Hello fellow brewers
I have been experimenting with water profiles in an attempt to find my most preferred profiles for each of the styles I brew.
I tend to keep Ca low (50-60 ppm) but vary Mg and Na. I put more emphasis on the SO4/Cl2 ratio as opposed to their levels.
My starting water profile, the style and finished profile are (I believe) of no consequence to the conundrum that I have been grappling with, which is how to to balance the cations and anions.
A simple way to adjust this balance is to adjust bicarbonate levels. However, according to Bru'n Water and other sources, bicarbonate in the finished water is not relevant and I'm not really sure what that means, but I do know that I have no way of determining bicarb levels in the overall finished profile, and mash Ph adjustments dramatically affect the balance.
So, my question is: Should the ion balance be calculated using the values of bicarb present in the adjusted water profile prior to the mash, negating acid additions and/or other mash Ph adjustments, or am I barking up the wrong tree and missing something here?
I have been experimenting with water profiles in an attempt to find my most preferred profiles for each of the styles I brew.
I tend to keep Ca low (50-60 ppm) but vary Mg and Na. I put more emphasis on the SO4/Cl2 ratio as opposed to their levels.
My starting water profile, the style and finished profile are (I believe) of no consequence to the conundrum that I have been grappling with, which is how to to balance the cations and anions.
A simple way to adjust this balance is to adjust bicarbonate levels. However, according to Bru'n Water and other sources, bicarbonate in the finished water is not relevant and I'm not really sure what that means, but I do know that I have no way of determining bicarb levels in the overall finished profile, and mash Ph adjustments dramatically affect the balance.
So, my question is: Should the ion balance be calculated using the values of bicarb present in the adjusted water profile prior to the mash, negating acid additions and/or other mash Ph adjustments, or am I barking up the wrong tree and missing something here?
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