Water Softeners - any idea?

[YeastFace]

Turns out there’s a Spotless place about five miles from me in Telford. Think I’m going to have a play using this.

Presume it will be fairly similar to RO water as a Brewfather profile?

They claim 0 tds so I use the Distilled Water profile.

 

[Agentgonzo]

There is a lot of stuff on here.

I have ~350ppm hard water here (very hard).
I add 6ml of 80% lactic acid to mash liquor and a bit to sparge liquor.

Works fine (never tried AMS). Don't feel the need to get an RO supply (that seems to be mostly fuelled by weird Americans chasing the next shiny toy). Nor spotless water.

I would suggest brewing a couple of batches with your tap water before assuming it's terrible and buying ashbeck /spotless/RO.
Then try a brew with spotless/ashbeck.

Then seeing the difference.

Then make a decision as to whether you need RO/spotless etc. Don't just copy what other people on the internet do.

 

[dlowe1992]

It’s well worth a try, just in case you havnt already got one, if you use this referral code,
spotless28377
you will get £10 of free water. (Full disclosure, I would also obtain a referral credit) give it a go, I am sure you will not be disappointed.
I have my spotless water profile all set at 0 and it works very well for me.
Let us know how you get on with it.

Cheers @Tony623, I’ll do that. A tenner saved isnt to be sniffed at, if it helps you out all the better!

I would suggest brewing a couple of batches with your tap water before assuming it's terrible and buying ashbeck /spotless/RO.
Then try a brew with spotless/ashbeck.

In all likelihood I will brew with the tap water for certain styles. Having done all my brewing at the old place with hard water (230ish) I know I can brew good bitters / darker beers with it.

It so happens my next brew (that I have the ingredients ready for) is a very light golden ale and experience tells I’ll need to sort the water out for a good result… usually I’d go ashbeck but quite keen to give Spotless a go…

 

[Tony623]

I must have brewed around 30 extract and all grain beers before trying Ashbeck, I only chucked 1 brew down the drain in all that time and that was because I put far too much plum essence into it. Ashbeck was good but too expensive IMHO. I was very hesitant to start using spotless, but I ain’t going back to tap water especially after brewing about 50 beers with spotless. Total game changer for me but we all find our own way and if it works it works!

 

[LeeH]

I am thinking about filtering again before any treatment.

It’s a cheap insurance policy. I have a 3 stage one, change the last filter yearly and the other 2 every 2 years.

 

[LeeH]

There is a lot of stuff on here.

I have ~350ppm hard water here (very hard).
I add 6ml of 80% lactic acid to mash liquor and a bit to sparge liquor.

Works fine (never tried AMS). Don't feel the need to get an RO supply (that seems to be mostly fuelled by weird Americans chasing the next shiny toy). Nor spotless water.

I would suggest brewing a couple of batches with your tap water before assuming it's terrible and buying ashbeck /spotless/RO.
Then try a brew with spotless/ashbeck.

Then seeing the difference.

Then make a decision as to whether you need RO/spotless etc. Don't just copy what other people on the internet do.

This is a very good point, however my beer has improved hugely since treating my hard water for pale ales.

Stouts, a little AMS and salt with filtered water.