Bottled water and PH...

I am switching to AG and was wondering if I have to worry about the water PH
when I use water from a vending machine? ....Thanks

have your water checked and then if you need to adjust, there is a good water modification chart in the back of Beer Captured (Szamatulski).

How do you 'have your water checked'...Get PH strips?

pH strips are the best & cheapest way I know. Just check & make sure that the type of strip you're getting reads in the range you're interested in.
As far as the original question, if by "vending machines" the OP means the RO (reverse osmosis) machines found in all the stores hereabouts, they all use the municipal water supply as feed, and therefore there might likely be variation in the pH. I don't know that the Filter / RO / Filter / UV process that the machine ("Glacier" brand) I buy from uses is going to take out everything that might affect pH. My strips say that the pH of the water from that machine is between 5 and 6. (My strips don't read any closer than that; as I mentioned earlier, you're going to have to be sure you buy strips that register in the range you're interested in.)

I just don't like the taste of our citywater...There is some dry cleaning solvent in it...
I have a friend who brews AG at a nearby ranch on well water...
I make better beer...Maybe he should check the well water...?

Most RO water is between 5 and 6. RO is not suitable for All grain brewing though. the minerals have been stripped out of it. When I was using RO water I mixed it 40/60 with spring water, the spring water added needed minerals and the RO helped pull the PH down. Now I just used carbon filtered tap water with 5.2 buffer.

Sounds like I need to buy a filter and 5.2 buffer...Can I get the buffer at a HBS?
I can go borrow some well water and do a 50/50 mix for a start...I don't want to use my tap water unfiltered...

beerthirty said:

Most RO water is between 5 and 6. RO is not suitable for All grain brewing though. the minerals have been stripped out of it. When I was using RO water I mixed it 40/60 with spring water, the spring water added needed minerals and the RO helped pull the PH down. Now I just used carbon filtered tap water with 5.2 buffer.

Click to expand...

This is bad news for me, as a carbon filter is -not- going to take care of our hard well water. I wonder whether resorting to a yeast nutrient of some kind might make up for those missing minerals.....

I'll find out what my buddies well water PH is and report back...He does A.G.

Don't concern yourself with the water pH. You're much more concerned with the mash pH.

Grains have their own acidity (and darker=more acidic) and buffering capacity, so if you get the water in the right ballpark for your grainbill, there is no need for 5.2.

You want at least 50ppm calcium for healthy yeast. You can get this from gypsum, chalk, and calcium chloride, and how much of each depends on the water you're starting with and the recipe being brewed.