Water chemistry question

[sweliver]

I'm playing around with John Palmer's normograph http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-3.html

Our water works doesn't check for alkalinity as CaCO3 or HCO3. They just use a combo of the Ca, Mg and SO4 for a "total hardness".

I was wondering if any of you with a better chemisty knowledge could interpolate the alkalinity from our water values?

Ca = 250
Mg = 26
SO4 = 100
Cl = 16
pH = 7.2


Thanks,

Steve

[Cosh]

Steve:

I can't help you, but rather than leave you hanging, I figured I would just tell you.

When you find something on the topic, please reply...I'd be interested to know.  :-/

[sweliver]

Thanks Mike,

It seems like there's no simple answer short of lab test. From the looks of it, our water is best for the darker end and to brew a pilsner style will require starting with distilled water and using some additives.

Steve

[sweliver]

Mike,

I/you asked for it, here's the best I came up with:

http://www.foamrangers.com/water.html

My local water is OK for AG brews in the mid color range on up which is where I want to concentrate. For the pilsner end I'll start with distilled water and add some electrolytes to make the wort happy. Extract brewers need not fret as much as the pH/enzyme/tanin issue was addressed during production.

sw

[Cosh]

Holy informative link Batman!

I have only just started to brew again, with 4-5 really tasty batches in the last four months.  Now, the fun of duplicating some of the partial mash recipes (that have come out great) is looming.

The more I learn about improving the process the more the "water" question keeps coming up.  Also, it won't be long before AG becomes the next hurdle.

Thanks for the info

Mike

[SAHomeBrew]

Hate to be the one too say it;
If you have made recipes in the past without worring about water chemistry... don't start to worry about it now.

If you are doing partial mash with mostly extract, it won't bother it much anyway... all the ph stuff is done when making the extract.

The truth about it is if your water doesn't have any "off" flavors or colors or "floaties" in it... it's most likely ok.

When you get into all grain, then yes you will need to start worrying about it, and you can most likely take a sample of your water to a nearby university and have it tested... or check the internet and I'm sure you can find a place to test it.

Like this one for $5.99 do-it-yourself kit http://www.watersafetestkits.com/html/drinkingkits.asp

But don't "worry" about your water if you are doing extract or partial mashes... it really won't affect it much unless you have really big problems with it. And if you have made several "tasty" beers so far, then you should be able to duplicate that with your water.

If you are REALLY worried about your water, then you can buy RO filtered water, and buy water kits from More Beer or some other place to "make" that water like the style you are brewing, e.g. Munich Dunkel, buy the Munich water kit.