Anyone brew with Members Mark "Purified" Water?

[ja09]

Anyone brew with this? If so, do you use as-is, or build a profile?

About to mash in. I originally thought it was typical Spring water, but looking closer it says "Purified by micron filtration, reverse osmosis and ozonation." Is this just a fancy way of saying it's filtered, or is this pure RO water that needs salts?

I'm brewing four 1g stovetop Maris Otter smash batches from the same mash, so I thought I'd try some new water.

I don't really know much about water chemistry yet, so any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Chrisl77]

Reverse osmosis will mean it has very little mineral content left in it. If you have it you will probably need to ad some brewing salts to it.

 

[ja09]

Reverse osmosis will mean it has very little mineral content left in it. If you have it you will probably need to ad some brewing salts to it.

Thanks. I'm about to mash out, think I'll just use tap water for the sparge and yeast nutrient in the boil.

Anyone else have experience with this brand of water?

 

[MaxStout]

Read up all you can on water. There is a good primer on the subject here. Also, download the free Bru 'n Water spreadsheet and start experimenting with that.

Reverse osmosis water is very pure, so it eliminates the unknowns. Then you can build my water profile you want, from the ground up.

 

[ja09]

Read up all you can on water. There is a good primer on the subject here. Also, download the free Bru 'n Water spreadsheet and start experimenting with that.

Reverse osmosis water is very pure, so it eliminates the unknowns. Then you can build my water profile you want, from the ground up.

Hey.. alright MaxStout.. Since we're in the same city, maybe I should listen to you I've heard mpls has great water for brewing, but my last two IPA's have had a muted hop bitter-ish flavor after kegged for a week or two. They seem to taste great out of the fermenter, so I'm not sure what's up at the moment. They both had gelatin and 5.2 stabilizer with mpls water. Trying to eliminate all of those things with this batch and see what happens.

 

[Yooper]

Hey.. alright MaxStout.. Since we're in the same city, maybe I should listen to you I've heard mpls has great water for brewing, but my last two IPA's have had a muted hop bitter-ish flavor after kegged for a week or two. They seem to taste great out of the fermenter, so I'm not sure what's up at the moment. They both had gelatin and 5.2 stabilizer with mpls water. Trying to eliminate all of those things with this batch and see what happens.

Next time, leave out the 5.2 stabilizer and consider using gypsum in the mash. If you don't know your water chemistry, get an analysis from the city. Mash pH is crucial, and then flavor ions like sulfates are next in importance. I've never seen a Minneapolis water profile, but if you have chlorine or chloramines in the city water you'll want to treat for that.

RO water (like in your bottled water) is perfect for brewing, but you may need a bit of gypsum in your IPA to make the hops really pop out.

 

[MaxStout]

Hey.. alright MaxStout.. Since we're in the same city, maybe I should listen to you I've heard mpls has great water for brewing, but my last two IPA's have had a muted hop bitter-ish flavor after kegged for a week or two. They seem to taste great out of the fermenter, so I'm not sure what's up at the moment. They both had gelatin and 5.2 stabilizer with mpls water. Trying to eliminate all of those things with this batch and see what happens.

Actually, I'm in the north 'burbs, and our local water is very hard and alkaline. It also has a fair amount of iron. So I avoid that like the plague for brewing.

I get my RO water at Cub Foods for $0.39/gallon bulk, which is probably comparable to what you pay at Sam's Club. I bought a few of those 5-gallon water jugs and fill them up before each brew day.

But Mpls. city water may be better. Go online to the city's site and see if they post a water report, or shoot an email to their water dept. If you can avoid the hassle of schlepping big jugs of grocery store water and use tap, all the better.