Whole house filter takes EVERYTHING out of my water

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McCue

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Jan 15, 2011
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Hamilton
Looking to brew my first all grain batch this weekend and so I got a water analysis done by Ward labs. All the water in our house gets filtered and as a result there is very little left in term of the ions that Palmer talks about in his book. For example he lists the calcium brewing range at 50 - 150 ppm and I've got 3. He lists magnesium at 10 - 30 and I've got 1. Bicarbonate should be anywhere from 0 - 250 depending on the style and I've got 28. For sulfate he lists 50 - 350 depending on bitterness of the style and I've got <1 ppm.

If I use the nomograph to estimate mash pH with calcium and magnesium both at about 0 and CaCO3 at 23 I get a mash pH of 5.75 which isn't the end of the world. I can adjust it up or down from there. But is mash pH the only thing I have to be concerened about or are these missing ions supposed to be doing other things for me as well? For example Palmer states that calcium promotes clarity, flavor and stability and that chloride (I've got 1 ppm) accentuates the flavor and fullness of beer. What do other people with whole house water filters do?
 
The water chemistry primer is a great read. I start with RO water and build it to suit
the beer I am brewing. I use Brewater 3.0 wich has lots of water profiles. You have very nice water to start with. I am heading up to lake Como in a few weeks . We love Hamilton and Bitterroot Brewing . We had a judge from Hamilton marry us up on Blodget canyon. He hiked all the way up there for us. I offered him a beer but he didn't want to fall on the way down.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys. It's nice to find out that something you were worried about is actually a good place to start from.

shutupjojo - thats a great story, Blodget would be an awesome place to get married. We've only been living here a year but we're loving the mountains and many good nights spent at the brewery!
 
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