Bru'n Water help

[dojodan]

I recently had my water analysed and have been playing about with the free Bru'n Water spreadsheet to figure out what additions I need. I brew almost exclusively pale ales / IPAs and as I live in London the water is not very good for these types of beer.

I have always tested using a Salifert kit and dosed with CRS, but all the beers I've made since I moved house about 18 months ago just seemed a bit... off. Definitely not infection and no changes to processes, so I figured it might be the water and wanted to get a bit more into water chemistry and additions.

Now, I've been able to get all the minerals and bicarbonate in the right place on the spreadsheet for the standard 'Pale Ale Profile', using Sulfuric Acid, gypsum and epsom salts. However when I look at the Mash Acidification Calculator, it's telling me that mash pH is estimated to be 5.6.

I believe the 'optimal' mash pH was 5.3 - 5.5, how can I get in this range? There's no facility to use two types of acid and the reason I'm using sulfuric is to get sulphate to the right level. I can't do this with salt additions as it'll push calcium and magnesium too high...

Cheers,

Dan

[AnthonyUK]

An options could be to add acidulated malt on the malt tab.

[WallyBrew]

There are a lot of views on mash pH and where it should be. Tim O'Rourke did a paper on there role of pH in brewing and it was for the Institutes and Guilds AME candidates.

In it he lists typical pH ranges

mash 5.6 +/- 0.2
wort 5.4 +/- 0.2
beer 4.0 +/- 0.2

These should not be taken as gospel but it is entirely up to you what pH you aim for. 5.4 to 5.6 is quite often quoted for English style mashes from brewers of these shores.

Your London water is fine for what you want. Just get the alkalinity to 30 or less. You can still add Gypsum as there should not be a problem with a calcium level of 150 despite what others on here may say. People have been doing it this way for years and not had problems so if it isn't broke then there is no need to fix it according to other peoples values.

[dojodan]

Cheers Anthony, with a small addition of acid malt I can get mash pH down to 5.3, so will bear this in mind.

Thanks WallyBrew, I've only recently started looking at water chemistry a bit more seriously, what I've seen would also suggest a range of + / - 0.2% but a lower starting point than 5.6% for the styles I like to brew (e.g. 5.3 - 5.5% although there's obviously some overlap in there!)

I have basically been aiming to get as close as possible to the values listed on the spreadsheet for that style, but if there's no issue with calcium I should be able to get the other minerals and alkalinity / mash pH where I want it with just the sulphuric acid and mineral additions (i.e. no acid malt).

Cheers,

Dan

[mabrungard]

The newest Bru'n Water version for supporters includes the capability to use up to 4 different acids in the brewing process. If you are brewing hoppy and bitter styles, then targeting a room temperature mash pH of around 5.4 tends to help accentuate those characters. I find that you only need to target pH's lower than 5.4 when brewing more malt focused styles.

[dojodan]

That's great, thanks Martin.