All about the water

[Twostage]

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...)

It sometimes takes some digging but the info you want will be there or at least derivable. I've tracked down quite a few water reports to get the water profile so I know where to look now. If you post or pm me your post code I'll see what I can find.

 

[Twostage]

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

Did they say what the water profile was from the well ?

 

[Duffman]

Did they say what the water profile was from the well ?

No but i'm working on the theory that the guy who owns the home brew shop will know what he's doing, therefore wouldn't recommend the water unless it was safe or ok to brew with, Shepherd Neame tap into the same well/water table.

he did though recommend using it within a few days as its not had any treatments therefore would stagnate after a while.

It didn't affect the quality of his beer as we spent half an hour sampling a variety of different home brew kits bottled, searching for the right flavour for my delicate palette for my next brew :drink:

 

[Twostage]

No but i'm working on the theory that the guy who owns the home brew shop will know what he's doing, therefore wouldn't recommend the water unless it was safe or ok to brew with, Shepherd Neame tap into the same well/water table.

he did though recommend using it within a few days as its not had any treatments therefore would stagnate after a while.

It didn't affect the quality of his beer as we spent half an hour sampling a variety of different home brew kits bottled, searching for the right flavour for my delicate palette for my next brew :drink:

Not saying there is anything wrong with it, just wondering what kind of beer it was best suited to. If shepherd neame use it I think their brews tend to be 'beer coloured' i.e. like bitter rather than pale ales or porters. The profile is only an issue for all grain anyway.

I'd definitely give it a go :-D

 

[Duffman]

Not saying there is anything wrong with it, just wondering what kind of beer it was best suited to. If shepherd neame use it I think their brews tend to be 'beer coloured' i.e. like bitter rather than pale ales or porters. The profile is only an issue for all grain anyway.

I'd definitely give it a go :-D

I believe it was a Muntons Premium Gold Midas Touch as i was considering a purchase, it was very nice.

I'm not sure about the water, if it was at the end of my garden i'd be all over it, however by the time i've spent time and petrol money i might as well buy bottled water in Tescos, 5 litres for a pound or just buy water treatment tablets to remove the chlorine and fluoride flavouring

 

[dad_of_jon]

I use tescos value water from chase spring

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49040

works ok for me.

 

[Twostage]

I use tescos value water from chase spring

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49040

works ok for me.

Or LIDL :-

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=54000

even less minerals so you have to add them yourself (unless you are making lager).

I fancy using Sainsbury's highland spring to do a 80 bob or something similar.

 

[HebridesRob]

Reverse Osmosis water will be very low in mineral content so, if you're using it for brewing, you should treat it as though it's free from minerals and put them all back in. Makes working out what to put in easier I suppose.

Here's an article in three parts that explains pH etc...
http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=An_Overview_of_pH
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_pH_affects_brewing
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Mash_pH_control#Salt_and_acid_additions_to_the_mash

There's a few calculators around.

 

[Wonderwoman]

Reverse Osmosis water will be very low in mineral content so, if you're using it for brewing, you should treat it as though it's free from minerals and put them all back in. Makes working out what to put in easier I suppose.

Here's an article in three parts that explains pH etc...
http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=An_Overview_of_pH
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_pH_affects_brewing
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Mash_pH_control#Salt_and_acid_additions_to_the_mash

There's a few calculators around.

Makes sense, thank you. but if I only use the two prefilters and NOT let the water go through the R/O membrane but harvest it before, it should have all the minerals still in it, shouldn't it?

 

[mike-os]

yes it should

and if your RO water only has a very low mineral content the membrane might need looking at as most modern membranes have a 95%+ rejection rate, so should be pretty much just H2O

 

[HebridesRob]

Well, it's all done. Yeast pitched and already starting to do it's job. Came out at 1.045 so not bad.

Managed to use Magnesium Sulphate rather than Calcium Sulphate. Oops!.