Johnnyboy1012
Well-Known Member
Hey guys,
I've been brewing with distilled water lately mostly because I like to control the minerals in the beer but I have recently been reading that distilled is not the way to go when brewing all grain. I use EZ water calculator to get my minerals to the appropriate levels and add gypsum, calcium chloride, and epsom salt to my mash to help with pH and flavor. I batch sparge with untreated distilled because I put all of the salts in the mash. I seem to not have a problem and have made great beers using this technique, but am now confused on the many posts I have read to not use distilled water, which leads me to my question:
Is distilled water with salts added to the mash the same as tap with with the same amount of minerals in it. For example, is tap water with ca 50, mg 5, Na 0, Cl 70, so4 40, hco3 97.....the same as distilled water with minerals added to produce those exact same numbers? Is the Alkalinity or RA different in the tap water? And why?
I did have my tap water tested by ward labs about a year ago and am guessing the mineral content has changed, which is another reason why I like using distilled because I know exactly what the water profile is.
Thanks guys!
I've been brewing with distilled water lately mostly because I like to control the minerals in the beer but I have recently been reading that distilled is not the way to go when brewing all grain. I use EZ water calculator to get my minerals to the appropriate levels and add gypsum, calcium chloride, and epsom salt to my mash to help with pH and flavor. I batch sparge with untreated distilled because I put all of the salts in the mash. I seem to not have a problem and have made great beers using this technique, but am now confused on the many posts I have read to not use distilled water, which leads me to my question:
Is distilled water with salts added to the mash the same as tap with with the same amount of minerals in it. For example, is tap water with ca 50, mg 5, Na 0, Cl 70, so4 40, hco3 97.....the same as distilled water with minerals added to produce those exact same numbers? Is the Alkalinity or RA different in the tap water? And why?
I did have my tap water tested by ward labs about a year ago and am guessing the mineral content has changed, which is another reason why I like using distilled because I know exactly what the water profile is.
Thanks guys!