new system water issues????

[fowlbrew]

just upgraded to all electric 20 gallon HERMS with stout kettles and have struggled with poor efficiency, cloudy beers, some off flavors, and high ph. Sent in for water report and got results below.

ph 7.6
TDS 348
conductivity .58
sodium 16
potassium 2
calcium 66
magnesium 31
total hardness 294
sulfate 12
chloride 41
carbonate <1
bicarbonate 291
total alkalinity 240
phosphorus .03

We cut the water with DI water in 19 gallons about 13 gallons is DI. I have read too much about water and now I can't decide which way to go and would like some opinions. I can get as much RO or DI water as I want for free so should we stop cutting the water and build it from scratch or continue cutting city with DI water and focus on some mineral additions. I never noticed any problems with the 5 gallon batches in the past , but now that we upgraded I'm wondering if just cutting with DI isn't enough. The only other change made with the upgrade is we condition the grains before milling which has helped a ton with recirculating the mash.

 

[Beezer94]

I have made the switch to all distilled water and adding the minerals back, as this gives me more consistency. My water varies from 30 to 70 alkalinity from just one source and without having the exact days water I am brewing with tested I have no idea which way it is leaning. And my water can come from two sources in the area and they are very different.

With you water having such a high amount of alkalinity any swing could have a major effect on the mash ph.
Definitely recommend going the 100% RO/DI route and building your profile, if only to help identify any other problems in the process. The minerals are pretty cheap and if you are not paying for the RO than it's an easy choice.

 

[ajdelange]

If you use 100% RO or DI water all you really have to do to get good neer is add half a tsp of CaCl2 to each 5 gal of water and brew. That is really all there is to it.

You will be able to potentially improve the beer you brew that way by tasting it while adding minute amounts of sulfate (gypsum) to see if it tastes better with some sulfate. If it does add some gypsum to the brewing water to replace some of the calcium chloride. With repeated brews and tastings you may eventually wind up with a different treatment than 1/2 tsp per 5 gal buy probably not too far away.

See the Primer but use half the amounts it recommends (at least initially).

There are those who love to make water chemistry mysterious and complex. I confess to being one of those. The paradox is that once you have immersed yourself in the complexities (and they are real) to the point you fully understand them you see how simple it really is. If you are a knowledge for knowledge's sake sort then the journey is definitely worth it.

 

[fowlbrew]

Thanks for the info I will try building up from RO/DI and see what happens. It is something I have been debating on guessing maybe with the bigger batches the problems may have multiplied and we were getting lucky with the small batches.

Now time to play with some water software and buy some new supplies.