Spotless Water.

[Jiffy176]

Hi all anyone done a spotless analysis and found out what the sodium content is?
Trying to work it out for Brewfather.

Also trying to work out bicarbonate as hCO3. I have alkalinity and total hardness reported as cac03 can it be worked out from this figure?
Thanks.

 

[hoppyscotty]

It tells you on the screen at a Spotless location. Basically sweet FA of TDS...trace elements only. So assume nothing.

 

[Jiffy176]

No that's not the case someone did a water profile on here but was after sodium but they do have some bits of interest in it.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Yes and it confirmed “there was nothing in it”…. It’s in the water treatment thread from a few weeks ago.

 

[RichardM]

Yes and it confirmed “there was nothing in it”…. It’s in the water treatment thread from a few weeks ago.

I thought someone had sent some spotless water to Murphy's for analysis and the report came back saying there was a tiny bit of some minerals.
The Spotless site says there are zero TDS and that is what I use in my calculations.

 

[hoppyscotty]

From memory the tds score on the spotless outlet is something like 0.01 or something so tiny trace elements I take that as. I just use the standard RO profile in Brewfather.

 

[Jiffy176]

I'm just wading through that thread now

 

[Rwilts]

I signed up for spotless in 2023 and did a few brews , last year I did 6 brews only using tap water , in both cases I carried out water treatment, TBH I am struggling to find a reason to bother collecting the spotless water , whilst I am sure there is a difference, I can't taste it...

 

[hoppyscotty]

Well for me it's about consistency and ph management. My tap water makes decent enough beer, but I need to add alot of acid due to the buffering capacity of the water. Mostly with Spottless I rarely had to add acid. Recently I've turned back to tap water as I've increased capacity such that it's not really feasible to use Spotless without a pick up truck and a large water container. I've started doing quarterly lab analysis of my tap water to assess consistency, but could dilute with Spottless to manage ph.

For me water chemistry has been a noticeable, but more minor improvement to my beer journey.

 

[Rwilts]

I agree, since doing water treatment my beer has improved..

 

[jof]

I'm currently brewing at 50% spotless & 50% tap water. No extra additions & I think the result is better than 100% tap water.

But spotless locations are not super convenient, so unless I remember to take a container & collect some when I'm passing near to one of their machines, it is cheaper to buy bottled water at the local supermarket than do a special trip.

 

[YeastFace]

24/7 Water is another RO provider worth a look if you don't have a Spotless near you.

 

[MashBag]

I signed up for spotless in 2023 and did a few brews , last year I did 6 brews only using tap water , in both cases I carried out water treatment, TBH I am struggling to find a reason to bother collecting the spotless water , whilst I am sure there is a difference, I can't taste it...

Water treatment makes a difference.

Where you get your original water from not so. Providing it was drinkable in the first place without significant faults.

Bottled or spotless water is a preference for some people, but I don't think I have seen a case mandating it because the tap water was soooo bad it could not be treated.

 

[tondy79]

I am using spotless water, largely because the station is only about a mile away, and it removes some uncertainty about the starting water profile. I will also happily use tap water here in Peterborough with some adjustments.

One unknown I have about using tap water is how to (or whether to) account for the campden tablet in the water chemistry, should I be recording a sodium metabisulphate addition?

 

[Davegase]

Hi all anyone done a spotless analysis and found out what the sodium content is?
Trying to work it out for Brewfather.

Also trying to work out bicarbonate as hCO3. I have alkalinity and total hardness reported as cac03 can it be worked out from this figure?
Thanks.

This is the analysis I got from Murphy's. multiply the alkalinity as cac03 by 1.22.
In this case it's 4.88.

 

[Davegase]

I signed up for spotless in 2023 and did a few brews , last year I did 6 brews only using tap water , in both cases I carried out water treatment, TBH I am struggling to find a reason to bother collecting the spotless water , whilst I am sure there is a difference, I can't taste it...

I can treat my tap water but it does require a lot of acid for all types of beer, and tap water can vary throughout the year.
I don't want to pay for repeated analysis and my Thames water report is pretty useless.
Spotless water is consistent, I paid for one analysis and I don't need to repeat it.
I can probably save my acid for descaling the kettle