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Since Gerry says he prefers lagers and stouts, the level of SO4 and Cl could be acceptable for brewing those beers. However, if the goal is to brew hoppier and more bittered beers, then boosting the SO4 level into the 200 to 300 ppm range is not unreasonable.

The total concentrations reported for SO4 and Cl in that Derry water report make the SO4/Cl ratio meaningless for the water. That water won't accentuate hoppiness or bitterness. Those ion concentrations would need to be significantly increased to produce that effect. As noted in the water...

Never waste a beer!! Let it live and use it as a data point. It will still be beer and it may turn out that there was an error somewhere that ultimately won't matter. It's good that you're monitoring TDS of your water, but it can't tell you how the various ion concentrations have varied. It's...

I just got one a month ago and have brewed twice with it. It does work very well...even inside of my stainless conical. It is nice to measure gravity once or twice a day to observe how the ferment is going. But it's not really necessary until the final stage of fermentation where it enables...

Roastiness, acidity, and hop bittering are all used to balance the sweetness of malt. If you want to create a dark sour, you would need to rebalance those sweetness counters to produce an acceptable drink. Since bittering is often very minor in most sours, that leaves roast reduction as the only...

The horizontal element in my kettle enables me to start heating the wort after I've collected about 6 to 8 liters. That definitely helps speed bringing the wort to a boil. I don't see any advantage with vertical elements.

Hard tap water is OK (but not ideal) for rehydrating a pH bulb. DI or RO water is not suited for rehydration since it can leach out the salts from within the bulb. The best rehydration solution is storage solution which is typically a 1 molar to 3 molar solution of potassium chloride. Keeping...

Fully agree, but it should be noted that a BJCP rank doesn't mean that they are qualified and sensitized tasters. There are hundreds of faults and I'm not going to contend that I'm adequately sensitized to all of them.

5.2 Stabilizer: User's like to say 'works great' if they don't check pH and 'doesn't work at all' for those who do check pH. It's a fraud.

It is incorrect to say that activated carbon does not remove chloramines. What is correct is that the destruction rate for chloramines is quite a bit slower than that for chlorine. That means that the contact time between the carbon and chloramines needs to be substantially longer for the...

For the average person, its probably true that many of the things that Brulosophy tests, are indistinguishable. Unfortunately, that doesn't make their conclusions true. There are several things that should be done in those testing trials to make them more definitive. The first thing is that...

RO membranes are degraded and destroyed by chlorine compounds and RO systems typically include an activated carbon filter to remove those compounds prior to sending it to the membrane. So there is no need to treat RO water with Campden.

I created Bru'n Water to guide me with brewing salt and acid additions. There is a free version available on-line. I suggest that you review the Water Knowledge page on the Bru'n Water website to help understand the why and how of brewing water treatment.

Yes, you can test for chlorine and chloramines. Get a Total Chlorine test kit from your aquarium shop. That test recognizes chloramines while a Free Chlorine test kit can only recognize chlorine. So get the Total Chlorine test. Definitely remove these chlorine compounds from your water prior to...

As mentioned above, alkalinity is usually the real culprit in less than stellar beer. Hardness is rarely the problem. Most brewers add salts like gypsum and calcium chloride (which harden the water) as improvements for their water. The alkalinity test kit is a great way to assess how your...

The 'need' for RO water for brewing is largely dependent upon your tap water. If your tap water is too mineralized for the beer styles you prefer to brew, then getting RO is probably worth it. But this isn't an automatic need for all brewers. There are plenty of water sources that are lightly...

Welly, you used the wrong values for bicarbonate and carbonate. As Henteaser presents, the proper values are derived directly from the alkalinity value using the conversion calculator that provides the relative amounts of bicarbonate and carbonate that are related to your water's pH. While the...

The sodium test is fairly expensive and its a cost-saving move by Murphys to not provide that test. However if the other results are competent and assuming the cation/anion imbalance is a result of the missing sodium content, you can do what is suggested above. It should be close enough.

Flaked barley has a very high beta-glucan content and that contributes to body and mouthfeel. I experimented with flaked barley for a couple of years and eventually found it to contribute too much graininess to pale beers. That contribution resulted in a distracting flavor in those pale beers...

At a minimum, removing the disinfectants from your tap water is important for avoiding the creation of mediciny tasting chlorophenols in your beer. The other thing you should also monitor and adjust is your water's alkalinity. If your tap water's alkalinity is high, it will drive up the pH of...