H2O: To filter, or not to filter???

[Brulosopher]

I live in a city (Fresno, CA) that has surprisingly good water- only the slightest essence of chlorine straight from the tap, and otherwise rather tasty. I had been brewing for the past year using unfiltered tap water (I fashioned a homemade hose that connects to my utility sink). For my most recent batch, I used a carbon filter connected to a potable (white) water hose to filter the mash and sparge water. A pre-taste of the water revealed the filter was doing it's job, as the water tasted as pure as my Brita water. I figured this would only serve to increase the quality of my already tasty beers. Well, 2 weeks after brewing, my IPA is all kegged up and carbonated. First off, it is way more hazy than any of the other beers I've brewed over the last 10 years, and I used the highly flocculant WLP001. The taste of the beer is noticeably, umm, blah. It's boring, empty, and not very satisfying.

I'm wondering if filtering my water might be the culprit for this underwhelming beer? I've done some research and it appears some folks encourage the use of municipal water due to it's mineral content. Thoughts?

 

[Bensiff]

Activated carbon removes VOC's, chlorine, and sediment. It shouldn't be removing salts unless it has a special filter level for that too. So, there shouldn't be really anything happening that will impact your beer. IPA's are often cloudy so it might be just the high level of hops. As far as the blah, did you adjust your water with salts or just go plain filtered tap water?

 

[Brulosopher]

Just plain filtered tap. I have some gypsum that I didn't add, but I'm not too keen on water manipulation. Your help would be very much appreciated!!

 

[samc]

I'd certainly debate you on the "I used the highly flocculant WLP001" - because it is not considered that by White Labs nor my experience. I'd guess that something got stripped out of your water that has helped with clarity and proper balance.

I don't necessarily rely on the claims of water filter manufacturers. If you want to continue with those filters you might want to get the water tested as many others have done. I'm pretty happy with building up my RO water, which is even easy for a chemistry drop out like me. Read the first AJ post of the Water Chem primer, couldn't be easier IMO.

The other option for you is to stick with the unfiltered water and use Campden tablets to get rid of the Chlorine.

 

[Brulosopher]

Thanks, SamC, for the referral to the water chem primer. While it looks like something I'd like to do, I don't really know how to go about getting RO water without buying it at the store. I'd still prefer to use free water. The chlorine in my tap is barely even noticeable, to be honest, and perhaps helps my beers out (?).

And yes, I'm not sure why I referred to WLP001 as highly flocculent... in my other batch I used WLP007, which is, and that beer is clearing up nicely.

Either way, they just don't taste that good since using filtered water.

 

[millaj92]

First off, chlorine never helps your beer. Secondly, yeast flocculation is not the only thing that contributes to haze. Thirdly, I highly recommend a simple carbon filter on tap water for a beer water source. I also recommend even just a bit of doctoring, especially if your tap water isn't very hard. It all depends on the style of beer you're making of course, but I use carbon filtered tap that's moderately hard and I always end up adding at least a little bit of extra hardness and usually some lactic acid for pH adjustment. But I have made batches of completely un-doctored carbon filtered tap and the beers turned out great, but like I said my water is already kind of hard. Every situation is different but I say do what's cheapest, easiest, AND makes beer you like. I realize not everyone wants to deal with water chemistry and that's OKAY unless you're operating a production brewery.

 

[Brulosopher]

Alright, so I'm ready to start making some adjustments to my water, and continue using the filter. I'll be making a purchase from Northern Brewer next weekend and I'm hoping someone might be able to suggest some "manipulations" I can make based on my water. I got the following numbers from the website for my municipal water source:

Ca: 27.25
Mg: 15.25
Na: 21.25
SO4: 15.8
HCO3: 200.84
Cl: 11.09
pH: 7.6

I seriously haven't the slightest clue what to even consider doing. I have some gypsum, which I know contributes to hardness and accentuates bitterness, but other than that, I'm as dumb as they come. Any recommendations would be very much appreciated. And by recommendations, I mean something like this, "Increase/decrease pH (or whatever) by adding ___."

THANKS!!

 

[millaj92]

Wow, that's a weird water profile. That's a LOT of magnesium, very low sulfate and chlorides. You need to increase your chloride to sulfate ratio first off. Secondly, you need to boost your calcium. Less magnesium would be ideal. Your pH is really high but that's because of all the carbonate (temporary hardness). The malt will bring this down but lactic acid is a good way to lower your pH even further. Since you're high in magnesium, stay away from magnesium sulfate (epsom salt). Add some calcium sulfate (gypsum) and some calcium chloride: about 0.8g/gal of each to the total liquor volume (mash and sparge). Add some lactic acid to the mash: about 0.4mL/gal. That ought to be a good starting point anyway if you want kind of a general use water without having to involve water calculators.

 

[Yooper]

Honestly, with such high alkalinity in the form of bicarb, I'd not use that water. I have highly alkaline water myself, and find that buy RO water at the store and mixing some of my tap water (calculating the percentages) works well.

I would definitely dilute that water with distilled or RO water in order to get a good water profile.

 

[Brulosopher]

Honestly, with such high alkalinity in the form of bicarb, I'd not use that water.

I honestly think those measurements are all ****ed up... i.e., not in ppm. So, I just emailed my local water district and asked for their latest measurements; they said I should have them soon! I've brewed plenty of batches with my tap, filtered and not filtered, and they have all been pretty damn good. My water is definitely not hard, which is what makes me think those numbers are wrong. I'll repost the real ones and seek guidance then. Thanks!!

 

[DustyTheBrewer]

Damn... Im never this picky with my water but I do run my tap water through a carbon filter as Im on town water and it has chlorine in it.

 

[insubordinateK]

The beer will buffer the bicarb. Also you can't put too much faith in those numbers over time. This is just a snap shot, and now you want to adjust your water according to how it tested on this particular day at one particular time point. Of course, it gives you some insight and is a more rigorous assessment than tasting the water. But I would assume that these numbers fluctuate dramatically over time.

I would filter the tap and keep rolling with that.

 

[millaj92]

I honestly think those measurements are all ****ed up... i.e., not in ppm. So, I just emailed my local water district and asked for their latest measurements; they said I should have them soon! I've brewed plenty of batches with my tap, filtered and not filtered, and they have all been pretty damn good. My water is definitely not hard, which is what makes me think those numbers are wrong. I'll repost the real ones and seek guidance then. Thanks!!

You are correct, your water isn't hard, but carbonate causes temporary hardness which is not what makes water "hard." Calcium and magnesium are mainly what contribute to permanent hardness. You can have a lot of carbonate and still have soft water.

 

[millaj92]

The beer will buffer the bicarb. Also you can't put too much faith in those numbers over time. This is just a snap shot, and now you want to adjust your water according to how it tested on this particular day at one particular time point. Of course, it gives you some insight and is a more rigorous assessment than tasting the water. But I would assume that these numbers fluctuate dramatically over time.

I would filter the tap and keep rolling with that.

You are correct that the numbers do vary constantly and to different degrees, but unless you have complex and expensive equipment at home, there's really no way to tell at that exact moment what exactly is in your water. The water reports give you an average amount so that really just helps you make standard additions and given the fluctuations, your edited profile will at least be within a certain tolerable range, based on the average. It's a good starting point at least.