Beer Kits and RO Water

[Cornish Knocker]

I've been all grain brewing for over 5 years, using R.O water as my tap water is very hard. I have been given a beer kit as a present, a hazy mango pale ale that I'll be brewing soon.

My question is how to go about treating my RO water when using a kit that has already had some water additions added to it?
Should I just treat it like I do with my all grain beers as the water additions added to the kit will be negligible?
Or something else? For info I use Brewfather for water treatment guidelines.

Thanks

 

[Jim Brewster]

Well the mash water will have already been treated of course, and those ions will still be present in the concentrate (although you don't have any way of knowing what levels they are at). I would say 'neat' RO water will be OK, if you treat the water you're going to be adding more minerals and potentially negatively affecting things.

I think it's calcium that's pretty important for yeast growth, hard water usually being a good source because of the chalk. If in doubt you could always use a small amount of dechlorinated tap water, say 10 or 25%. Or use some yeast nutrient to be sure

Disclaimer - water treatment is not my strongest point by any means

 

[nickjdavis]

I wouldnt bother with using RO with a kit. The reason why most folk use RO is to help them get their alkalinity levels down to assist with achieving an appropriate mash PH when mashing an all-grain recipe...the building of a specific water profile is generally a secondary consideration (other than to ensure there are the nutrients such as Calcium etc for the yeast to do their job).

Since you are not mashing when using a kit you are not (should not be) worried about mash pH.

I personally would just use tap water with an addition of a Campden tablet to remove Chlorine/Chloramines. If you are still doubtful then a simple 50/50 mix of tap/RO wont do any harm.

I therefore wouldnt worry about water profiles when doing a kit....but that's me....others may hold different views.

 

[Cornish Knocker]

Thanks guys for the replies gives me something to think about further, but it is a lot clearer in my mind.

Cheers

 

[IceQueen]

Hi,

If you have a big enought pot, and thinking that you normally do allgrain, you should. Just boil the water a day/night before and let it cool down with the lid on. That gets rid of any gas and the mentiond Campden tablet should fell out the calky parts very nicely

Maddy