I just got my water analysis back and everything falls in the normal range according to Palmer except for SO4 which is low. That puts the chloride to sulfate ratio in the very malty category. If I used the spreadsheet correctly my water should be good for 11-16 SRM beers. My next beer is a 14 SRM 42 IBU beer and so I'm wondering if it's worth adjusting the sulfate levels or leave it alone? I could bump up the sulfate a little to at least get the ratio to 'balanced' but it will still be on the low side unless I also adjust the chloride. What do you think?

my numbers:

pH 8.0
sodium 22
potassium 3
calcium 51
magnesium 13
total hardness CaCO3 182
sulfate 16
chloride 35
carbonate CO3 3
bicarbonate HCO3 132
total alkalinity 115

When you add sulfate (SO4) you add calcium (because gypsum is CaSO4), which means you increase your hardness and lower your water's SRM range. But with only having Ca of 51ppm you are on the low side, so it wouldn't hurt to add more Ca (Ca aids in yeast health and flocculation). So I would play around with it some more, perhaps raising your SO4 to 50-70 range.

I could also add MgSO4 (epsom salts) to just get the sulfate levels up. What sort of chloride/ sulfate ratio would you shoot for?

+1 to adding some gypsum. A little more calcium won't hurt anything and I would at least try to balance out the chloride and sulfate.

Mg is also a hardening mineral, same effect as Ca in that regards.

ok, I'll do some ciphering today. Will adding the gypsum lower the SRM so that it's too low now or is that not as important as getting the minerals in the right range? Of all the different brewing steps, water additions is the most perplexing to me.

thanks guys

I don't think adding SO4 will lower you SRM range to too low. I used your numbers in Palmer's SS. If you use 5 gallons of water in your mash, then you can add a .5tsp each of gypsum and calcium choloride and you will get a balanced SO4:Cl (75:78) ratio and enough calcium.

I usually don't use the target profile step (it's too difficult to make your additions match some ideal profile), I just make sure that my additions make an acceptable profile (first figure out your Residual Alkalinity, carbonate to hardness ratio, then I mess with the SO4, Cl, and Na amounts to make sure they are in a good ratio). And if the SO4, Cl and Na additions mess up my RA (usually makes it too hard) then I will add NaCO3 (baking soda) to give me the right RA again.

I would get so frustrated when I used Palmer's SS to make a particular profile, then I realized the principles behind them and having making great beer ever since. The principles are: you need a proper RA (carbonate, CO3, minus hardness, Ca & Mg; then figure out your Cl to SO4 ratio and Na amount, dont go higher than 70ppm.

Then there are some upper limits:
- You don't need a RA higher than ~250
- Ca shouldn't go higher than 150ppm
- SO4:Cl ratio shouldn't exceed 1:2 and vice versa
- Na shouldn't exceed ~90ppm

These are the practical rules that I have used in working with water. I'm sure there are exceptions, but so far it's worked very well for me when making anything from super light wheat beer to 50 SRM porters.

The other thing you can do, if it's a hoppy beer and you want to accentuate the hops, is add gypsum to the kettle instead of the mash.

That's true I forgot to mention that. Your "flavor" minerals (SO4, Cl, & Na) can get added to the kettle and should have minimal effect on your pH because it's already buffered.

thanks markymarkchitown! That was the most sensible explanation of water additions I've seen. Really lays out a protocol on how to get the water to where you want it.

one question, you said don't go higher than 70ppm. That's for sulfates yes?

I was just making a suggestion for your gypsum addition, not saying there is a bar. You do want to go easy as possible on mineral additions. I don't know what the upper limit is but I am never more than 150 ppm for my SO4 or Cl additions.

great, thanks. I think for this first time I'll just add the salts to the mash and not do any kettle additions.

My starter is spinning away- time to test the theory and make beer.