HRM Water Profiles

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LiverDance
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HRM Water Profiles

Post by LiverDance » Fri May 04, 2012 2:55 pm

Edit (by RubberToe).
Latest report for HRM - https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/fi ... rt2017.pdf

This thread is to discuss the HRM water profile and how it relates to certain beer styles. First off here are the profiles from HRWC site as of 2010-2011:

Pockwock Lake Water Supply (Halifax, Sackville, Bedford, Fall River, Waverley, and Timberlea)
Calcium: 4.20 ppm
Sulfate: 9.00 ppm
Magnesium: 0.46 ppm
Chloride: 9.00 ppm
Sodium: 13.10 ppm
Alkalinity (as CaCO3): 19
Bicarbonate: 23.20 ppm
PH: 7.40

Lake Major Water Supply (Dartmouth, Eastern Passage, Cole Harbour, and Westphal)
Calcium: 6.60 ppm
Sulfate: 16.00 ppm
Magnesium: 0.42 ppm
Chloride: 8.00 ppm
Sodium: 11.80 ppm
Alkalinity (as CaCO3): 14.5
Bicarbonate: 17.70 ppm
PH: 7.30

My first understanding of these water profiles is that they are very soft and tend to make better light colored beers as opposed to dark. I've made most of my beers (light and dark) without any additions to my water and everything turns out well so don't be deterred from brewing a dark beer because of that. I'm starting to manipulate my water to match up a little better to what i'll want in my final produce ie. malty vs. hoppy and also to give my yeasties what they will desire when it comes time to eat :mmm:

What does everyone else do?
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by mr x » Fri May 04, 2012 3:03 pm

I brew with similar water in NG, and depending on the beer style, I'll so different things. Always add calcium chloride though to get the Ca ppm up to 50 for yeast health purposes. I like to get the sulfates up for IPAs and other hoppy beers.
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by LiverDance » Fri May 04, 2012 3:21 pm

Do you manipulate just your mash water or do you treat for all your brewing water with kettle additions?
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by mr x » Fri May 04, 2012 3:23 pm

I usually do HLT water for most chemicals, but chalk goes in the MLT.
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by Jayme » Fri May 04, 2012 6:47 pm

I actually bought a used RO system recently. It needs the filters replaced, but once I finally get that done I plan to just start building my water from scratch. The most recent Halifax water report is from 2010 that I've been able to find. Plus I've read/heard another thing to consider is the plumbing between the water source and your tap. But I guess it's all close enough really - gives a good idea of how much to add what's needed for a given style.
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by mr x » Fri May 04, 2012 6:53 pm

hmmmm, this is the latest I've found, time for an update request.

http://www.halifax.ca/hrwc/documents/20 ... eMajor.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by KMcK » Sun May 06, 2012 3:46 pm

The headers on the two water supplies should be edited to indicate what communites they supply to reduce confusion:
Pockwock Lake (Halifax, Sackville, Bedford, Fall River, Waverley, and Timberlea)
Lake Major (Dartmouth, Eastern Passage, Cole Harbour, and Westphal)
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by Jimmy » Sun May 06, 2012 3:48 pm

KMcK wrote:The headers on the two water supplies should be edited to indicate what communites they supply to reduce confusion:
Pockwock Lake (Halifax, Sackville, Bedford, Fall River, Waverley, and Timberlea)
Lake Major (Dartmouth, Eastern Passage, Cole Harbour, and Westphal)
Done.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by Brewnoser » Mon May 14, 2012 11:55 am

One thing you should check on - if you are in a modern house without copper pipe, you may find there is a copper deficiency for yeast nutrient in some cases (I cannot recall where I saw that).

There is almost no copper in Halifax water. And if you have plastic piping, none gets in.

With too little copper, you can end up with H2S and mercaptan formation at higher levels than you want. Especially with lagers.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by GAM » Mon May 14, 2012 12:24 pm

mr x wrote:I usually do HLT water for most chemicals, but chalk goes in the MLT.
Had a conversation with Nash on this last week. For 23l how much do you use and at what steps for an English style.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by mr x » Mon May 14, 2012 1:29 pm

It really depends, there's a few english style beers out there that I would approach differently. I basically determine or find a water profile (internet, beersmith), then plug the numbers into beersmith to get my additions. I don't use any 'set' additions.
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by amartin » Mon May 14, 2012 4:35 pm

I used to try to match the water to the city of the beer style's origin, but I gave up on that awhile ago. Usually I'll add a little gypsum for most beers, more for hoppy beers (although not Burton levels), or precipitated chalk for dark beers (although not Dublin or London levels). I've tried adding as little as 8 ppm calcium for a wheat beer, but I found that the bitterness wouldn't linger at all, leaving no aftertaste. That's probably appropriate for the style, but I'm adding more calcium next time.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by TJ Brew » Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:21 pm

I want to start doing some additions to my water when I am brewing. I have been using Beersmith to figure out what quantities of gypsum/salt/Calcium chloride/etc. But the one item that I am not certain about is, that I am using HRM water which has some chlorine in it. Boiling will remove the chlorine gas, but not the chloramines. What does everyone to address this? I do not have a carbon filtration system. Camden tablets is the only thing I have read that can remove chloramines, other than a water filtration system.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by Jimmy » Sat Dec 01, 2012 2:01 am

A good video on water adjustments


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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by Jimmy » Sat Dec 01, 2012 2:43 pm

So, with my very limited reading on water chemistry I feel like I've got a somewhat basic understanding. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The two main factors seem to be matching your residual alkalinity with the style of beer you are making and hitting the proper sulphate to chloride ratio.

-Lighter beers should have a lower residual alkalinity (~-50 to 0) and darker beers higher (~0-250).
-Hoppier brews should have a higher sulphate to chloride ratio (2:1), maltier or sweeter brews should have a low sulphate to chloride ratio (1:2), while pale ales would fall in the middle (1:1).

The other minerals of importance seem to be a general range that will work for all styles.

-Calcium in a range of 50-150ppm is good for any style
-Magnesium in a range of 10-30ppm is good for any style (for yeast metabolism)
-Sodium should be inverse to Sulphates: higher sulphates = lower sodium and vice versa.

Does this all seem to make sense, or am I going in a totally wrong direction? :lol:

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by Jimmy » Sat Dec 01, 2012 11:45 pm

Well...where are the water people? :-x :NASH: ?

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by mr x » Sun Dec 02, 2012 1:10 am

Ive never followed the alkalinity shit
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by BrooklandBrewer » Sun Dec 02, 2012 2:34 am

I have a reverse osmosis system for my salt water tank that I am going to use for brewing as well. Just to have a "clean slate (although the R/O doesn't remove everything) to build a proper water profile using these parameters. Great Video Jimmy! That's about what I took from that video as well. I've always tried to build upon the cities water profile but having the R/O water will make it somewhat easier. :thumbup:
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by rhumbatron » Mon Dec 24, 2012 11:57 am

Where is the best place to send my well water for chemical profile testing? (not coliform, thats a crappy test !)
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by berley » Mon Dec 24, 2012 12:04 pm

TJ Brew wrote:I want to start doing some additions to my water when I am brewing. I have been using Beersmith to figure out what quantities of gypsum/salt/Calcium chloride/etc. But the one item that I am not certain about is, that I am using HRM water which has some chlorine in it. Boiling will remove the chlorine gas, but not the chloramines. What does everyone to address this? I do not have a carbon filtration system. Camden tablets is the only thing I have read that can remove chloramines, other than a water filtration system.

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A month late, but just noticed this now...

Do you know for sure that Halifax water is treated with chloramine? If it's just chlorine, you can either boil it off, let it sit for a few days open, to let the chlorine evaporate out, or you can use your carbon filtration system.

If its chloramine, yes, you'd have to use campden tablets. They'll work for chlorine as well, but they aren't necessary if you have a water filter, from what I understand.
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by mr x » Mon Dec 24, 2012 12:18 pm

rhumbatron wrote:Where is the best place to send my well water for chemical profile testing? (not coliform, thats a crappy test !)
cheers ken
http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... ing#p37914" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by Jimmy » Wed Mar 27, 2013 6:54 pm

For those that use chalk, do you add it directly to your strike water? Are there any issues with it dissolving on its own?

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by RubberToe » Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:14 pm

Some water additions disolve better at lower, some at higher. I usually add all of my water additions as I'm heating my full volume strike water, stirr it a couple of times along the way and it's good.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by mr x » Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:22 pm

Iirc, chalk won't dissolve, so I add it to the mash.

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Re: HRM Water Profiles

Post by Jimmy » Wed Mar 27, 2013 9:38 pm

I need a course on water chemistry... Every time I feel like it's starting to make sense, something turns everything upside down. :crazy:

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