After taking a look at our brewery's water report I came up with the following based on the ppm measures reported by Ward Laboratories. Our Hardness:Alkalinity is 1.23:3.59(mv) and RA is looking like 3.35mv. The options for treatment seem to be adjusting the hardness:alkalinity ratio to be greater than 1:1 and boiling to reduce alkalinity or treating with lactic or phosphoric acid. I have a couple of questions...I have read in Michael Lewis's text Brewing, that using the first method with a hardness:alkalinity ratio < 1:1 adding gypsum and boiling could result in the formation of Na2SO4 which could produce an undesirable sour off flavor. Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, what should I look for as an indicator that this treatment will produce this off flavor? If treating with lactic acid is my best option, what is a good resource to help me find how much I would need to treat a given volume of water? The rest of the water report looks like this:
Na-90ppm, 3.9 mv; K-14ppm, .36mv; Ca-13ppm, .65mv; Mg-7ppm, .58mv; Total Hardness as CaCO3-62ppm; HCO3-217ppm, 3.56mv; Total Alkalinity as CaCO3-178ppm, 3.56mv
Thanks in advance for any input!
Na-90ppm, 3.9 mv; K-14ppm, .36mv; Ca-13ppm, .65mv; Mg-7ppm, .58mv; Total Hardness as CaCO3-62ppm; HCO3-217ppm, 3.56mv; Total Alkalinity as CaCO3-178ppm, 3.56mv
Thanks in advance for any input!
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