Water adjustments for a pale ale (practical example) Brewing

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Water adjustments for a pale ale (practical example) Brewing

Water  All Grain  Beer  Pale ale 

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In the previous post, I ran over some water chemistry concepts in relation to brewing and techniques you can apply to ensure your water is tailored depending on the beer you are brewing. In this post, I will run over a practical example of applying the concepts to a pale ale scenario using my own water.

For this pale ale, I am targeting a carbonate hardness of 40 ppm and I want to get my Calcium to 150 ppm.

Water for a pale ale

The steps I generally take for getting my water on target are as follows:

1. Calculate the total water needed (I use Grainfathers recipe builder, which calculates required water amounts needed).
2. Test my tap water for carbonate hardness using a carbonate hardness test kit
3. Measure out x amount of tap water and treat with campden tablet
4. Blend my tap water with de-ionized water to reduce carbonate hardness and general mineral content (if desired)
5. Test for carbonate hardness again
6. Adjust with CRS to achieve target
7. Optionally test carbonate hardness again for validation
8. Test calcium levels
9. Measure out brewing salt additions to achieve target calcium levels

1. Calculate total water

Not much explaining needed here. If you are using brewing software, it should calculate this for you. For my 26 litre pale ale batch, I need a total of 35.5 litres.

2. Test for carbonate hardness

I use my Professional Carbonate Hardness / Alkalinity Test for this. The test lists the steps. You basically measure exactly 4 ml of water to test. Add 4 drops of KH-Ind and swirl. The water should go a green/blue colour. Then using the small syringe, extract 1ml from the KH bottle. Now, add this 1 drop at a time into the vial of blue/green water. After each drop give the vial a little swirl. Stop adding the KH as soon as the water changes to a pinky colour, its conveniently quite dramatic when it changes rather than gradual. Read whats left in the syringe and the test includes a table to tell you what this is in meq/L. You can then use an online calculator to convert this to ppm.

For me, it tells me my water is 108 ppm. This is quite surprising to me, because typically its closer to 200 ppm. So, this highlights how much water can fluctuate seasonally.

3. Measure tap water and add campden tablet

I am going to blend my water with 10 litres of de-ionized water (I could have probably just used CRS, but I have some de-ionized water handy), so that means I need 25.5 litres of tap water. I add half a crushed campden tablet to my 25.5 litres of water and let it sit for 20 minutes.

4. Blend tap water with de-ionized water

I simply mix the 10 litres of de-ionized water with my 25.5 litres of tap water to achieve my target of 35.5 litres.

5. Test for carbonate hardness again

To be sure, I always test again to see where I have landed. So I repeat the carbonate hardness test. This shows me that my water is now at 70 ppm. Getting close to target.

6. Adjust with CRS

So, my water is now at 70ppm. My target is 40ppm. Therefore, I need to remove 30 ppm. The equation to calculate the amount of CRS is as follows:

30(ppm)/183 = 0.163

0.163 x 35.5 = 5.7 ml of CRS

Measure out 5.7 ml and add to water.

7. Test carbonate hardness again (for validation)

Optionally, you can test again for validation if desired. My re-test shows that my water is now bang on 40ppm… success.

8. Test calcium levels

For this test, I use my Salifert Calcium Profi-Test Kit. The test is similar to the carbonate hardness test, however you need to count the drops of the final solution you add rather than read the remaining levels in the syringe. My test shows me I have 60ppm of Calcium left in my water.

9. Measure out Calcium adjustments

For this pale ale, I am going to just use DLS. 1 gram of DLS will add about 172 ppm per litre of water. My target is 150 ppm, so that means I need add 90 ppm.

The equation to calculate the amount of DLS is as follows:

90(ppm)/172 = 0.52

0.52 x 35.5 = 18.46 grams of DLS

As mentioned in the previous article, we need to add DLS in 2 stages. So I will add half to the grist (about 9 grams) and the remaining to the wort at the start of the boil.

You could of coarse use either Gypsum or Calcium Chloride if you desired using a similar equation, it really depends on your desired outcome.

That is it…