brews though to knock down the pH.

 

Vinegar? The reason is not obvious to me.

 

You meant baking soda?

 

Ugh...thanks, yes baking soda. Been using lye too much lately I guess...