Reverse Osmosis Water for all grain brewing

i have a question about using reverse osmosis water for all-grain brewing beer.


i have been using reverse osmosis water for about a year now and would like a bit more info.
i have been having some minor problems like gushing and would like to know if it could be from lack of minerals in R.O. water.
what i mean with gushing is when i open warm beer is gushes out.
when i cool my beer , it dosen't gush, it's perfect, great ,tasting marvelous stuff.
so i don't think it's bacteria because it's awesome beer ,once cooled.
so what minerals could i add or try?
or should i not be using R.O. water at all?


thank you ,happy brewing. later.

The problem with RO water is its lack of minerals. It has nothing to do with your gushing beers. The gushing of warm beer is simply due to the fact that CO2 is more soluble in cold liquid than warm liquid. Thus, when warm, the excess CO2 immediately comes out of solution when you uncap it. Thus the gusher.

The lack of minerals do cause some other problems. With the high ph and lack of calcium, you won't get as good conversion in the mash and your efficiency will suffer a little. Also, the various minerals (or lack thereof) will affect the flavor of your beer. John Palmer does discuss this in detail in the water chemistry chapter in www.howtobrew.com. Some minerals such as the sulfates will emphasize the hop bitterness. Others will have other effects.

I do make use of RO water in all my all grain brews. This is because my tap water is very high in carbonates. I cut my tap water 50/50 with RO water for most brews to bring the mineral content to acceptable levels. For very light beers such as pilsners, I use 75% RO water.

You really should use at least some percentage of tap water with the RO or add minerals to your water. In order to know where to start, you should contact your local water utility and request a water report on the tap water. These are normally free (or available for the cost of copying) since these are public records. In my case, I had to talk to 3 different people including the city engineer since no one had ever asked for one of these before. It took them a while to find the latest report.

If you decide not to use any of your tap water, then you need to doctor the RO water yourself. Here is a handy chart to help you know what to aim for. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/wrucksterpage/waterqal.htm
Figuring out how much of what to add can be a little tricky. You need to use something like BreWater 3.0 to figure it out. This calculator can be found at http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/

Hope this helps out a little.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

thanks wayne;
i have another question for you .my tap water has a clorine smell.what should i do just let it sit for a day or two?also should i use water that has gone though a water softner?

As far as the chlorine smell you can run it through a water filter like a Brita, let it sit for a few days or use bottled water.

I bought a $20 shower water filter and a hose-to-faucet converter. The filter removes A LOT of the chlorine taste and smell, but doesn't strip out all the minerals.

I use 1/2 Campden tablet per about 8 gallons of water to eliminate chloramine in my tap water. I haven't had any issues with chlorophenolic taste in my beers, and my water has a decent amount of chloramine in it straight out of the tap.

If it's chlorine then use a carbon filter or boil it to remove the chlorine or some of thee suggestions.

If its chloramine, you have to use a special type of carbon filter. There was a thread on this a few days ago.

Basically, if you boil water and let it cool and it still smells/tastes like chlorine.. then it is chloramine.

I've been tempted to go the RO route on pilsners since we have a fair bit of carbonate in our water and the water is also fairly hard. Might just use bottled RO water mixed with tap water for my next pils.

i have another water question. what is a good P.H.reading for brewing water?

also, what do i use to adjust P.H. up or down?

I believe 5.2-5.5 is a good pH throughout brewing.

5.2-5.5 pH is a good mash ph range not brewing water pH range. The ph of your water really does not mean that much, what is important is the pH of your mash. The pH of you mash will be dropped by the acidic nature of the grains. The darker the grain, the more acidic your mash. Alkalinity is a measurement of how easily your pH can be changed. That is why the high alkalinity water in Ireland is perfect for stouts and the low alkalinity water in Czechoslovakia is perfect for pilsners.

But Soft does not mean acidic and Hard does not necessarily mean alkaline.

That's true. I have very soft water, but the pH of my city water is 9.25. Hardness is determined by the levels of cations, i.e, calcium, and magnesium. Alkalinity is determined by the levels of anions, i.e., carbonates and bicarbonates. Total alkalinity is the buffering power of the water to a change in pH.

colinwollmann said:

i have a question about using reverse osmosis water for all-grain brewing beer.


i have been using reverse osmosis water for about a year now and would like a bit more info.
i have been having some minor problems like gushing and would like to know if it could be from lack of minerals in R.O. water.
what i mean with gushing is when i open warm beer is gushes out.
when i cool my beer , it dosen't gush, it's perfect, great ,tasting marvelous stuff.
so i don't think it's bacteria because it's awesome beer ,once cooled.
so what minerals could i add or try?
or should i not be using R.O. water at all?



thank you ,happy brewing. later.

Click to expand...

You can get gushing if you are not using enough Calcium in your water. You should be shooting for 50-80ppm Calcium to help acidify the mash. The Calcium also reacts in the boil to precipitate oxalate (beer stone). If the oxalate doesn't all precipitate out and gets in your packaged beer it will cause gushing.

RO treated with Gypsum and or Calcium Chloride will create great water for lower SRM beers. You will probably need a touch of acidity for mash pH as well, I use 1-2% acid malt but 88% Lactic Acid or Phosphoric Acid can also be used.

RO water does not guarantee good results. For many styles, there is still some minor tweaking of that RO water needed to produce acceptable beer. That might mean a little mineral addition or acid addition or alkali addition to help the mash pH get into a desirable range and the flavor of the finished beer to meet the brewers desires. You still have some work to do when using RO!

Im glad someone dug up this old thread..I use RO (my city water is disgusting)and just started AG.I have some homework to do to. would my HB supplier have the minerals I need?

ARgh... water chemistry makes my head hurt.. and bores me to tears.... but I know its important....

I'm using RO water and it is a HUGE improvement over my tap water which has chloramine or chlorine...

My thing, if your tap water is decent otherwise, a little Campden to scrub out the chlorine/chloramine, and you can save on buying RO water or spending huge amounts of time RO filtering your brewing water. If your water is on the extreme side then sure, RO water is probably a good bet. But I like my tap water, and it's a pretty good canvas for most of the beers I want to brew. Just a little acid to counteract the alkalinity in paler beers.

A year ago I might have tried tap water.. But since the drought here in nor cal we have a high nitrate level..I have always had r.o system for my large fish reef tanks so it was a no brainer to use r.o.I week have to do research on adding back

I think it's less than $1.50 for my RO at kroger. I just refill the jug and put a carboy cap on it. I have good results with it although my beer I'm sure it will never be perfect. It's funny I find checking my pH one of the most exciting things as well as checking my efficiency and then tasting the final product. I guess maybe it's also exciting to me because I actually come close to projected but my efficiency and final product are still a question.

If water chemistry makes your head hurt, just use 5.2 Stabilizer. It's a premixed buffering solution that gets your water in range for you. Available at your LHBS and online.

bragona71 said:

Im glad someone dug up this old thread..I use RO (my city water is disgusting)and just started AG.I have some homework to do to. would my HB supplier have the minerals I need?

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Most likely, yes.

Gypsum & Calcium Carbonate are the most likely additions I suspect. Get a water test from Ward's in Kearney, Nebraska and then use Martin Brungard's free water analysis software, br'unwater to see what you need.

billiam5billion said:

If water chemistry makes your head hurt, just use 5.2 Stabilizer. It's a premixed buffering solution that gets your water in range for you.

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Well, that depends if you like having your wort at 5.8 pH or above since that product does not bring the mash or kettle pH anywhere near a desirable pH. Typical effects of high pH are: dull flavors, astringency, rough hop bittering. Not good things!

Water chemistry does not have to hurt your head. For most brewers, learning how to dose their water with an acid is all they really need to do. The rest is just for flavoring.

billiam5billion said:

If water chemistry makes your head hurt, just use 5.2 Stabilizer. It's a premixed buffering solution that gets your water in range for you. Available at your LHBS and online.

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In most cases this solution won't work and could ruin your beer. Don't take my word for it... Check out the water scientists comments on it in lots of other water posts.

billiam5billion said:

If water chemistry makes your head hurt, just use 5.2 Stabilizer. It's a premixed buffering solution that gets your water in range for you. Available at your LHBS and online.

Click to expand...

I've been using 100% RO water from grocer and then add 5.2. Seems to work fine but I'm sure I should be giving it more thought.

So if you start with RO water...... is there a simple chart out there that says what you need to add to brew certain styles?


Just wondering.....

bford said:

So if you start with RO water...... is there a simple chart out there that says what you need to add to brew certain styles?


Just wondering.....

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Not that simple. But this will get you close enough: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

That goes for anyone who is able/willing to start with RO water, and wants to hit the right mash pH range and get an appropriate flavor from the water without having to hurt their head.

Qhrumphf said:

Not that simple. But this will get you close enough: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

That goes for anyone who is able/willing to start with RO water, and wants to hit the right mash pH range and get an appropriate flavor from the water without having to hurt their head.

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Thanks! I'll give it a good reading.

St. Louis city water has always been great for brewing. Run it though a carbon filter and add a little acid and you're good to go. However in the desire to make every brewery in every state make the beers taste the same they have all gone to RO water. They then make up the minerals etc. to achieve identical water chemistry at all breweries. So if you know the chemical make up of the water you want to brew with and have a way of testing it then you can mimic the water used to brew the style you want. I only have experience with ProMash and I know they have the chemical make up of waters around the world just in case you want to try that. I'm sure there are newer brewing softwares out there that have that info also. We are not there yet since we brew with well water that we just need to correct ph with acid. Even light lagers come out tasting great so we've never gone there, yet!

Qhrumphf said:

Not that simple. But this will get you close enough: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

That goes for anyone who is able/willing to start with RO water, and wants to hit the right mash pH range and get an appropriate flavor from the water without having to hurt their head.

Click to expand...

I have always used straight RO when brewing. I have only done 7 batches. I knew eventually I would have to get onto the chemistry of water and brewing . I found this post interesting and a great place to start when brewing my next batch.