Need help with Seattle water

[dminnery]

I need some help with Seattle water, I'm not pleased with my lighter beers. I like my IPAs hoppy and I'm not getting a firm bright hop character.
I ran the report through John Palmer's spreadsheet which helps and listened to the Brew Strong water shows, my water seems to be very low in almost all the categories.
I know the sulfates in my water are low (actually not detected) and I can bring those up with epsom salt, but what else, if anything should I be adding.
I've been playing with the spreadsheet for a while, just not sure what I'm doing.
It seems like the proper ratio of salts and minerals is most important, I just don't know enough if I'm on the right track.

Seattle Water
21.8 Calcium
1 Magnesium
18.1 Alkalinitry as CaCO3
2 Sodium
3 Chloride
(Not Detected) Sulfate
7.86-8.49 pH range

For a target, I used an SRM of 10 and Residual Alkalinity of 20
according to the spreadsheet I need alkalinity

but what else?
thanks for the help!

ps, I brew all grain

[ajdelange]

Don't like the title of the post. Most of us would kill for Seattle water. The reason for this is because

my water seems to be very low in almost all the categories

which means you can build it up for whatever style you are brewing. Trying to answer determine what you should build up to can lead to long discussions. Poking around on this site you will find plenty of those. The general advice I give is try to get to water which generally resembles the water of the region from which the beer originated but don't use carbonates or bicarbonates unless you are willing to take the trouble required to get them to dissolve. This is not the only viewpoint.

So for an IPA, especially one with "firm, bright" hop character you want Burton-like water, at least with respect to it's sulfate content. But get that primarily from gypsum -not Epsom salts.

Were you you to add the following to 10 gal of your water:

CaCl2.2H20: 1.36 gm
CaSO4.2H20 41.64 gm
MgSO4.7H20 11.36 gm
NaHCO3 3.02 gm

you would wind up with a water quite similar to Burtons with

Ca++ 287 mg/L
Mg++ 31 mg/L
SO4-- 731 mg/L
Cl- 20 mg/L
Na+ 24 mg/L

This water would have an RA of -157 with an alkalinity of only 66 both of which are appreciably less than that of Burton but ought to take you to pH of about 5.4 in the mash tun. I put in the bicarb to increase alkalinity and RA a bit and because you have plenty of "room" for sodium. Assuming that your water is at pH 8 this will raise the pH to about 8.23 but this shouldn't be a problem as Burton water apparently has a relatively high pH. I did get some of the sulfate from Epsom salts becuause your profile also leaves lots of "room" for magnesium but you definitely do not want too much of this as it will make the beer bitter and give you the GI's.

[dminnery]

This is great and thanks so much for the explanation.
I was concerned about throwing so many additions and creating more problems for myself.
I will try this approach on my next brew day, thanks again!

[BDawg]

We are lucky as hell having our water. I live in North Bend, and my aquifer is across the valley at the base of Mt. Si. Yours is actually closer to my house, but the effect is the same, since the two water sources are probably within 3 miles of each other.

We are now in rainy season. The mineral content is probably lower now since any runoff goes straight through the aquifer without having contact time with the minerals.

You pretty much always need to add minerals to our water.

Do you belong to a club? Which one?

HTH-

[dminnery]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll probably get a water test in early summer as we shift to a local reservoir and it will be good to know about any changes.
I actually don't belong to a club, though I've been brewing about seven years.
I take that back, my club is The Brewing Network!!!