Distilled Water Mineral profile?

[rockthecasbah121]

I found some conflicting information on the exact mineral profile of distilled water. I typically use the BF water chemistry calculator, which has the following metrics:

Calcium
Magnesium
Sodium
Chloride
Sulfate
Bicarbonate
PH

If I used distilled water to brew, I've been using 0 for all fields except 97ppm bicarbonate and a PH of 8. I've seen other sites quote the distilled water bicarbonate figure much lower. What is the correct number and how much of an impact on the taste of the beer could this have?

Second- if anyone wants to throw me a lifeline- what is a basic addition recipe for a light beer using distilled water?

 

[TheMadKing]

I found some conflicting information on the exact mineral profile of distilled water. I typically use the BF water chemistry calculator, which has the following metrics:

Calcium
Magnesium
Sodium
Chloride
Sulfate
Bicarbonate
PH

If I used distilled water to brew, I've been using 0 for all fields except 97ppm bicarbonate and a PH of 8. I've seen other sites quote the distilled water bicarbonate figure much lower. What is the correct number and how much of an impact on the taste of the beer could this have?

Second- if anyone wants to throw me a lifeline- what is a basic addition recipe for a light beer using distilled water?

Most folks use 0 for everything in distilled water. This is not 100% accurate, but as they say in the south "good enough for the girls I go with"

And good enough for making beer.

For a light beer with distilled water, just 1/2 tsp CaCl and Gypsum each would be a good place to start. KISS principal in action.

 

[rockthecasbah121]

Most folks use 0 for everything in distilled water. This is not 100% accurate, but as they say in the south "good enough for the girls I go with"

And good enough for making beer.

For a light beer with distilled water, just 1/2 tsp CaCl and Gypsum each would be a good place to start. KISS principal in action.

I'm mostly concerned about the 97 bicarbonate metric I saw- doesn't bicarbonates give a harsh taste to a finished beer?

For your measurements- is that 1/2 tsp per gallon or per 5 gallons?

 

[TheMadKing]

I'm mostly concerned about the 97 bicarbonate metric I saw- doesn't bicarbonates give a harsh taste to a finished beer?

For your measurements- is that 1/2 tsp per gallon or per 5 gallons?

1/2 tsp per 5 gallon batch.

Bicarbonate is usually used as a proxy for alkalinity which is to say, it affects mash pH and to a very small extent, flavor. If your distilled water has 97ppm alkalinity (as bicarbonate) it's either wrong or really crappy distilled water. It should have less than 25ppm alkalinity (as bicarbonate)

 

[jurgenph]

I'm mostly concerned about the 97 bicarbonate metric I saw- doesn't bicarbonates give a harsh taste to a finished beer?

distilled water should have less "stuff" in it than RO water, and be pretty close to RODI water.

stick a TDS meter in some distilled, it should come back pretty close to zero.

the RO water from my filter is in between 5 and 10 TDS, depending on water temperature and pressure.


J.

 

[rockthecasbah121]

1/2 tsp per 5 gallon batch.

Bicarbonate is usually used as a proxy for alkalinity which is to say, it affects mash pH and to a very small extent, flavor. If your distilled water has 97ppm alkalinity (as bicarbonate) it's either wrong or really crappy distilled water. It should have less than 25ppm alkalinity (as bicarbonate)

OK- I was going off the Brewer's Lair profile for distilled water. I haven't tested my own. It gave the following:


Calcium (ppm): 0
Sulfates (ppm): 0
Magnesium (ppm): 0
Sodium (ppm): 0
Chloride (ppm): 0
Carbonates (ppm): 97

Now I'm realized this is actually reported as Carbonates versus bicarbonates. Should I just assume 25ppm bicarbonate in my calculations or use an even lower number?

 

[Brewddah]

The pH of the RO water I use is typically around 6.5. I had this water tested in a lab, and it was essentially a blank slate, with at most, 2-3 ppm of sodium and chloride. This analysis did not include bicarbonate or carbonate, but these can be estimated using carbonate equilibria because I know the pH and roughly how much CO2 is in the air. Basically, it's around 1 ppm bicarbonate, and even less carbonate. I have only ever had to add bicarbonate to dark beer with a lot of roasted malts that could lower the mash pH to an undesirable level. For lighter colored beers, I never add any bicarbonate or carbonate. You don't have to go through the carbonate equilibrium calculations with starting with distilled/RO water, and can probably safely assume negligible carbonates. I'm a chemist and I like geeking out over that kind of thing

 

[TheMadKing]

OK- I was going off the Brewer's Lair profile for distilled water. I haven't tested my own. It gave the following:


Calcium (ppm): 0
Sulfates (ppm): 0
Magnesium (ppm): 0
Sodium (ppm): 0
Chloride (ppm): 0
Carbonates (ppm): 97

Now I'm realized this is actually reported as Carbonates versus bicarbonates. Should I just assume 25ppm bicarbonate in my calculations or use an even lower number?

If you are truly using distilled water, then I'd use 0. Most people work from the assumption that distilled/RO water are a clean slate to build from.

 

[rockthecasbah121]

This is helpful information- I think the use of 97ppm bicarbonates was probably messing up my chemical additions.

For Distilled- would you also assume a PH of around 6.5?

 

[GotPushrods]

OK- I was going off the Brewer's Lair profile for distilled water. I haven't tested my own. It gave the following:


Calcium (ppm): 0
Sulfates (ppm): 0
Magnesium (ppm): 0
Sodium (ppm): 0
Chloride (ppm): 0
Carbonates (ppm): 97

Now I'm realized this is actually reported as Carbonates versus bicarbonates. Should I just assume 25ppm bicarbonate in my calculations or use an even lower number?

I don't know what 'Brewer's Lair' is, but you should maybe not get any more info from there.

Distilled, while technically referring to a process, does imply void of almost all ions. Like <1 mg/L for everything. While the 97 for 'carbonates' is obviously wrong, it's not even a balanced water profile. Hopefully it's just a fat finger on their part.

 

[jan_b19]

In theory distilled water has a pH of 7, It's neither alkaline or acidic. However the pH will often be lower because distilled water absorbs carbon dioxide from air. So it's safer to assume that the pH is about 6.7-6.8 instead of 7.
Because it has a really low amount of minerals in it (if any) you can assume a bicarbonate level of 0-10 HCO3.

I did look at the post on brewers lair. It's not the same thing so don't use carbonate levels as bicarbonate levels.
They're both present in water and both of them have an effect on the acidity of the water.
(calcium)Carbonates are measured as CACO3 not as HCO3
Bicarbonate Alkalinity as HCO3(mg/L) = 1.22 *Bicarbonate Alkalinity as CaCO3 (mg/L).
So that would mean in the example above there would be a bicarbonate level of 118ppm(hco3) and i have no clue how they got to such a absurdly high number.

Because distilled water get's exposed to air and because it actually absorbs minerals from the vessel it is stored in i always take 1-5 ppm for every mineral. Depending on how old it is.