Beginners Guide to Water Treatment (plus links to more advanced water treatment in post #1)

[strange-steve]

So, water treatment for a black IPA...do I treat it as a dark or as a pale?

If the dark malts are in the mash then treat it as dark, if cold steeping then treat as pale.

 

[private4587]

Hi everyone hopefully some can be of assistance I live in Middlesbrough and this is my water report attached. But I have no idea on how to understand it can anyone help in i.e. do i have hard or soft water and what i should looking for within the report

View attachment Water Report.pdf

 

[strange-steve]

Hi everyone hopefully some can be of assistance I live in Middlesbrough and this is my water report attached. But I have no idea on how to understand it can anyone help in i.e. do i have hard or soft water and what i should looking for within the report

Unfortunately that report is mostly useless for brewing purposes, as is typical of water reports. The only useful thing it tells you is that your water is balanced more towards sulphate than chloride. However you need to know calcium and alkalinity as CaCO3, neither of which are on your report. Have a look here to see how you can get those values.

 

[Druncan]

Just got a caco3 kit and a sample bottle from murph's. Also got Scottish waters full report on our boreholes. Time for a comparison! (Even though I'm still a LME brewer and all the hard work is done by Muntons,,,,,,,☺️)

 

[Oneflewover]

The water report for my area indicates calcium carbonate 290 mg/l - that's off the scale hardness, surely?

The calcium is 112 mg/l. Can anyone make any sense of this for me? Ta.

 

[DoctorMick]

If the dark malts are in the mash then treat it as dark, if cold steeping then treat as pale.

They went in to the mash. I completely forgot about your comments and treated it like a pale...hopefully it'll turn out alright.

 

[BeerCat]

They went in to the mash. I completely forgot about your comments and treated it like a pale...hopefully it'll turn out alright.

It will be fine, i have done the same myself before. I made an American Stout recently and treated it as an IPA. Now i follow Steves instructions to the letter (when i remember) and am really pleased with my Beer i have to say. Made a really nice brown Porter and my IPA's just seem to have that little bit extra.

 

[iamthefly]

My water report looks very similar to private4587's above, but has some additional bits. An accompanying email also said I have soft water with a level of around 10mg/l Calcium Carbonate. I think mg/l=ppm.

I'm reading printouts of the op and more in-depth article linked on page 2.

Can I use this info?

I think I'll still need to test for Ca and Mg. I wonder if the Chemistry dept in work (I'm a teacher) can help <£?

Cheers.

View attachment Water Report.pdf

 

[strange-steve]

The water report for my area indicates calcium carbonate 290 mg/l - that's off the scale hardness, surely?

The calcium is 112 mg/l. Can anyone make any sense of this for me? Ta.

Sorry I just saw this, the problem is that hardness and alkalinity are not the same thing but they are often expressed in the same way as calcium carbonate. You need to measure your alkalinity to get something you can work with.
@iamthefly the same applies to you, you'll need measure the alkalinity for yourself with a Salifert kit. I wouldn't worry about magnesium but you'll need to know calcium too.

 

[iamthefly]

Sorry I just saw this, the problem is that hardness and alkalinity are not the same thing but they are often expressed in the same way as calcium carbonate. You need to measure your alkalinity to get something you can work with.
@iamthefly the same applies to you, you'll need measure the alkalinity for yourself with a Salifert kit. I wouldn't worry about magnesium but you'll need to know calcium too.

Cheers mate,

I'm on it.

Reading other people's water reports, I get the impression that my water has very little of anything in it. I guess that simplifies things.

 

[strange-steve]

Cheers mate,

I'm on it.

Reading other people's water reports, I get the impression that my water has very little of anything in it. I guess that simplifies things.

Yeah it looks like a very good starting point, it's easier to add minerals than to remove them. I was lucky enough to acquire a free RO unit last year which means I'm starting with a blank slate each time.

 

[BeerCat]

I am brewing a Stout and have some roast barley that i can only grind into flour as i don't have a mill so not keen on getting a stuck mash. What would i do if i were to mash dark grains separately @67 with RO water? Been thinking of doing something around 4% with 10% roast barley in the mash and 5% more cold steeped added to the boil. A very black stout to satisfy my cravings.

 

[Ajhutch]

Steve, I hadn't commented on this thread yet but wanted to thank you for such a great resource, really well written and easy to understand. I treated my water for the first time on my last brew which was a wheat beer where I wanted to soften the mouthfeel a bit. That really came through on the sample I tried tonight. I'm definitely going to start thinking about this more going forward. Cheers!

 

[iamthefly]

Is distilled Water the same stuff you buy for your car, like can I put the car stuff into beer?

 

[strange-steve]

I am brewing a Stout and have some roast barley that i can only grind into flour as i don't have a mill so not keen on getting a stuck mash. What would i do if i were to mash dark grains separately @67 with RO water?

Tbh it's probably not worth mashing the roasted barley, I'd probably just hot steep it and add the liquid to the boil, you'll still get the flavour and aroma from it. If you do that then treat the steeping water for calcium but don't bother with alkalinity adjustment.

 

[strange-steve]

Is distilled Water the same stuff you buy for your car, like can I put the car stuff into beer?

The water will be the same though I don't know if the container and production process would be "food safe". Save your money and get some Ashbeck water from Tesco, it's very low in minerals and only £1.10 for 5L. Or it's possible to get RO water (the next best thing to distilled) from tropical fish suppliers.

 

[dps51]

which would be the best water to use
my tap water,tesco bottle water, or ro water

 

[strange-steve]

which would be the best water to use
my tap water,tesco bottle water, or ro water

It depends what's in your tap water and what you want to brew. RO water is great if you can get hold of it and if it's cheap enough. Tesco Ashbeck is a pretty good starting point for building any water profile. The biggest problem with tap water is that the only way to know what's in it is to test it each time.

 

[iamthefly]

It depends what's in your tap water and what you want to brew. RO water is great if you can get hold of it and if it's cheap enough. Tesco Ashbeck is a pretty good starting point for building any water profile. The biggest problem with tap water is that the only way to know what's in it is to test it each time.

I heard tesco got called out by sainsbury for selling tap water in bottles.

Shots fired.

 

[strange-steve]

I heard tesco got called out by sainsbury for selling tap water in bottles.

Shots fired.

I wouldn't be surprised if their value stuff is filtered tap water, but there's nothing wrong with tap water as far as brewing is concerned. As long as you know what's in it then (usually) we can work with it.