norfolk water

[JohnVisual]

Hello everybody, I was wondering if there was any fellow Norfolk brewers on here that preform water treatment and if so what steps do you take? As our water is pretty 'flavorful' I have found that it has tainted a few of my pale ales, has anyone else had the same problem? Thanks john

 

[keith1664]

I'm just outside Norwich, I use a campden tablet to get rid of the chlorine / chloramine. Then I use a Salifert kit to check the hardness and use CRS to reduce it to the required level. I did try adding gypsum / epsom salts as recommended by the water treatment calculator but found my beers became a bit samey so stopped. But the campden and CRS make a noticeable difference.

 

[JohnVisual]

Hello keith, thanks alot for your reply! pardon my ignorance but what is crs? I am brewing today and have preboiled all of my water and added half a campdon table to the water (19lt) will that be enough to off set the chlorine? have you noticed a off taste when brewing with our water?

 

[keith1664]

CRS is Carbonate Reducing Solution, it's a mix of acids which reduces the hardness of the water.
Are you brewing kits or all grain? If kits then the limit of your water treatment will be the campden tablet and yes half will be enough.
And no, I've not noticed any off tastes due to the water, but then I have been using campden tablets since the start. I think it tends to be the chlorine more than anything else which can cause them.
Also if you're sanitising with chlorine based chemicals make sure they're well rinsed as any traces left behind can cause off tastes.

 

[mabrungard]

CRS is Carbonate Reducing Solution, it's a mix of acids which reduces the hardness of the water.

Close, but not quite. CRS and any acid reduces the ALKALINITY of the water.

Hardness is rarely a problem in brewing, but alkalinity is frequently a problem.