Mashing with distilled water

[hoops_hops]

Hello,
Sorry if this topic has been brought up already. If it has just link me.

I live in a city where I really don't like the taste of the water, too much chlorine and floride. So I've been brewing with distilled water. So far my results have been decent flavor wise, but I feel I am not getting the mash efficiency that I should be. I am consistently hitting between 59% and 65%. And I have tried a lot of different mash modifications and can't seem to get more efficiency.
My question is, what are some some simple practical things I can add to my mash water to increase enzyme efficiency? I know calcium is one, but what is an easy way to add calcium?

Thank you

Michael

 

[hercher]

First of all, what have you tried thus far?

Your grain crush could be at fault, not your water.

Are you monitoring the pH of your mash? That can have a significant impact on your efficiency. It should be around 5.2-5.4.

Calcium is easily added as gypsum, which is readily available in powder form.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious: Another possible issue could be your technique. Are you stirring the mash sufficiently to avoid hot spots and dough balls? Are you fly sparging too fast, thus leaving a lot of valuable sugars behind? What grist-water ratio are you using?

 

[Larso]

Under brewing science read the first post in thread 'a brewing water chemistry primer'. You need to treat distilled water and it gives very simple guidelines that are easy and meant for a novice to follow. I brew with RO water and use same guidelines with great results

 

[Jeff_H]

Before you go and try to mess with all the water chemistry, may we ask why you are using distilled water at all? I assume you're buying it in bottles, right? Why not use spring water instead? The distillation process removes EVERYTHING from the water....including all the minerals that help the enzymes do their thing during the mash.

Before you go on a huge chemistry lab experiment, I'd seriously consider keeping it simple and going away from the distilled water unless there's a good reason you went that route to begin with.

 

[Yooper]

Before you go and try to mess with all the water chemistry, may we ask why you are using distilled water at all? I assume you're buying it in bottles, right? Why not use spring water instead? The distillation process removes EVERYTHING from the water....including all the minerals that help the enzymes do their thing during the mash.

Before you go on a huge chemistry lab experiment, I'd seriously consider keeping it simple and going away from the distilled water unless there's a good reason you went that route to begin with.

The funny thing is that I would never use spring water. With distilled or RO water, you know what you're getting in the water- nothing. But with "spring water", it could be high in carbonates. Or not. Or it could be high in chloride. Or not. In my opinion, if someone is purchasing water, starting with a blank slate would be far preferable.

You need very little in the way of minerals- you could get by with no additions. But to get a little calcium in the water (said to help with yeast health and flocculation), a teaspoon of calcium chloride could be all that is needed. Or, for a hoppy pale ale, adding some gypsum would be appropriate. It's quick, easy, dependable, and repeatable.

 

[Soldevi]

A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer