Hey guys,
I’m fairly new to brewing & recently started AG. Buying 10gal of spring water every weekend (yes, 5gal/week is a requirement) is a PITA.
I pulled up my water report and understand what most of it means. But, I don’t know what are reasonable levels/ppm for brewing. Would anybody be so kind to review my local water report & let me know if I’m good to go, or should add a few minerals?
http://www.goletawater.com/assets/docum ... 3_4_13.pdfHow does your water taste? All you may need is a run through a carbon filter to remove the chlorine.
I’ve spent 8 years in food service sanitation, worked for the evil empire of food service chemicals for 3 years. One thing I know is temp will burn off chlorine. However I’m not sure if burning off the chlorine will leave residuals that will adversely affect beer. I have brewed with bottled and tap and have not noticed a difference, have hard chlorinated water. But I’m a smoker so… Dunno. taste buds aren’t that refined anymore. Kinda interested to see where this discussion goes.
Chloramines are the real issue, they’re less volatile and won’t be driven off my heating. I recommend throwing in a campden tablet personally to take care of chlorine or chloramine.
Then, download the bru’n water spreadsheet to figure out what to do with your water. What you need to do depends on the beer.
Looks like your water is extremely hard. If you are AG brewing you may have trouble with your mash getting to the right pH. You have enough Calcuim for the enzymes, but it appears that according to your report the Hardness (around 340) is pretty hard. I have the same issue with my water and I use acids to assist in reducing the pH to an acceptable level.
+1 on Bru’n Water.
Good Luck!
Awesome… Learn something new every day… And just happen to have some campden tabs from a hard cider experiment. Thanks for the info.
[quote=“Bryan1979”]Looks like your water is extremely hard. If you are AG brewing you may have trouble with your mash getting to the right pH. You have enough Calcuim for the enzymes, but it appears that according to your report the Hardness (around 340) is pretty hard. I have the same issue with my water and I use acids to assist in reducing the pH to an acceptable level.
+1 on Bru’n Water.
Good Luck![/quote]
I’ve got a pH solution I add to the mash tun… It seems like my tap could be PITA… I think investing in an RO system & starting there is going to be my best alternative
Gte a ward labs report straight from your faucet.
That report is a little vauge, but it is pretty hard, high in bicarbonates even for darker beers.
Darker beers would be best, you will have issues brewing paler stuff.
[quote=“GhengisT”][quote=“Bryan1979”]Looks like your water is extremely hard. If you are AG brewing you may have trouble with your mash getting to the right pH. You have enough Calcuim for the enzymes, but it appears that according to your report the Hardness (around 340) is pretty hard. I have the same issue with my water and I use acids to assist in reducing the pH to an acceptable level.
+1 on Bru’n Water.
Good Luck![/quote]
I’ve got a pH solution I add to the mash tun… It seems like my tap could be PITA… I think investing in an RO system & starting there is going to be my best alternative[/quote]
Most grocery stores have fill-up RO water stations, for $0.30 to $0.50 per gallon, which makes it considerably more economical than installing your own RO system. I’d figure out what’s in your water, and then dilute with RO as needed. As long as your water tastes fine, then it’s probably fine.
What is your “pH Solution”? The “5.2” product is not commonly recommended.
[quote=“Silentknyght”][quote=“GhengisT”][quote=“Bryan1979”]Looks like your water is extremely hard. If you are AG brewing you may have trouble with your mash getting to the right pH. You have enough Calcuim for the enzymes, but it appears that according to your report the Hardness (around 340) is pretty hard. I have the same issue with my water and I use acids to assist in reducing the pH to an acceptable level.
+1 on Bru’n Water.
Good Luck![/quote]
I’ve got a pH solution I add to the mash tun… It seems like my tap could be PITA… I think investing in an RO system & starting there is going to be my best alternative[/quote]
Most grocery stores have fill-up RO water stations, for $0.30 to $0.50 per gallon, which makes it considerably more economical than installing your own RO system. I’d figure out what’s in your water, and then dilute with RO as needed. As long as your water tastes fine, then it’s probably fine.
What is your “pH Solution”? The “5.2” product is not commonly recommended.[/quote]
you can get the 3 filter RO basic system for around 130-150 bucks
I get the water delivered and it is pretty costly, so I also go with RO from the grocery store at .29 per gallon put into the 5 gallon empties from the delivered water. Much preferred; then I add back some CaCl and I seem to be good to go. I am going to buy the Water book when it comes out and try to decide on buying an RO system.
