Hova

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I too have had some of my extract batches turn out like this. I was thinking of trying distilled water for my next batch. For anyone who uses distilled whater, what is the best way to get a bulk of it and does it cost much per batch. Do you just go to the supermarket and buy 7 one gallon jugs.

thesanch

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Yep, I get Safeway's Refreshe brand for under a $1 a gallon. I just typically buy 6 gallons and I've never needed more.

Toivo

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I have made three extract batches of beer and my son insists there is a aftertaste in each one. After reading this thread I went and got as much info as I could about our water supply. I hope someone can help me interpert the numbers. Also I know from having a hot tub the ph is over 9 and the alkalinity is over 180. From the water report I have chloride is 98, Hardness as CACO3 is 279, nitrate as N 2.3, sodium 40, and sulfate 12. Any help would be appreciated.

jescholler

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Your alkalinity is rather high. It would be good for very dark beers like stouts and porters. The problem with high alkalinity is that it creates a high pH in your steeping water with certain grains and grain to water ratios. If you use a lot of water with your steeping grains and lighter grains, your pH will be too high and you will extract tannins. This can result in an astringency in the aftertaste.

If you use a smaller amount of water (1-2 quarts/lb of grain) and mainly dark grains like chocolate and roasted barley, those grains will bring your pH down into an acceptable range and you will not extract tannins.

Can you give a little more information about your recipes. Did you use steeping grains? What kinds? How much? How much water?

Your sodium and sulfate levels look low enough not to cause any problems, so unless you're getting a lot of those from your extract, the source of our problems are probably different.

__________________
Harsh Bitterness Experiment

Primary: Not until fall :(
Bottle: English Barleywine, Bird Dog Brown (ABA), Skull Splitter IV APA
On Deck:

Toivo

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Thanks for the reply. I have done batches with only 1 to 2 pounds of grains in them. I am in the process of getting set up to do all grain. In the mean time what would I do to lower the alkalinity?

jescholler

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The short answer is to use part tap water and part distilled or reverse osmosis (RO) water. Both of those have nearly all of the minerals removed so you can consider the mineral content 0. As far as how much to dilute it, if you don't want to do all of the research and number crunching, 50/50 would be a good place to start.

If you do want to do all of the number crunching and research, there is some good information on how to adjust your water to get the proper water profile for any style of beer. I would recommend reading chapter 15 of How to Brew:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15.html
Near the end he gives a spreadsheet where you can enter in your water's mineral content, adjust it by diluting and/or adding brewing salts, and then it will tell you what the alkalinity will be.

__________________
Harsh Bitterness Experiment

Primary: Not until fall :(
Bottle: English Barleywine, Bird Dog Brown (ABA), Skull Splitter IV APA
On Deck:

jescholler

Recipes 

The last blind tasting for this experiment was done last night. Here are the results along with a conclusion for the experiment.

Results (Continued)
All tasting of the beer was done blind. It turns out that half of the people actually preferred the tap water beer over the distilled water beer. As I stated in an earlier thread, SWMBO was one of those, but she couldn't describe why. She tends to like more bitter beers, so maybe the higher sulfate content of the tap water beer accentuated the bitterness. The other person that liked the tap water beer described it as smoother and noticed a slightly darker color. That person described the distilled water beer as not having an aftertaste, less body, and sharp. They thought they detected a bit of chlorine, but they weren't certain.

I along with another one of the blind tasters preferred the distilled water beer. I definitely detected the harsh quality in the tap water beer that inspired me to do this experiment. To me, the tap water beer was sharp, harsh, and biting. The distilled water beer was smooth and not harsh at all. The other taster who preferred the distilled water beer described it as light, low carbonation, and no aftertaste. They described the tap water beer as slightly bitter in the back of the throat (aftertaste).

Conclusion
All brewers must be cautious of the sodium and sulfate levels in their brewing water. The extract brewer has an extra burden because they also inherit the water profile that the extract was made with.

High levels of sodium and sulfate (in my case over the 200ppm level) can lead to a beer that is harsh and astringent to some people. Others may actually prefer a beer made with this water. I am convinced that the harshness in my batch that inspired this experiment was due to high levels of sodium and sulfate.

Using all distilled water may not be the best answer either. It may lack minerals and the final pH may be off.

If you notice that your beer has a harsh aftertaste, and you are an extract brewer, try brewing with all distilled or RO water. This will solve the harshness problem, but you may need to tweak the water to get the proper pH.

__________________
Harsh Bitterness Experiment

Primary: Not until fall :(
Bottle: English Barleywine, Bird Dog Brown (ABA), Skull Splitter IV APA
On Deck:

Austinhomebrew

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I use distilled water when I make extract brews as well. Or at least carbon filtered water.

Forrest