WSSC water

[jay_miller]

I'm a homebrewer living in upper Montgomery County, Maryland and my tap water provider is WSSC (Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. I'm looking for any advice from experience in brewing with WSSC water that anyone might share. I've had a couple of ale batches turn out incredibly bitter, where I've added gypsum to reach the recommended RA (residual alkalinity) in the mash.

 

[BeerSmith]

I don't know your local water profile as I work from a well in N. Va. I would recommend either borrow a water test kit or order a water test by sending a sample into one of the labs like Ward Labs. I think the Wards lab mail in test is cheaper than most brewing water test kits. Make sure you get the Brewers Test:
https://www.wardlab.com/product/water-test-kit/

 

[BOB357]

Trying to create a water profile without knowing the mineral content of the water you're starting with is like pissing up the proverbial rope.

? + X =?

 

[jay_miller]

I don't know your local water profile as I work from a well in N. Va. I would recommend either borrow a water test kit or order a water test by sending a sample into one of the labs like Ward Labs. I think the Wards lab mail in test is cheaper than most brewing water test kits. Make sure you get the Brewers Test:
https://www.wardlab.com/product/water-test-kit/

Thanks, and I did do this back in January. The report tells me that (at least at that time) the water has high levels of sodium and chloride. For reference, here's the profile from that report:

I know from reading Palmer that the ratio of sulfates to chlorides affects the way that hop bitterness is perceived in the finished beer; I've been adding gypsum to boost the sulfates in order to get a reasonable ratio in my brewing water, but the result was nearly undrinkably bitter when I brewed a scotch ale (Morebeer all-grain kit).

Perhaps the magnitudes matter as well as the ratio? Looking for any advice here as I'm not keen to repeat the experience.

 

[jay_miller]

For clarity "nearly undrinkable" = "I'm too cheap to toss it out".

 

[BeerSmith]

Another option off the top of my head rather than piling on sulfates is to dilute your water with RO or distilled water. You can do this in BeerSmith by simply adding both water profiles as ingredients - for example 5 gal of tap water and 2 gal of distilled. Then build up or match the target water profile you are shooting for.

 

[jay_miller]

Another option off the top of my head rather than piling on sulfates is to dilute your water with RO or distilled water. You can do this in BeerSmith by simply adding both water profiles as ingredients - for example 5 gal of tap water and 2 gal of distilled. Then build up or match the target water profile you are shooting for.

Thanks, this is very helpful. The BeerSmith water profile tool is really helpful, I have to say. I guess I need to put it to the test with a dilution strategy.