Help - Water Treatment in Plain English

[pennahighlandbrew]

I’m coming up on my fourth anniversary of brewing and one thing I’ve always lacked knowledge on is water chemistry.

Put simply: I don’t get it. At all. Like an almost embarrassingly low fundamental knowledge. As if I slept through high school chemistry class entirely (which I may have).

I was hoping some of you might be able to point me in the direction of some easy to read resources to help me figure out the basics, all with the knowledge that I don’t know what calcium chloride or any of this other stuff is.

Let’s say I want to build a water profile from distilled water and I’m looking to purchase additions. What are the common names for all of these ingredients that I’d find on a label in a store? What’s the simplest method of making this work?

Feel free to explain it like I’m a third grader, I won’t be offended, just grateful for the help in improving my knowledge base and my craft. Thanks!

 

[bitteritdown]

Sodium Chloride = Table Salt (Use the kosher without the iodine) (Grocery Store)
Calcium Chloride = Calcium Chloride (HomeBrew Store / Amazon) (Marketed as "salt melt" but *do not buy* "salt melt", instead get the food grade stuff)
Magnesium Sulfate = Epsom Salts (Grocery Store)
Calcium Sulfate = Gypsum (HomeBrew Store / Amazon)
Calcium Hydroxide = Pickling Lime (Grocery Store / Amazon)
Sodium Bicarbonate = Baking Soda (Grocery Store)

Buy a package or bottle of each.

In order to build a profile you'll need a little knowledge of what each addition offers. Water Knowledge.

Download a water calculator and play around with the additions until you get what you want. BruNWater Mash Made Easy

Persist until it "clicks".

The simplest method is at the end of the first post of the water primer.

 

[azmark]

If using RO/Distilled water http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/ makes things very simple. I get by with the top 4 items above. You'll also want to pick up a gram scale as you just need small amounts http://a.co/c8xE67n.

 

[enkamania]

Sodium Chloride = Table Salt (Use the kosher without the iodine) (Grocery Store)
Calcium Chloride = Calcium Chloride (HomeBrew Store / Amazon) (Marketed as "salt melt" but *do not buy* "salt melt", instead get the food grade stuff)
Magnesium Sulfate = Epsom Salts (Grocery Store)
Calcium Sulfate = Gypsum (HomeBrew Store / Amazon)
Calcium Hydroxide = Pickling Lime (Grocery Store / Amazon)
Sodium Bicarbonate = Baking Soda (Grocery Store)

Buy a package or bottle of each.

In order to build a profile you'll need a little knowledge of what each addition offers. Water Knowledge.

Download a water calculator and play around with the additions until you get what you want. BruNWater Mash Made Easy

Persist until it "clicks".

The simplest method is at the end of the first post of the water primer.

I have no chemistry knowledge whatsoever, but Brunwater helped me a lot. I would also add lactic acid to the list