All about the water

[Wonderwoman]

Do you filter your water? I've got a R/O DI filter on my outside tap, as I need this super clean water for our marine tank. I was wondering whether it would be worth the hassle to use this water for brewing or whether it made not much difference at all.

 

[Tony1951]

Tap water seems to vary a lot both in taste, chlorine content and minerals. Where I am, the water seems to be pretty good and I just use it straight from the tap. Other folks treat the water in a variety of ways depending on what it is like.

 

[TheRedDarren]

I think you'd need to remineralise similar to using it for fish.
The mash needs a certain ph and mineral content to be effective, I'm not sure that ro water would have the necessary content.
Google 'how to brew by john palmer'
There's a lot of info on water there.
I can't attach a link on my phone, sorry.

 

[TheRedDarren]

Here you go!

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

I dont treat or filter my water at all, I may start adding in a cambden tabket before the boil to help remove the chlorine though

 

[EssexBrewing]

If you have RO available I would say it's worth using it and you can then add the required salts to create the required water profile you need for the type of beer you are brewing.
Of course your tap water might be really good for brewing, it might be worth getting it tested to find out what's in it.
Worth getting in touch with this company to get your water tested properly.http://www.phoenix-analytical.co.uk

 

[MyQul]

We've recently had a number of discussions on the forum about water. My view on water treament is 'if it aint broken don't fix it' If your making good beer with your tap water you don't need to bother with water chemistry.
I think you only need to faff about with your tap water if a) water chemistry is an area of brewing your particularly interested in or b) Because of the chemisry of your tap water your struggling to make certain beer styles or it's effecting the quality of your beer somehow.

 

[ProjectBeer]

As far as I've read - if you're doing anything but all-grain brewing, you don't need to worry about water chemistry too much. With the malt extract you're using, the manufacturer has already created wort using (hopefully) ideal conditions, including their water and all you're doing as a homebrewer is rehydrating it.

For extract brewing all you'd really need to do is treat your water for chlorine and chloramine with campden tablets, or use bottled water.

When you do make the move to all grain, knowing something about water chemistry won't hurt - especially with regards to mash pH and what can affect things.

Your process will play a larger part in making a great beer. Looking at water is something you can look at further down the line to fine tune your beer after you've got the rest of the process down.

 

[Wonderwoman]

Sounds complicated to add minerals etc... Think I'll stick to tap water for the beginning. My water is really limey though and sometimes you can taste the chlorine quite a bit. I never drink it.

I'm going all grain by the way.

 

[BeerCat]

If you never drink your water cos it tastes horrible dont brew with it as your probably gonna end up consuming a lot of it. And there's of other rubbish in water apart from chlorine. Been using RO since i started but next week will use some additives and see if that improves my brews. :)

 

[ProjectBeer]

If you're going all-grain, I'd suggest reading How To Brew by John Palmer, he covers water here.

Brewing All-Grain is like driving a car, you can get by with basic knowledge and the process, but you can also pop the hood and tinker with the engine. Messing around with the water chemistry is tinkering with the engine.

To start off with I'd recommend treating your tap water with campden tablets and maybe a 5.2 pH stabiliser for the mash. Full disclosure - I haven't moved on to all-grain yet, but this is what I've read so far, so if anyone can add to this feel free!

If you wanted to delve in, get a copy of the water report from your area. I'm in London and got mine from Thames Water, but they don't test for certain things that we look for as a brewer (I called them up to confirm this and they actually asked if it was for beer brewing). It may be different where you live.

I'm lucky enough to live near some amazing craft breweries in SE London and an email to one of them resulted in them very kindly sending me a copy of a water report they commissioned recently.

Once you have this info it shouldn't be too difficult to add chemicals to achieve the water profile you're aiming for.

 

[Wonderwoman]

If you never drink your water cos it tastes horrible dont brew with it as your probably gonna end up consuming a lot of it. And there's of other rubbish in water apart from chlorine. Been using RO since i started but next week will use some additives and see if that improves my brews. :)

Ok, do you think I take too much out of the water if I use DI water? I've got a DI resin attached to my RO unit.

 

[Wonderwoman]

Just found a water report from my area but it doesn't say anything about Ca and Mg. So, I guess I may as well "risk" it. Or would it be a good idea to use half tap half DI water? The number for sodium I think it was, was in the top range used for brewing, and I think so was chloride (sorry I can't quite remember...)

 

[mike-os]

hi wonderwoman.. i also use RO for fish and was about to ask the same questions

at the moment i just remove the RO part of the filter and use the prefilter and carbon block (actually a cbr2) to remove most of the "crud" (chlorine, pesticides metals etc) as my water is quite soft anyway,

might try a lager with just RO just to see what difference it makes

 

[Wonderwoman]

hi wonderwoman.. i also use RO for fish and was about to ask the same questions

at the moment i just remove the RO part of the filter and use the prefilter and carbon block (actually a cbr2) to remove most of the "crud" (chlorine, pesticides metals etc) as my water is quite soft anyway,

might try a lager with just RO just to see what difference it makes

That's a good idea! Do you just remove the ro membrane one then? I think mine is a three stage filter plus di resin but it might be worth doing what you do. What do others think?
It shouldn't take long harvesting it either with all that removed.

 

[mike-os]

i just split mine after the 10" cartridges ( wel 20" actually but I have a serious RO system :drink:) before it goes into the RO membrane

 

[Wonderwoman]

i just split mine after the 10" cartridges ( wel 20" actually but I have a serious RO system :drink:) before it goes into the RO membrane

Okay great, I think I will try this!

 

[BeerCat]

Please do a brew and let us know how you get on with it would love to know. My RO system puts it back up to 7 which is 10 times more alkaline than a regular RO. Maybe that's why i have been getting good efficieny using clibits method. Its not much lower than my tap water.
Gonna order today some gypsum and calcium chloride, only a few quid and seems an easy fix.

 

[Duffman]

Hi all

I've just brewed up my first ever brew and after reading loads decided to buy cheap filtered water as my home water is heavily chlorinated and tastes horrible, we filter drinking water.
I was in the home brew shop Saturday discussing this with the owner whose told me the location of a local artesian well which he uses, he's said i'll need a big container and something to decant it from the spout to the container and to use within a few days otherwise it will stagnate - i might go find it for my next brew

 

[Wonderwoman]

Please do a brew and let us know how you get on with it would love to know. My RO system puts it back up to 7 which is 10 times more alkaline than a regular RO. Maybe that's why i have been getting good efficieny using clibits method. Its not much lower than my tap water.
Gonna order today some gypsum and calcium chloride, only a few quid and seems an easy fix.

to be honest, I don't really know much about brewing and water yet as I am just about to do my first ever brew lol. so I will have to read up on this in the future. I like the idea of filtering rather than adding something to it, I want my beer to be as pure as possible, but I will have to read up about this I reckon.