I’ve been brewing all grain for a couple years now and recently moved into a new house with well water. My wife and I have just invested in an RO filtration system so I want to start building my water profiles for each brew.
I downloaded Bru’n Water and I get the gist of it, but it seems like overkill. I’m not shooting for exact measurements here. Has anyone found any sort of water treatment guide that gives ballpark guidelines per style for RO water treatment? One guy on a different forum said he uses RO water and adds just 1 tsp of gypsum for IPAs and it works great for that style. That’s the kind of simplicity I’m looking for in a guide. I’m not looking to add a lot of time to my brew day right now by measuring to the hundredth of a gram for 5 different brewing salts. I’m just shooting for ballpark. But I can’t find anything in my Google searches. Anyone found any simple guides they can recommend?
Try Brewer’s Friend or EZ water. I’ve used all 3 and clearly Bru’n water is the most in depth/difficult to use but also clear is that most dedicated all grain brewers eventually gravitate to it. All 3 have strengths and weaknesses. The 2 mentioned may be closer to the simplicity you are looking for.
Then why not just do what that guy does? Just add gypsum and hold your breath.
Yes you probably detect the slightest bit of sarcasm in that. Pic a program. Doesn’t have to be Brunwater, which I do use.
However, unless you get a water analysis done it doesn’t matter what program you use or what you add, you’ll just be shooting in the dark.
It may work OK for one style depending on your water but there’s not point in doing anything unless you know what your basis is and what you’re attempting to adjust.
If you’re rocking a real RO system, you’ll need more than gypsum. I’ll second EZ water, that’s what I use, because I’m lazy. Bru’nwater is where most folks end up, but I need baby steps.
I will say, though, a little cheap gram scale is nice. You can also use it to measure hop additions if you buy bulk hops. Plus it makes your Amazon recommendations really entertaining.
It sounds like EZ Water and Brewer’s Friend (which I already pay for to store my recipes) are less in-depth than Bru’n Water, so I’ll give both of those a try and see what I like best.
Sounds like all RO water is not the same. I was assuming that RO is RO, and you’d be starting from a totally pure profile like distilled water with it. But sounds like that’s not the case at all and different RO filters will give you different starting profiles. So I guess I’ll send in my RO water for an analysis and do this the right way… sigh
At least my beer will (hopefully) taste awesome once I get the hang of it
It sounds like EZ Water and Brewer’s Friend (which I already pay for to store my recipes) are less in-depth than Bru’n Water, so I’ll give both of those a try and see what I like best.
Sounds like all RO water is not the same. I was assuming that RO is RO, and you’d be starting from a totally pure profile like distilled water with it. But sounds like that’s not the case at all and different RO filters will give you different starting profiles. So I guess I’ll send in my RO water for an analysis and do this the right way… sigh
At least my beer will (hopefully) taste awesome once I get the hang of it
Thanks again for all the advice[/quote]
I don’t think you need to send in you water in if you have an RO system. You can get a total dissolved solids meter for cheap and check your water if its a low reading your good. You can use the meter to check your water so that you know when you need to maintain your system. IIRC it should read near zero but 25 or less is ok.
I use Brewer’s Friend. Not all RO water is the same; the water you end up with is dependent on the mineral content of the feed water. That said, it shouldn’t be enough to make a difference. Check out the water chemistry primer at HBC:
An accurate gram scale is a good thing. I’d also recommend getting an inexpensive set of calibration weights. Your measurement accuracy is affected by the surface you put it on and air movement in the room. (When digital scales are calibrated they are typically calibrated “in place” because of these factors. If the scale is moved it is considered to be “out of calibration” and requires recalibration.) I’ve had variation up to 0.5 grams. Make sure to never leave anything with mass on the weighing pan for an extended period of time, as this will damage the load cells.
My presentation at the AHA conference in San Diego this summer was focused somewhat on this topic. A form of that presentation will be in an Zymurgy article in November. The focus is giving brewers that don’t do any water treatment a very simple ‘first step’ into water treatment that they can try and see if it makes a difference for them. (It should)
The Water Primer mentioned in the HBT thread above is a simple/stupid approach to water treatment that is probably what you are looking for. For pale beers, it should work fairly well. For darker beers, its not going to be very useful. But this is just a first step into treatment and if it improves your beer, you may consider looking into more defined treatment methods.
Bru’nWater is not necessarily the easiest water adjustment tool out there, but it’s not difficult to learn to use it. Just read the instructions (twice), then play with it a bit. It will become second nature very quickly, and - if you have an analysis of your tap water - you can nail the water profile you need. I use filtered swamp water with additions of gypsum, CaCl2, and lactic acid.
Hey old dawg, now there is what its about, being creative with the stuff about you! Now I know that anybody’s .02 is just as good as a nickels worth!! Sneezles61 :cheers:
