BIAB with tap water

[MrClint]

The thread is about BIAB and brewing with tap water (or not), it then slipped into brewing beer that appeals to a panel of judges instead of your own tastes, preferences and joy of the hobby. My only nit here is that any input, expense or level of effort can be justified if the goal is to win a medal.

I was going to say that this isn't some kind of a priesthood or something, but dang those monks went and shattered that illusion. They brewed for a higher purpose than medals I suppose. So yeah, there's room for turning this hobby into a vocation, competition and religion. As said previously, you do you.

 

[mac_1103]

FWIW, most monks aren't priests.

 

[Broken Crow]

The thread is about BIAB and brewing with tap water (or not), it then slipped into brewing beer that appeals to a panel of judges instead of your own tastes, preferences and joy of the hobby. My only nit here is that any input, expense or level of effort can be justified if the goal is to win a medal.

I was going to say that this isn't some kind of a priesthood or something, but dang those monks went and shattered that illusion. They brewed for a higher purpose than medals I suppose. So yeah, there's room for turning this hobby into a vocation, competition and religion. As said previously, you do you.

https://thechurchofbeer.com/

 

[Bobby_M]

The thread is about BIAB and brewing with tap water (or not), it then slipped into brewing beer that appeals to a panel of judges instead of your own tastes, preferences and joy of the hobby. My only nit here is that any input, expense or level of effort can be justified if the goal is to win a medal.

I was going to say that this isn't some kind of a priesthood or something, but dang those monks went and shattered that illusion. They brewed for a higher purpose than medals I suppose. So yeah, there's room for turning this hobby into a vocation, competition and religion. As said previously, you do you.

It's disingenuous ignore the evolution of the conversation. Of course my post about brewing prowess being partially exhibited by competition success would be insane if it were in post number two.

I'm not saying the only measure of "good beer" is winning competitions. I keep saying that, but I don't think you're hearing it. Here's the unbelievable thing apparently; you can brew a really good beer that wins a competition AND that you personally find very satisfying to drink. Why does it have to be mutually exclusive?

I'll be ultra clear one more time.

Most beer isn't put into competitions.
Most beer is on a spectrum of terrible to amazing, depending on who you ask.
Most beer that gets gold medals in BJCP competitions are objectively good to excellent.
Most brewers who win those medals on a consistent basis know EXACTLY what water is going into their beer.


Can you brew amazing world-class beer with tap water if you have no idea what's in it? YES. BUT.

Not if your tap water is extremely soft or extremely hard and you're brewing the wrong style for that extreme.
Not all styles across the board.
Not if you want the beer to be the absolute best beer it can be, as determined by whatever metric you see fit.

 

[NSMikeD]

let me see for I can get this thread back on track since it was my fault it got derailed. I made a comment is haste that didn't properly reflect what I intended about BIAB. As a BIAB and eBIAB brewer I certainly know that you can make very good beer with simple equipment and methods. And that you can be very precise and with many additional points of detail and additionally equipment. Thus my off the cuff comment about BIAB and award winning beer competition beer. What I really many was referring to newer homebrewers and using BIAB and an easy step into the world of all grain brewing. And for most of us at that stage (or were at the stage), the flood of information, additional hardware and science gained over the years by brewers can condensed into a could of pages of posts can be overwhelming.

@Bobby_M nailed the answer: YES, BUT

Without knowing what's coming out of your tap, it's a guessing game.

I forgot who first mention getting a filtration system, but stripping your water to 0 TDS and then mixing in the additions is certainly an effective way of ensuring you have desired water and less expensive in the long run that buying water.

Chlorine v choramine are different and camped and goo filtration systems will remove them, but chorine is more easily removed early in the brewing process and less of a concern if one wants to by pass the just mention options.

I hope the OP's question was answered, and the additional posts inspire further understanding of water chemistry in homebrewing.

And thanks to the folks who called out my post. The off ramp of this thread was educational.

 

[BeerAndTele]

Summary: distilled/RO water + adjustments. All. Day. Long. Be mindful of your pH and adjust to taste ... ... ... unless you'd rather not, which is fine.

As for the more controversial issue:

On guitar boards we have the tone wood topic ...

There is no audible difference between a maple fingerboard and a rosewood fingerboard. Play what feels good under your fingers.

Cheers ... and rock on.

 

[Airborneguy]

Does RO water have a set PH or does it still fluctuate by source?

 

[AlexKay]

Does RO water have a set PH or does it still fluctuate by source?

RO water has no acid- or base-active components, so its pH changes practically whenever you look at it. Add something slightly acidic and the pH will plummet down to 4 or 5 or something; add something slightly basic and you'll be at 9 or 10.

All things being equal, dissolved CO2 in RO will probably give it a pH between 5 and 6, but look at it sternly and it'll go back up.

 

[doug293cz]

Does RO water have a set PH or does it still fluctuate by source?

Water pH is pretty much irrelevant. It is the alkalinity of the water that matters, as alkalinity is what affects the mash pH. Buffering power is what determines how easy it is to shift the pH up or down by addition of other ions/compounds. Buffering power is determined mostly by the alkalinity of the water. You could have water from two different sources, both with pH of say 7.5, but one is low alkalinity, and the other high alkalinity. When mashing the same grain bill, the low alkalinity water might result in a mash pH of 5.6, with the high alkalinity water giving a mash pH of 6.2 (too high.) Alkalinity vs. pH of the starting water seems to be a difficult concept to understand for those new to dealing with water chemistry and mash pH (based on the many questions on HBT about water pH.)

As @AlexKay said, RO water has close to zero alkalinity, and zero buffering power, so adding anything to it will shift the pH wildly.

Brew on

 

[mac_1103]

Alkalinity vs. pH of the starting water seems to be a difficult concept to understand for those new to dealing with water chemistry and mash pH

Maybe that's because we all learned a rather different definition of "alkalinity" in high school. Specifically, alkaline means basic means high pH. I certainly understand why it is used to denote buffering power in water chemistry, but it's not exactly intuitive.

 

[doug293cz]

Maybe that's because we all learned a rather different definition of "alkalinity" in high school. Specifically, alkaline means basic means high pH. I certainly understand why it is used to denote buffering power in water chemistry, but it's not exactly intuitive.

Definitely not intuitive. And coming to grips with "mash pH is very important, but water pH doesn't matter" can be difficult due to cognitive dissonance.

Brew on

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Maybe that's because we all learned a rather different definition of "alkalinity" in high school. Specifically, alkaline means basic means high pH. I certainly understand why it is used to denote buffering power in water chemistry, but it's not exactly intuitive.

Right! The first search defined the difference as :

"An alkaline solution simply means it has a pH greater than 7. Alkalinity, on the other hand, refers to a solution's quantitative ability to neutralize an acid. Therefore, you can have water with high (alkaline) pH and low alkalinity, or high alkalinity and low pH."

On the other hand, both Acid and Acidity mean the same thing so it sure seems natural to think Alkaline and Alkalinity would also.

 

[davidhenrymercer]

Anyone brewing with straight tap water with success, no adjustments other than maybe a campden tablet?

I brewed with tap water for years outside with a cooler and pot before moving inside with the Anvil 2 years ago.

No adjustments to water (local water report is incomplete for brewing purposes.) I just got lazy and never tested it.

The first two beers I brewed on the Anvil came out way too bitter (A NEIPA I screwed up with bad Galaxy hops, and a Janet's Brown Ale.)

I switched to Poland Spring for a batch or 2 then started then switched to distilled.

Since then, I have modifying water with calculations provided by Brewfather. (mash water only)

Since switching to distilled, beers have all been fine, but no real difference that I can tell, from when I use to brew the old way outside (well, maybe the hoppier beers got better.)


Anyone have feedback?

TY

We live in Olympia, WA, where there are several artesian wells scattered throughout the vicinity. We're fortunate to share the same source used for now-defunct Olympia Brewing. Analysis shows almost pure water, requiring very little adjustment. We add gypsum and salts in small amounts because it's on the soft side, but very little else. Seems compatible with every recipe we've tried. This should be a home and craft brew mecca, but it's not.

 

[RM-MN]

This should be a home and craft brew mecca, but it's not.

While it can be quite easy to adjust pure water to the mineral content needed to make quality beers, not every hombrewer is aware of how easy it can be. Once they have failed a few times they tend to give up rather than reaching out to find the solution.