i bought a pure earth triple filter helped my flavor considerably. went from brewing Houston/ Dallas city water (filtered sewage) to crystal clear tasty h20. It was around 200$ worth it. Dont give up!
I'm done with brewing. All my beers taste like ****
- Thread starter dragonbreath11
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+1 on the 2.5 gallon jugs. I was relatively unhappy with the results of my first couple of batches of homebrew... drinkable but they all had some weird underlying aftertaste to them. I've been using store bought water ever since and have not had a single batch that I have not been satisfied with. I'm not certain if it was the water switch that straightend things out or if it was just becoming more comfortable with the brewing process in general but I figure dropping a couple extra bucks on some water is a pretty minimal expense considering messing up your batch basically means wasting the money you spent on grains, hops, and yeast... not to mention the time you wasted cleaning, sanitizing, and brewing only to come up with results that don't meet your standards.
Also, in my case at least, this hobby goes way beyond being a way to gain an economical edge. Sure I can purchase the ingredients to make 5 gallons of beer for much less than it would cost me to buy 5 gallons worth of commercial beer but even with my relatively minimal amount of brewing gear I'd have to seriously increase my production output to even come close to breaking even on all of the money I have dropped (and will continue to uncontrollably drop) on brewing equipment, building a kegerator, and lets not forget all of the beer that I have given away to friends. For me this is about much more than producing something for an economical gain... Its a hobby, a passion, a creative outlet, and an art form. To quote a fellow HBTer whos name currently escapes my memory because I have been indulging in my homebrew all evening; "The kettle is my canvas."
But to each their own...
Also, in my case at least, this hobby goes way beyond being a way to gain an economical edge. Sure I can purchase the ingredients to make 5 gallons of beer for much less than it would cost me to buy 5 gallons worth of commercial beer but even with my relatively minimal amount of brewing gear I'd have to seriously increase my production output to even come close to breaking even on all of the money I have dropped (and will continue to uncontrollably drop) on brewing equipment, building a kegerator, and lets not forget all of the beer that I have given away to friends. For me this is about much more than producing something for an economical gain... Its a hobby, a passion, a creative outlet, and an art form. To quote a fellow HBTer whos name currently escapes my memory because I have been indulging in my homebrew all evening; "The kettle is my canvas."
But to each their own...
What?? That 12 inches or so of rain in 24 hours must have been a deluge. My brewing sessions would be very few and far between if I had to wait for storms of that magnitude. Most locations don't receive their entire annual rainfall in a single storm. I don't know, but it just seems very strange to me. When did the big storm blow through? Must have been very recently.
Normal Precipitation
(BURBANK VALLEY PUMP PLNT Weather station, 1.25 miles from Burbank)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
Inch 3.56 4.29 3.88 1.02 0.37 0.12 0.02 0.18 0.30 0.55 1.05 2.15 17.49
weagle05
Well-Known Member
This reminds me of an LSAT logic problem. Bad water yields bad beer, so you can deduce that good beer means no bad water but not that good water yields good beer.
The bulk of my brew water is spring water from Sam's Club in 4 gallon jugs and I occasionally top off with filtered tap water. I don't do AG though.
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dragonbreath11
Well-Known Member
I'm not dead against buying calcium chloride but for me its quite a drive to the local HBS and I only stop in when I'm in the area.
I use HB water with a carbon filter and never had an issue. Did you have issues with the local water to drive you to RO or is that just the way you've always done it?
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arturo7
Well-Known Member
Never tried the carbon filter. I was using Crystal Geyser spring water until
I read that thread. My beer increased by an order of magnitude when I tried the sauermalz* technique.
*aciduated malt
rockfish42
Well-Known Member
Calcium chloride is often sold in supermarkets in the canning section as Pickle Crisp if your hbs is too far away.
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dragonbreath11
Well-Known Member
Good to know thanks.
ChshreCat
Well-Known Member
Honestly... just pick up some spring water or drinking water in gallon jugs. They're cheap as hell and you don't have to mess with water chemestry unless you're doing some very specialized things.
rico567
Well-Known Member
I brew with RO water only, and have great results. Like other respondents to this thread, I just to to the grocery store and fill up 5 gal. carriers for $2. Our water supply is from a well, and while the water is fine for most purposes, cooking and drinking......not so much. And way, way too much dissolved iron and calcium for beer.
OK, your statement caught my attention. Next brew I plan to give the acidulated malt a try. To date, I've used carbon filtered tap water and the ph5.2 stuff. Sometimes adding calcium chloride or gypsum for some styles and diluting the tap water with distilled 50/50 for lagers. This has worked very well, but I'm always looking for ways to sharpen the edge a bit. This looks too easy, so I cannot resist giving it a go.
8 pages and no one offered this; if you are not happy with your water, get a water report, and find out why things are not working. You say that your water smells like a pool, which is a chlorine/chloramine problem, not neccessarily a mineral problem.
I am not even close to a water expert (read through the beer science forum - some of those guys will blow your mind - they make our 4 week primary arguments seem just plain stupid) , but I gave myself a week or so to learn what I could.
In one thread, the goals for brewing water were summed up pretty well in about three statements. Even as a beginner, they made sense to me, so I would like to share.
priority 1 - get your minerals/salts into Palmer's suggested ranges.
For example, I learned that my Calcium was about 30ppm, where as Palmer says a minimum of 50 ppm. Mosher's Ideal Pale ale calls for almost 110ppm - IOW, I was no where close. Palmer's ranges are basically a baseline for acceptable brewing water ( rather than style specific brewing water), so if your water is not falling into those very broad ranges, you will have problems.
priority 2 - get your mash pH into the generally accepted range of 5.4-5.6 at room temperature.
Your grain bill, in addition to the salts you may have added, will probably still yield a pH above the desired range, especially if you are brewing something pale to light amber. It can be dropped the rest of the way with a small amount of acid malt, a ml or so of liquid acid (like lactic) or a combination of the two. I know people don't want to look at spreadsheets, but EZ Water Calculator 3.0 (available linked on the forum) makes it way too easy to learn. I wanted to be stubborn about water too....it's a mistake. Just make sure that when you start looking at this stuff, go straight to 3.0 - some big changes were made from earlier versions, and those early versions may only serve to confuse.
priority 3 - set your key minerals, specifically calcium ppm and the chloride to sulfate ratio (and ppm), for your desired water profile.
This does not mean anything until you know your water make-up, you understand the salts available to you, and you know how to combine the two in order to achieve a desired profile. You will be shocked what you can learn with a bit of leg work.
I had said for a while to "carbon filter and let it ride" but once I learned where my water was lacking, I have really changed my tune.
Personally, I think buying spring water or trying rain water is just switching the source of your problem. Either really learn your stuff and build up from RO, or get your water tested and (if possible) adjust as needed. Similarly, throwing in a pack of "burton salts" or blindly adding a teaspoon of this or that to your current water may be doing much more harm than good - don't fly blind; get a water report.
Water seemed to me like such a 500 level thing, but I now think if someone is at a point where they can produce a consistent wort, have great sanitation and packaging practices, and can conduct a healthy and controlled fermentation, then you really need to look at your water if you want your beer to get to that next level.
Here is a link with some simple water science info, as well as a few example water profiles.
http://brewery.org/library/wchmprimer.html
Mosher's profiles for Ideal Pale Ale, Ideal Mild Ale, and Ideal Pale Lager seem to be very proven, and between the three can probably cover almost any style of beer.
I am not even close to a water expert (read through the beer science forum - some of those guys will blow your mind - they make our 4 week primary arguments seem just plain stupid) , but I gave myself a week or so to learn what I could.
In one thread, the goals for brewing water were summed up pretty well in about three statements. Even as a beginner, they made sense to me, so I would like to share.
priority 1 - get your minerals/salts into Palmer's suggested ranges.
For example, I learned that my Calcium was about 30ppm, where as Palmer says a minimum of 50 ppm. Mosher's Ideal Pale ale calls for almost 110ppm - IOW, I was no where close. Palmer's ranges are basically a baseline for acceptable brewing water ( rather than style specific brewing water), so if your water is not falling into those very broad ranges, you will have problems.
priority 2 - get your mash pH into the generally accepted range of 5.4-5.6 at room temperature.
Your grain bill, in addition to the salts you may have added, will probably still yield a pH above the desired range, especially if you are brewing something pale to light amber. It can be dropped the rest of the way with a small amount of acid malt, a ml or so of liquid acid (like lactic) or a combination of the two. I know people don't want to look at spreadsheets, but EZ Water Calculator 3.0 (available linked on the forum) makes it way too easy to learn. I wanted to be stubborn about water too....it's a mistake. Just make sure that when you start looking at this stuff, go straight to 3.0 - some big changes were made from earlier versions, and those early versions may only serve to confuse.
priority 3 - set your key minerals, specifically calcium ppm and the chloride to sulfate ratio (and ppm), for your desired water profile.
This does not mean anything until you know your water make-up, you understand the salts available to you, and you know how to combine the two in order to achieve a desired profile. You will be shocked what you can learn with a bit of leg work.
I had said for a while to "carbon filter and let it ride" but once I learned where my water was lacking, I have really changed my tune.
Personally, I think buying spring water or trying rain water is just switching the source of your problem. Either really learn your stuff and build up from RO, or get your water tested and (if possible) adjust as needed. Similarly, throwing in a pack of "burton salts" or blindly adding a teaspoon of this or that to your current water may be doing much more harm than good - don't fly blind; get a water report.
Water seemed to me like such a 500 level thing, but I now think if someone is at a point where they can produce a consistent wort, have great sanitation and packaging practices, and can conduct a healthy and controlled fermentation, then you really need to look at your water if you want your beer to get to that next level.
Here is a link with some simple water science info, as well as a few example water profiles.
http://brewery.org/library/wchmprimer.html
Mosher's profiles for Ideal Pale Ale, Ideal Mild Ale, and Ideal Pale Lager seem to be very proven, and between the three can probably cover almost any style of beer.
When I had my saltwater aquarium, I had a 3 canister RO system mounted to the laundry room wall. I filled a 35 gallon trash can overnight bought at Lowes. Check out discount online aquarium supply houses like ThatFishPlace.com or Al's Aquarium Supply. Also eBay. You can get a decent RO unit for not as much as you think!
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