Water Treatment- the treat or not to treat?

[user 2461]

Hello Everybody,

This is my first post so I thought I would start with an easy question about water treatment.

I live at the foot of the massive lump of chalk that is the Saisbury Plain. The water round here is mainly from ground water sources which means that its classed 'very hard'.

I've been reading Graham Wheeler's 'Brew your own British Real Ale book' which seems to suggest that water isn't that bigger deal and other books where it says its really important. My previous all grain brews have been resonably sucessful but lacking something. Given the quality of my nearest brewrey (Moles) I thinking that water treatment is something to take seriously.

The water company info gives the trace elements as 115ppm Calcium and 311ppm Calcium carbonate and sulpahte at around 60ppm.

I aim to brew a Amrican Pale Ale next which the recipe sates 100ppm calcium 300ppm Sulpahte

:wha:
Whats the best way to treat the water and is it worth the hassle?
Whats the step by step process for brew day?

Cheers
Vman

 

[battwave]

I always sound like a broken record on this one; but if you think there's any danger of your local water company treating the water with chloramine, make sure you treat with Campden

Other than that I've only ever used gypsum, and have to confess I've no idea of the make-up of my water.

I think others in your situation with chalk, such as Prolix, treat with acid.

 

[Good Ed]

As you mentioned you have very hard water, which is not good for APA's or most other types of beer. I don't pretend to understand the science of things, but you need to reduce the alkalinity of your water and then adjust the calcium levels, so that the ph of the mash is conducive to a good pint. The simplest is to use a Salifert kit to measure the alkalinity of your water, these are sold in aquarium/fishy shops, and then you can add gypsum CaSO4 or CaCl or brewing salts to adjust the calcium. Also as batt mentioned campden tablets to get rid of chlorine chlorormine. The caveat being that water treatment alone does not make a good beer, but with your water I would recommend you do treat it before brewing. This is from Brewpaks http://www.brupaks.com/brewing-aids.htm Good luck :

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

My beers improved 100%+ since I started using CRS & Campden.

Kev :cry:

 

[jampot]

I am from Salisbury and use crs, epsom salts and gypsum. Porton garden centre has the water hardness kits. Drop in and see Greg at Brew Uk he will sort you out. Hes in Salisbury too...

 

[Aleman]

The water company info gives the trace elements as 115ppm Calcium and 311ppm Calcium carbonate and sulpahte at around 60ppm.

I aim to brew a Amrican Pale Ale next which the recipe sates 100ppm calcium 300ppm Sulpahte?

This may sould really silly, but get down to Asda and buy 30L of their SmartPrice water, then add 1 tsp of calcium sulphate to the grist, and 1 tsp of calcium sulphate to the boiler before you run off the sweet wort

I think Even Graham's approach is a bit overcomplicated compared to Lewis And Youngs

Whats the best way to treat the water and is it worth the hassle?

When doing water treatment we are really interested in three things.

Reducing alkalinity - Buy a Salifert KH/Total Alkalinity test kit, and measure your water before you brew. Once you know your alkalinity (the amount of Carbonate ions in the water), you can reduce it with Acids (CRS is usually the one used and 1ml of CRS reduces alkalinity by 180mg), or by boiling the night before and racking the cooled water of the chalk precipitate.

Increasing Calcium - We need a minimum of 100mg/l of calcium in the water. If you live in a hard water area you will already have this (Salifert do a Calcium Test Kit so it can be measured to be sure), but adding a tsp of gypsum (calcium sulphate) to the mash and boil will do no harm. If you use the boiling method to remove alkalinity add the gypsum to the boiler then as boiling reduces calcium as well as carbonate. Acid treatment leaves the calcium untouched

Adjusting the Bitter/Malt balance - If you need/want a dry hoppy beer add sulphate ions - which you do as part of your increase calcium step . . . if you want a sweet malty beer add calcium chloride instead of calcium sulphate. Sulphate ions accentuate hop bitterness and chloride palate fullness

Is it worth it? Well Duh! but only if you have a sound brewing technique and are already producing good sound beers. If you haven't nailed this down water treatment will not give you a huge paradigm shift in beer quality.

Whats the step by step process for brew day?

Run water off
Measure alkalinity
Add acid to reduce alkalinity
Add gypsum and/or calcium chloride to grain
mash
Add gypsum and/or calcium chloride to boiler
Run off sweet wort into boiler

Blah Blah Blah

 

[WelshPaul]

On the subject of water ph, can cream of tartare be used to lower the ph in areas that suffer from alkali water?

 

[user 2461]

Thanks very much everyone, some really useful tips/info.

Going to get a test kit and give the treatment a punt for the next brew and see how it goes.

Thanks for the tip about Brew Uk Jampot- hadn't come across them before but look good and on the doorstep

Cheers agian
Vman

P.S Welsh Paul- I don't know about cream of tartare but you can't use Tartare sauce Boom Boom!

 

[Swazi]

On the subject of water ph, can cream of tartare be used to lower the ph in areas that suffer from alkali water?

Water pH isn't what you need to worry about, it's the alkalinity that you want to sort out. Once you add grains to your strike water the pH is going to change according to what grains and in what quantities you use them. Dark grains are going to lower the mash pH more than just pale grains alone and so you'd want different water alkalinity for different beers. That being said, you can make good beers without adjusting your water at all (campden for chloromine is still the first and most important one to consider)
If you are consistently making good beer and want to make it even better then water treatment is a good step to take but it certainly won't make bad beer any better.

 

[Titch]

hi just getting ready to do my first Ag

my waterreport is as follows
Analysis Typical Value UK/EU limit Units
Hardness level very soft
Hardness Clarke 2.100 Clarke
Aluminium 35.3 200 µg Al/l
Calcium 10.0 mg Ca/l
Residual chlorine - Total 0.41 mg/l
Residual chlorine - Free 0.36 mg/l
Coliform bacteria 0 0 number/100ml
Colour <0.926 20 mg/l Pt/Co scale
Conductivity 82.7 2500 uS/cm at 20oC
Copper 0.0460 2 mg Cu/l
E.coli 0 0 number/100ml
Iron <8.36 200 µg Fe/l
Lead <1.12 25 µg Pb/l
Magnesium 0.951 mg Mg/l
Manganese 2.14 50 µg Mn/l
Nitrate 1.26 50 mg NO3/l
Sodium 5.17 200 mg Na/l

do you think i would need to change anything?

sorry for highjacking the thread

i got the report from here

http://www.unitedutilities.com/waterquality.aspx

 

[tazuk]

where do i find report for where i live in my area ??????? :wha:

 

[Titch]

first who supplies it?