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

[iamthefly]

Hi again,

I tested my water and it seems to be very low in minerals:
Ca 10 meq /L
Alk 10 meq /L
Mg too low to measure. It said add until the mixture turns blue, but it was already blue. To start with.
The water report from my supplier showed everything to be really low so I guess I'm right.

Accurately converting meq/L to ppm seems a little involved, but I think they can be assumed to be equivalent?

 

[strange-steve]

Hi again,

I tested my water and it seems to be very low in minerals:
Ca 10 meq /L
Alk 10 meq /L
Mg too low to measure. It said add until the mixture turns blue, but it was already blue. To start with.
The water report from my supplier showed everything to be really low so I guess I'm right.

Accurately converting meq/L to ppm seems a little involved, but I think they can be assumed to be equivalent?

I'm guessing you mean mg/L rather than meq/L? If so then yes, they can be assumed to be equivalent.
That's some good brewing water you have there, perfect as is for a pilsner.

 

[iamthefly]

I'm guessing you mean mg/L rather than meq/L? If so then yes, they can be assumed to be equivalent.
That's some good brewing water you have there, perfect as is for a pilsner.

It gives Ca in ppm, but it gives Alk in meq/L. It seems to be some chemistry thing which takes into account specific mass or something.

I misread the chart, Alk is 0.10 meq/L so I don't know what to do with that.

 

[iamthefly]

Got it!

Alk 0.10 meq/L = 5ppm

 

[strange-steve]

Yeah ​ I use this online converter for the alkalinity kit.

 

[iamthefly]

I'm guessing you mean mg/L rather than meq/L? If so then yes, they can be assumed to be equivalent.
That's some good brewing water you have there, perfect as is for a pilsner.

I thought that I'd at least need to add some sodium bicarbonate to get the Alk up to keep the mash pH above 5.2, or is it different for Pilsner (which is going to be the brew after next.)?

 

[strange-steve]

I use RO water which isn't too different from your water, you will need to increase alkalinity if you're brewing amber or darker beers, but for pale beers you shouldn't need to. For a pilsner I would probably just use it as it is without any treatments, maybe a little touch of calcium chloride if you wanted.

 

[iamthefly]

Cheers.
I've been playing with some water calculators, but they seem to want me to tell them what salts I'm going to add to the water. It's a bit weird
I thought I could just add my water profile, recipe and desired beer, style and it would tell me what to add.

I'll just stick to what you suggested.

 

[BeerCat]

Hi Steve. I am going to do a raw saison and wondered what sort of water profile i need? I guess its close to a pilsner but thought i would ask you as your a fan of Belgium beers.

 

[strange-steve]

Hi Steve. I am going to do a raw saison and wondered what sort of water profile i need? I guess its close to a pilsner but thought i would ask you as your a fan of Belgium beers.

I usually keep mineral content fairly low for a saison, with balanced chloride/sulphate. Though you could balance it more towards sulphate if you want to accentuate the dry finish and hop bitterness.

 

[Old_P]

First day as a member and I come across this, great stuff.
Thank you very much.

 

[iamthefly]

Welcome to the forum, I'm new, but the folks here are very helpful.

 

[Oneflewover]

I've just started drinking an ESB style beer I put together through Brewers friend. 3rd AG and 1st where I have attempted water treatment. I only used campden tab, CRS and gypsum, but I think that the improvement in the end result is quite marked. It was really simple, using the info on this thread, so many thanks to Steve. :thumb:

 

[strange-steve]

I've just started drinking an ESB style beer I put together through Brewers friend. 3rd AG and 1st where I have attempted water treatment. I only used campden tab, CRS and gypsum, but I think that the improvement in the end result is quite marked. It was really simple, using the info on this thread, so many thanks to Steve. :thumb:

I'm glad it helped :thumb:
I find it interesting that water treatment is often the last thing that brewers will look at, because it's a simple step that can make a big difference. If you have a look at the Brulosophy experiments, it's one area that consistently produces significant results, surprisingly even more so than pitch rates and temperature control.

 

[DarrenB]

I think brewers leave water until last because it sounds so complicated. I am brewing 3 years now and thanks to this post I will be brewing a hefeweizen tomorrow knowing my calcium and caco3 figures and how to treat my water to get it in range.

Thanks Steve, your post is very complete and easy to understand and is a great read

 

[DarrenB]

Hi Steve

I got phosphoric acid @ 75% instead of crs, do you know a calculation I could use to give me a figure on how much to use.

My calcium is 70 and my cac03 is 116, I am mashing with 25 litres.

Thanks

 

[strange-steve]

Hi Steve

I got phosphoric acid @ 75% instead of crs, do you know a calculation I could use to give me a figure on how much to use.

My calcium is 70 and my cac03 is 116, I am mashing with 25 litres.

Thanks

There is, you can find information on how to do it here, however it's a bit too technical for my limited understanding of chemistry.

I would do it a more practical way: take 1L of water, measure the alkalinity, add 0.1ml of the acid, remeasure the alkalinity. This will show you the alkalinity reduction of 0.1ml/L addition which you can then scale as necessary.

 

[DarrenB]

Cheers Steve

I had a look at that link, it's bit over my head.
The practical approach looks a lot easier, I will give it a go.
Beersmith has a mash adjustment tool that will tell you the amount of acid required to lower the mash PH, but this Is a mash addition. I would like to to add this to the water prior to the mash.

Thanks again

 

[strange-steve]

@DarrenB I had a look on Brun Water and it seems that 75% phosphoric acid at a rate of 0.1ml/L will reduce alkalinity by about 60-65 ppm, although it's probably worth testing it for yourself. Let us know what you find.

 

[DarrenB]

Will do Steve, I am doing a helles tomorrow, I have downloaded brun water and plugged my values in so we will see how it goes. I will do the practical approach tonight

Cheers