Belgian Ale Water Profile

[BlackDuck]

Next weekend I'm going to try to brew the Nashville Belgian Ale aka Four Kilts Clueless Belgian Specialty Ale that we came up with.

As for my water profile, would you guys/gals suggest that I use the Antwerp profile that is listed in the post Dawg LB Steve made or would there be a better option?
Ca+2 = 90
Mg+2 = 11
Na+ = 37
Cl- = 0
SO4-2 = 84
HC03 = 76

My malt bill will be:
9.25 pounds pilsner
3 lbs Vienna
12 ounces Special B
8 ounces Aromatic
8 ounces carapils
3 ounces smoked malt

[Inkleg]

Uhm...........sure.......

But there again, I'm still a water nOOb.

[BlackDuck]

So after some research on Belgian water profiles, I've decided to match as close as possible to the Chimay profile that is listed in Brew Like A Monk. That profile is:
CA+2 = 96
MG+2 = 4
NA+ = 6
CL- = 13
SO4-2 = 32

After my adjustments, which is basically starting from scratch with distilled water, adding back in 1/2 gallon of my tap water along with 1 gram each of Gypsum, Calcium Choloride and Epsom Salt, and also adding 5 grams of slaked lime, I get really close:
CA+2 = 84
MG+2 = 3
NA+ = 9
CL- = 15
SO4-2 = 33

We'll see how it turns out!!!

[Dawg LB Steve]

Can't get much closer to Belgian Style than Chimay! Nice research Chris!

[derekscott85]

You should consider how Chimay treats their water. Just because their municipal profile is as listed doesn't mean they use it as is.

With that said, I believe Chimay does very little as far as water treatment is concerned.


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[mashani]

The profiles in Bruin Water for Belgian regions are pretty accurate. Use the boiled profile if you know that the brewery boils/concentrates their water before use. That's about all the water treatment most of the traditional breweries do, from a historical perspective. I'd suggest to base the profile on the yeast choice you are using. As in wherever that brewery the yeast was sourced from, that yeast is was selected because it made great beer with that regional profile.

I'm lucky, like Big PapaG is, that water from the Eerie lake nearbye makes really good Belgians as is. So I don't bother with it for them.