Where to get water treatment salts?

[trq]

Hey guys, it's been a little while since I've posted anything, slowly making improvements to my processes etc.

I thought, for my next brew I'd have a bit of a play around with some water treatment. I got a water report from www.gosford.nsw.gov.au/docs/default-source/environment-and-waste-documents/2015-16-annual-drinking-water-quality-report.pdf?sfvrsn=2 and have since dialed it into BrewSmtih3 and have then chosen a water target of "Hoppy Pale Ale" to go with an American Pale Ale recipe that I have developed.

Anyway, long story short, I need to get my hands on some of these ingredients and don't seem to be able to locate anything on the coast. Where do you guys (do you guys) get this stuff?

BrewSmith is saying I need the following fro this recipe

* Calcium Carbonate (Chalk)
* Magnesium Sulfate (Epson Salt)
* Sodium Bicarbonate - I can actually get the from woolies. (Baking Soda)
* Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum) - I already have this actually

Ideally I'd like to get some of the following too, as I have seen other recipes around that suggest it, and would just like to have it on hand.

* Calcium Chloride

Although my question is really about where to get this stuff on the coast, I'll post the recipe here too just in case any of you locals have any suggestions or are just interested in what the water adjustments that BrewSmith produced look like:

Recipe: #18 APA TYPE: All Grain
Style: American Pale Ale
---RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS-----------------------------------------------
COLOR: 13.0 EBC COLOR RANGE: 9.8-19.7 EBC
IBU: 40.7 IBUs Tinseth IBU RANGE: 30.0-50.0 IBUs
OG: 1.051 SG OG RANGE: 1.045-1.060 SG
FG: 1.008 SG FG RANGE: 1.010-1.015 SG
BU:GU: 0.805 Calories: 427.1 kcal/l Est ABV: 5.6 %
EE%: 66.00 % Batch: 24.00 L Boil: 32.71 L BT: 60 Mins

---WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS----------------

Amt Name Type # %/IBU Volume
43.67 L Pacific Ave Water 1 - -
6.62 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) Water Agent 2 - -
6.25 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash) Water Agent 3 - -
3.53 g Chalk (Mash) Water Agent 4 - -
0.23 g Baking Soda (Mash) Water Agent 5 - -

Total Grain Weight: 5.95 kg Total Hops: 190.00 g
---MASH/STEEP PROCESS------MASH PH:5.40 ------
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD WATER CHEMICALS BEFORE GRAINS!!<<<<<<<
Amt Name Type # %/IBU Volume
5.00 kg Gladfield American Ale Malt (5.0 EBC) Grain 6 84.0 % 3.26 L
0.50 kg Gladfield Red Back Malt (65.0 EBC) Grain 7 8.4 % 0.33 L
0.25 kg Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC) Grain 8 4.2 % 0.16 L
0.20 kg Pilsner (2 Row) UK (2.0 EBC) Grain 9 3.4 % 0.13 L


Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 23.52 L of water at 70.2 C 64.4 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min 75.6 C 10 min

---SPARGE PROCESS---
>>>>>>>>>>-RECYCLE FIRST RUNNINGS & VERIFY GRAIN/MLT TEMPS: 22.2 C/22.2 C
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD BOIL CHEMICALS BEFORE FWH
Fly sparge with 20.15 L water at 75.6 C

---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.045 SG Est OG: 1.051 SG
Amt Name Type # %/IBU Volume
5.67 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil) Water Agent 10 - -
5.36 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Boil) Water Agent 11 - -
3.03 g Chalk (Boil) Water Agent 12 - -
0.20 g Baking Soda (Boil) Water Agent 13 - -
40.00 g Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 14 25.4 IBUs -
60.00 g Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 15 15.3 IBUs -
20.00 g Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 16 0.0 IBUs -
20.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 17 0.0 IBUs -


---FERM PROCESS-----------------------------
Primary Start: 16 Jul 2018 - 14.00 Days at 19.4 C
Secondary Start: 30 Jul 2018 - 10.00 Days at 18.3 C
Style Carb Range: 2.30-3.00 Vols
Bottling Date: 30 Jul 2018 with 2.3 Volumes CO2:
---NOTES------------------------------------



 

[philrob]

You can obtain all the brewing salts and acid additions you need from the site sponsor Brewman.
Site link:
http://www.brewman.com.au/web/index.asp

 

[n87]

Country brewer Toukley may have something.
I doubt Gosford or Kincumber would have anything, but if you are in the area, it couldnt hurt to try.

I got mine from one of the sponsors as part of one of my other orders, tho I only use calcium carbonate and chloride at this stage

 

[Bonenose]

Epsom salts you can get from most chemists

 

[gone brewing]

Short answer is that I get mine from Brewman. I have a few more comments though.

So I'm assuming that you are just getting into adding salts?? If so I suggest you take some baby steps here. There are 2 things I suggest you focus on:
1. getting calcium to sufficient levels (50-150ppm is recommended)
2. getting chloride:sulfate ratio right. For malty beers you have higher chloride and for hoppy beers you have higher sulfate.

For this APA, which is fairly pale at 13EBC, the common approach is to stay away from carbonates/bicarbonates. They are for dark beers which can handle the carbonates because the darker grains do more to acidify the mash. If you're new to this I suggest simply getting calcium in the desired range and that you do this with either calcium sulfate alone (being a hoppy beer) or equal amounts of calcium sulfate & calcium chloride. See how this tastes for you and decide how to move on from there.

Personally I use only calcium chloride for my malty or balanced beers and equal amount of calcium chloride and calcium sulfate for my hoppy beers. That's not the normal approach but I have found that's the way I like my beers to be. I don't bother with any magnesium salts at all.

 

[gone brewing]

Here's a thread you might find interesting, not so much for the water calculation spreadsheet discussion, but more so for ideas about how to approach water treatment.

https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/is-there-an-error-in-brewing-water-calculators.66452/

 

[fungrel]

I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned buying a pH meter. No point making these changes unless you can track them.

+1 Brewman is your local.

 

[trq]

> Country brewer Toukley may have something.
> I doubt Gosford or Kincumber would have anything, but if you are in the area, it couldnt hurt to try.

Thanks n87, I'll give them a call tomorrow. Might be worth a trip.

> I have a few more comments though.

Thanks gone brewing, Yeah, I'm just getting into this. Kinda just taking what BrewSmith says with a grain of salt for now, though I have been doing a bunch of reading etc. I kinda just want to jump in and see the effect, and then refine it from there as I start to understand mow about what does what. Thanks heaps for the input though. I'll checkout that thread.

> I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned buying a pH meter. No point making these changes unless you can track them.

Thanks Fungrel, yeah... that's in the works. Makes sense that i'd need to measure these things as I go, but again, I am kinda just trusting BrewSmith for the moment.

 

[trq]

ps That brewman site is terrible. As someone who is a web developer for a living, I'm just not sure I can use it. It doesn't even use https, so I'd be *VERY* wary of entering any CC details into it.

 

[MHB]

So don't, you can pay by DD or PayPal, personally I wouldn't put a credit card on many websites, if I have to I uses a disposable prepaid card.
Issues with using a CC aside, BrewBuilder is probably about the best ordering tool for all grain brewing, even if it is getting a bit long in the tooth.
Mark

 

[trq]

> BrewBuilder is probably about the best ordering tool for all grain brewing, even if it is getting a bit long in the tooth.

Seriously? It is far from it. It's an asp site for starters, that technology hasn't been valid for 10-15 years, and technology moves fast.

I actually did go through the process using PayPal, because it is generally a pretty secure option. However the redirect to PayPal failed for me twice on a mobile device, so I tried desktop which worked getting to PayPal, but failed returning back to the site.

That's all fine, I struggled and got through. Seriously though, saying "about the best ordering tool for all grain brewing" is just complete BS. They may have a good selection of stock, and maybe even good prices, but the site is a dogs breakfast. I mean, my PayPal order took 1+ hours to get back to me with a price on postage. It's not 1998 anymore.

 

[MHB]

On BrewBuilder, I know its old, Just went and had a look at my backup files and the original design was back in 2008.
Still about the only "app" that lets you order a whole brew (malt hops yeast...) as a recipe, all in one place. Keeps a copy for you, automaticity adjusts for seasonal (new stock) values. Gives you a couple of hundred recipes, that are open so you can play with them to suit your taste, that will auto scale to match your batch size and efficiency and lets you choose your crush.

On the PayPal taking time to get back to you, I know the freight component is hand calculated, Brewman services a bunch of people way out of town, I know Steve is often tossing up between 2-3 freight options to give customers the best deal.
Ok sure it could be a bit faster, but each order is hand checked, any problems and you will be getting an email or a phone call. I guess there is a tradeoff between really good service and a slick site, I'm sure if money was no object it would be both.
Mark