Water Chemistry - please help!

[keelbolt]

Please can someone with some understanding of water chemistry help me to put the right treatment in my all grain liquor. My water has the following properties, according to Bristol Water:

Hardness Your drinking water supply is classed as hard.
Calcium mg/l Ca 70
Magnesium mg/ Mg 8.6
Total Hardness mg/l CaCO3 210
UK Degrees Clark (°C) 15
Degrees French (°f) 21
Degrees German (°dH) 12

Alkalinity mg/l CaCO3 142
Alkalinity mg/l HCO3 173
Chloride mg/l 16.4 250 mg/l Cl
Nitrate mg/l NO3 10.2 50 mg/l NO3
Phosphate mg/l P 1.1
Sodium mg/l 17 200 mg/l Na
Sulphate mg/l 14 250 mg/l SO4
Conductivity µS/cm 315 2500 µS/cm @20°C
pH 7.63

I know enough to use half a campden tablet in 5 gallons of water to get rid of the chlorine, but how much AMS do I put in, and how much Gypsum, for each 5 gallon batch??

Help much appreciated

KB

[Cazamodo]

For AMS it depends what your aiming for.
It should come with a dosing rates, how much to add per Litre to lower alkalinity.

Now I always measured my water alkalinity with a salifert kit. There's loads of info on them in the brewing liquor forum. Then if I was making a pale ale, I would usually use AMS as I wanted less alkalinity.

As for anything else, thats as far as I got.

And saying all that, I now dont bother at all, and make good beer.

Even at work, I only treat my water with sulphite (whats in a campden tab) to remove chlorine, and then only treat it with acid when brewing a lager, and I find all the beers are good, so I'm not messing with the water profile. Not just yet anyway,

[banjokat]

This can get complicated! Easy way to start is to buy a Salifert kit off ebay and check your CaCO3 for every brew. As for gypsum I tend to put between 5 and 10g in the mash for 25 litres and a bit more in the boil. Post this in the brewing liquor forum for more answers.

Edit: Caz got there before me!

[keelbolt]

Thanks and apologies: didn't spot the Water Chemistry sub section - Mod please move if necessary

[Horden Hillbilly]

Thanks and apologies: didn't spot the Water Chemistry sub section - Mod please move if necessary

Done, we're here to help.

[Eric]

Please can someone with some understanding of water chemistry help me to put the right treatment in my all grain liquor. My water has the following properties, according to Bristol Water:

Hardness Your drinking water supply is classed as hard.
Calcium mg/l Ca 70
Magnesium mg/ Mg 8.6
Total Hardness mg/l CaCO3 210
UK Degrees Clark (°C) 15
Degrees French (°f) 21
Degrees German (°dH) 12

Alkalinity mg/l CaCO3 142
Alkalinity mg/l HCO3 173
Chloride mg/l 16.4 250 mg/l Cl
Nitrate mg/l NO3 10.2 50 mg/l NO3
Phosphate mg/l P 1.1
Sodium mg/l 17 200 mg/l Na
Sulphate mg/l 14 250 mg/l SO4
Conductivity µS/cm 315 2500 µS/cm @20°C
pH 7.63

I know enough to use half a campden tablet in 5 gallons of water to get rid of the chlorine, but how much AMS do I put in, and how much Gypsum, for each 5 gallon batch??

Help much appreciated

KB

I'm doubtful you should rely upon those figures. They appear as to be two separate groups.
The first block has quantities of calcium and magnesium. Total hardness is a derivative from the amounts of those. Other figures are various ways of expressing the same.

Total hardness less the alkalinity will give the amount of permanent hardness, which according to those figures would be 68mg/l CaCO3, but looking into the second group there are not sufficient of the appropriate minerals present to provide that level.

Until you get a more certain analysis, I'd suggest you get a Salifert kit to measure alkalinity, use CRS to reduce that to about 30mg/l CaCO3 and brew an all pale ale with a teaspoon of gypsum to the mash and another to the boil. That should give some idea about the influence of water treatment.

[mabrungard]

That water report does not balance its cations and anions very well. It appears that one or more of the ion concentrations is a little off.

I notice that some of the ions show the results and the Maximum Allowable level for that ion. For instance, sulfate shows a result of 14 mg/l and the maximum allowable level is shown as 250 mg/l. That maximum is generally in line with WHO guidelines, so they are reasonable.

As Eric guides, do a little more investigation into the water quality. If possible, talk with the technicians in the water company's lab to see if they can update you on the current water quality in your district. If that fails, then getting testing done by Murphy's is a good idea.