I need your input on water..

For a stout what would you do with this water?

Total Dissolved Solids 470
Phenol Alkalinity as CaCO3 <1.0
Total Alkalinity as CaCO3 115
Total Hardness as CaCO3 149
Chlorides as Cl 177
Sulfates as SO4 71
Fluorides as F 0.87
Silica as SiO2 32
Nitrates as NO3 1.96
Nitrites as NO2 <0.05
Phosphates as PO4 <0.05
Calcium as Ca 43
Magnesium as Mg 11.3
Sodium as Na 105
Potassium as K 7.3
Iron as Fe <0.020
Manganese as Mn <0.010
pH 7.7


I'm thinking I will dilute with RO because of the high chlorides and sodium. I'm just not sure what ratio I should use. I'm also not sure if I should be adding anything back after diluting it. Any help is appreciated... FWIW I have looked at the water primer on this forum, but I'm still feeling a bit confused as to what I should do.

I know you're out there water geeks! Help me out here! (shameless bump!)

Check out John Palmers online book. I think you will find a good start there

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html

Cheers

sdochughes said:

Check out John Palmers online book. I think you will find a good start there

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html

Cheers

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I have read thru it a bit before, but it still reads like French to me. I will admit I need to take the time to read it and understand it. In this case I was kind of hoping one of you guys with water chemistry experience could just give me a quick and easy "treatment" for this particular case.
Like;
Dilute with X amount of RO water and add X amount of this or that. I know I need to learn all of this for myself, but right now I just want a quick fix..
Thanks!

Its typical, poor desert southwest water. The sodium and chloride are way too high for nice tasting beer. Dilution is the best solution. Check out Bru'n Water for better water advice than you'll read in How to Brew.

mabrungard said:

Its typical, poor desert southwest water. The sodium and chloride are way too high for nice tasting beer. Dilution is the best solution. Check out Bru'n Water for better water advice than you'll read in How to Brew.

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For some crazy reason my computer won't download Bru'n Water, I've tried a few times... It tells me to "click on the downward pointing arrow to download" but there is no downward pointing arrow on my view..

What I'm wondering is what ratio of RO to tap water I should use when diluting.. And after I dilute it will I have to add minerals, salts, acids, etc. back in?

Stauffbier said:

For some crazy reason my computer won't download Bru'n Water, I've tried a few times... It tells me to "click on the downward pointing arrow to download" but there is no downward pointing arrow on my view..

What I'm wondering is what ratio of RO to tap water I should use when diluting.. And after I dilute it will I have to add minerals, salts, acids, etc. back in?

Click to expand...

If you can't get bru'nwater (I couldn't until I upgraded my system and now I have it- but it's on my home computer so I can't check it for you!), try EZ water spreadsheet. It's by the HBT member -th, so try finding him first and then opening the spreadsheet.

You may have to add back somethings, but maybe not much. The sodium and chloride are way too high, so you may find yourself diluting with so much RO as to use nearly 100% RO anyway.

Yooper said:

If you can't get bru'nwater (I couldn't until I upgraded my system and now I have it- but it's on my home computer so I can't check it for you!), try EZ water spreadsheet. It's by the HBT member -th, so try finding him first and then opening the spreadsheet.

You may have to add back somethings, but maybe not much. The sodium and chloride are way too high, so you may find yourself diluting with so much RO as to use nearly 100% RO anyway.

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Thanks a lot Yooper! I think I've come across the EZ spreadsheet before. I'll try to find it again.

Recently I started ordering things for water adjustment at random (not knowing what the heck I'm even doing). I bought gypsum and calcium chloride. Assuming I might be starting with pure RO water, what other products should I purchase for water adjustment?

2 possible approaches

1. Cut it 2:1 (RO:Tap) with RO water and brew with it.
2. Cut it 9:1 and follow the recommendations of the Primer.