Building Water from Distilled - Easy Recipes?

[hokenfloken]

Greetings all!

After reviewing my water report, it has become apparent that it will be a better option for me to build water from distilled rather than modifying my own. I have been playing around with the brewing water calculator at

http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

I have acquired all of the brewing salts used in the program and am having problems easily hitting the built-in target profiles.

Does anyone have any techniques for hitting these numbers accurately?

Or...does anyone know where I can get "recipes" for famous brewing cities without figuring them out myself. I'm fine with figuring these numbers out myself but I have to believe other people are building water from distilled water too and I know there must be people who have figured this out already.

By the way, I am trying to make a dry American stout with WLP001.

As always, thanks for all the help!

NATE

 

[TheRabidKumquat]

I'm curious why you're "building" using distilled instead of just using bottled drinking water? It seems like it'd be a bit more work than I'd want to deal with, unless for a specific reason. Is it to have more control and able to produce different water for specific types of brews?

 

[hokenfloken]

I am interested mainly in being able to target my water profiles specifically to each style off beer I am trying to produce. I am extremely interested in controlling flavors produced by different water ions. I am open to using RO water but only if I can get a water report for the RO water. I am in the process of doing so and finding a local source of RO water for cheap. For right now, however, I am mainly interested in building from the ground up.

 

[JNye]

depending on your batch size and how often you brew, you might consider getting an RO/DI unit, you can get a real nice one for less then $200, and no driving and lugging water. Can't you just dilute you current water to get "close" to the profile you are looking for?

 

[hokenfloken]

I would love to be able to dilute my water but I can't even get a full water profile from my local water plant. The only numbers on the partial report are total hardness, which is through the roof. I just can't trust it, that's all. I have looked at the RO/DI units and, depending on how well I can adjust pure H2O, I might consider one. For now, I'm just looking for tips on adjusting ion levels using calculators.

 

[HiGravShawn]

I would love to be able to dilute my water but I can't even get a full water profile from my local water plant. The only numbers on the partial report are total hardness, which is through the roof. I just can't trust it, that's all. I have looked at the RO/DI units and, depending on how well I can adjust pure H2O, I might consider one. For now, I'm just looking for tips on adjusting ion levels using calculators.

Have you thought about getting a full water report from a lab? A good one for brewers only costs like $15.

 

[dragon99]

I build mine from RO (not DI). For APA and IPA's (most of what I brew) I use:
2 tsp Chalk
2 tsp CaCl2
2 tsp Gypsum

I don't mess with adding Epsom salts (for Mg+) though it probably woudn't hurt. I'm getting enough Na+ from my source water (even after RO) that I don't have to add table salt.

I'm sure I could come up with a better profile if I did each by weight and dialed it in a bit, but 2 tsp of each is too darn easy.

For another option check this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/building-brewing-water-reverse-osmosis-ro-water-50850/