Brewing water during the pandemic

[PMcGuen]

Hey all, need some advice
I have everything to brew with the exception of my water. I usually buy r/o water from the store and build my needed profile using BeerSmith. I can’t justify going to the store just to buy water for making beer in times like this. So, I want to try and brew with my well water. It’s very hard. No sulfur. A lot of rust though. I could use it after it’s been softened. I have plenty of things to treat the water with, just not sure which water to use and what to treat it with. I know no one likes to give water advice without a profile, but these are extreme circumstances. Beer still has to be made!!

 

[Sailingeric]

I think you would be ok going to the store. Getting water is usually solo thing anyways, so your chance of contact with anyone will be low, plus bring some wipes to wipe stuff down before you are touching anything.

 

[PMcGuen]

Probably. The wife and I have decided no trips out unless necessary. We have a couple weeks of food so it’s time to improvise or wait.

 

[mongoose33]

About all you can do with very hard water is to brew a Stout. Of course, that requires that you have the correct grain.

You might look into an RO system. Mine saves me about $5.60 each time I brew, as opposed to paying that at the store, plus the time and mileage needed to get it.

My system, which is portable, cost me circa $170. Divide that by $5.60 and it took me about 30 brews to pay it off. Since then, it's money in the bank. How much money? I have just completed my 88th brew, and about 83 of them have been with my own RO water. Do the math.

If I were you, i'd follow @Sailingeric 's advice above, get the RO water this one time, and meanwhile look into getting your own RO setup.

Either way, good luck!

 

[McKnuckle]

The simplest answer is just to wait until you need to go for food. Then also buy water. Problem solved.

Delayed gratification is just part of the collective sacrifice we are all being forced to endure. Sucks, for sure, but... beats the alternative.

 

[PMcGuen]

I get this is not a great idea and absolve you all of any responsibility. If it turns out bad, at least I got to spend some time doing what I like to do. With that being said, anyone have any ideas?

 

[Jag75]

Make your own distilled water. Might take you a while but .....

 

[eric19312]

I think the iron in your well water is a deal breaker. If you want to experiment I'd probably go with your softened water and accept that you will be getting pretty high sodium and/or potassium levels. How about a Gose?

 

[Deadalus]

I get this is not a great idea and absolve you all of any responsibility. If it turns out bad, at least I got to spend some time doing what I like to do. With that being said, anyone have any ideas?

Delivery maybe? Perhaps a full grocery order. Not sure if the store might have a limit on the water.

Or check this link for ideas https://www.thoughtco.com/making-distilled-water-609427 .
Collect rainwater? There's a calculation for collecting rainwater per unit area for rooftops. It would apply if you made a collector out of something else. You just need a couple of gallons.

 

[Deadalus]

It's around 600 gallons for each inch of rain on a 1000 sq ft roof. https://www.watercache.com/resources/rainwater-collection-calculator
A sheet of plywood is 32 sq ft. An inch of rain on that is almost 20 gallons.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Do you know how many grains or ppm of "total hardness" your water has? From that we may be able to infer its calcium and magnesium. And if you cal also get a TDS reading on it, we might even be able to infer a range of alkalinity possibilities for it.

You don't want to brew with softened water. A softener removes all of the calcium and magnesium and replaces both with sodium.

Do you have a pH meter? If you add a certain quantity of a known acid to it and it drops from pH A to pH B, from that it should be possible to back calculate and determine alkalinity.

 

[coonmanx]

Water delivery might just be the answer.

 

[mattdee1]

I'm in the same boat. I have grains, hops, and yeast on hand but I'm currently quarantined and just can't bring myself to roll the dice with tap water. Family and friends have been great helping us out with groceries and essentials, but I'm not about to ask my sister to lug 3 jugs of water weighing 50lbs each. Actually, I'm not even sure the store I go to for RO is even open.

Mandatory quarantine for me is over in a few days, but I'm not sure excursions to get brewing water meet the spirit of the day. Oh well, at least I have a pretty solid pipeline right now.

 

[coonmanx]

I recently installed one of those "on the faucet" Culligan water filters and it works great and makes the water taste wonderful. But when I brew I use Eldorado Canyon water along with some tap water. 4 gallons of the bottled water and enough tap water to make up the difference. I managed to get 4 gallons at the store the other day because I didn't see the notice saying that you could only buy 3. But they had plenty on the shelf.

 

[Deadalus]

I'm in the same boat. I have grains, hops, and yeast on hand but I'm currently quarantined and just can't bring myself to roll the dice with tap water. Family and friends have been great helping us out with groceries and essentials, but I'm not about to ask my sister to lug 3 jugs of water weighing 50lbs each. Actually, I'm not even sure the store I go to for RO is even open.

Mandatory quarantine for me is over in a few days, but I'm not sure excursions to get brewing water meet the spirit of the day. Oh well, at least I have a pretty solid pipeline right now.

Are you on city water? If so, have you ever looked up your water report?

I found mine online and was happy to see it is fairly low across the board and therefore adjustable. A little variability though year to year for some values.

 

[mattdee1]

Are you on city water? If so, have you ever looked up your water report?

I found mine online and was happy to see it is fairly low across the board and therefore adjustable. A little variability though year to year for some values.

Yes, I tried that. I even called the city to talk to water guy about it. I think it helped my results a little compared to doing nothing at all, but nothing has been as clean as RO, so it's hard to go back. Oh well, I may very well end up revisiting the tap water idea due to the exceptional circumstances.

 

[cmac62]

So I looked up my tap water report and it lists the following:
Alkalinity: 96
Calcium: 62
Hardness: 250
PH: 8-8.7
Sodium: 100
Chloride: 150
Sulfate: 190
TDS: Average 590

Is there anything I can brew with as is treated with Camden? Also, what would need to be added to brew different beers. This would be so helpful, because I cant get water at this time either. I tried, but even the machines at the store were out. Thanks

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

The water "as is" will work for the likes of robust Porters and Stouts. To brew light colored beers add one of the following acids to every 10 gallons of it to knock down the alkalinity:

88% Lactic Acid = 5.6 mL
80% Lactic Acid = 6.3 mL
AMS (CRS) = 17.7 mL
10% Phosphoric Acid = 59 mL
30% Phosphoric Acid = 17.7 mL
75% Phosphoric Acid = 5.3 mL
85% Phosphoric Acid = 4.3 mL

PS: Your Magnesium should be right around 23 ppm.

 

[cmac62]

The water "as is" will work for the likes of robust Porters and Stouts. To brew light colored beers add one of the following acids to every 10 gallons of it to knock down the alkalinity:

88% Lactic Acid = 5.6 mL
80% Lactic Acid = 6.3 mL
AMS (CRS) = 17.7 mL
10% Phosphoric Acid = 59 mL
30% Phosphoric Acid = 17.7 mL
75% Phosphoric Acid = 5.3 mL
85% Phosphoric Acid = 4.3 mL

PS: Your Magnesium should be right around 23 ppm.

Thanks for the reply silver. I have the 88% LA and have been using 1 tsp per 10 gals. Do I need to treat both the mash and sparge water? Thanks

 

[Nate R]

Hey all, need some advice
I have everything to brew with the exception of my water. I usually buy r/o water from the store and build my needed profile using BeerSmith. I can’t justify going to the store just to buy water for making beer in times like this. So, I want to try and brew with my well water. It’s very hard. No sulfur. A lot of rust though. I could use it after it’s been softened. I have plenty of things to treat the water with, just not sure which water to use and what to treat it with. I know no one likes to give water advice without a profile, but these are extreme circumstances. Beer still has to be made!!

+1 to the on the tap filter. Nothing compared to r/o at all, but theu are like $15 or so or less (i got an RV for my hose). Campden tablet, and maybe just brew??
Sure it wont be great, but if this sheez does get really bad, you will have beer in the pipeline vs. no beer.
I always choose beer over no beer.
Plus, i am planning for worst case: i may trade beer to my neighnors for toilet paper!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Thanks for the reply silver. I have the 88% LA and have been using 1 tsp per 10 gals. Do I need to treat both the mash and sparge water? Thanks

Yes, acidify the sparge water for all beers, including Porters and Stouts. Also use Campden to knock out chlorine and chloramines.

 

[mabrungard]

While it’s the exception, some waters can be softened and used for brewing.

With regard to the iron staining, that suggests that the iron content is going to adversely affect the brewing results. For that reason, softening might help. But that will require that the raw water has low hardness.

 

[Jim R]

Good for you for being pretty strict about staying home right now.

I would go out though and find a city water tap (park, back of a gas station, etc.). At least it will be city treated water and you should be able access it without any contact with anyone. Then I would get the city water report which is usually readily available (online or with a phone call). Our nearest cities water is a lot better than my well water. I wouldn't even waste my time with my well water.

 

[NTexBrewer]

https://www.twicetheice.com/find-the-tti/

Any chance you have something like this near you. The ones near me also allow you to purchase RO water that you put into your own container. I fill up 5 gallon containers this way. A lot of Mom and Pop water stores also have a filing station located outside for 24hour use.

unless you are under strict do not leave house orders this would be your best bet to buy water and not interact with anyone.

 

[WestMichBrewer]

I'm going to give our softened city water a shot on a partial mash lager recipe, probably this weekend.
I don't have any acid malt on hand though. Any thoughts on how the mini mash would be affected?