Soft Water, is it okay for brewing

[Seafoxskipper]

I have never brewed before and I am beginning soon doing all-grain. I have a ph meter ready to go (still needs to be calibrated) but my question is, my house water is well water and I have a water softener can I use that water and adjust accordingly?

Thanks!

 

[beermanpete]

Generally, brewing with water softened with the typical ion exchange type of water softener should be avoided. If your water is too hard you can dilute it with distilled or RO water. Do you know what your water composition is?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Water softeners replace Calcium and Magnesium with Sodium. You want to have some Calcium in your brewing water, but too much Sodium is bad (a little bit is good). Replacing high levels of Calcium with Sodium is not good. If your water isn't very hard to start with, the level of Sodium might still be OK for brewing with though. The other issue is that hard water also contains anions - most likely (for well water) bicarbonate. Water that is high in bicarbonate can cause problems for brewing (too high a pH in all but the darkest beers). Either get your water analysed, or use RO water.

 

[cubalz]

If I were you, I would buy RO water and build the profile you need for the style you are planning on brewing. The profile of your water for brewing all-grain is very important to the outcome of the beer. If you want good beer, it all starts with the right water.

 

[Seafoxskipper]

Generally, brewing with water softened with the typical ion exchange type of water softener should be avoided. If your water is too hard you can dilute it with distilled or RO water. Do you know what your water composition is?

No I do not but will soon. I failed to mention I do have access to the hard water prior to it getting to the softener.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

No I do not but will soon. I failed to mention I do have access to the hard water prior to it getting to the softener.

Water before being softened is preferable, but still quite likely too high in bicarbonate.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Do you know what sort of bedrock you have?

 

[Seafoxskipper]

Do you know what sort of bedrock you have?

No I do not. My bedrock sits about 38 inches below the soil. I was told by our well guy that we are approximately 250-300 feet down in an aquifer. The water is hard but not massively so.

 

[mabrungard]

In most cases, ion-exchange softened water is not suited for brewing use.

However, ion-exchange softened water can be used for brewing in certain cases. If the water is being 'softened' mainly to remove iron or manganese (its not ideal for this, but can be used) and there isn't much calcium or magnesium in the raw water, then its possible that the softened water has only minor increase in either sodium or potassium.

 

[Kent88]

First impression: You're probably fine.

Long answer (and keep in mind I'm not a pro when it comes to brewing water): The general rule of thumb is that if your water tastes ok, you're probably fine. Other things I would consider are whether you have any build-up on faucets, or whether your glassware shows signs of something like rust. But even then it is a guessing game. Can you get your water tested (you said you'll know your water composition soon, so I assume yes)? Without knowing what you're starting out with, you don't know what you might need to filter out. Figure out what you've got to start with. Without that, I don't think we can do much besides recommend you go with an RO filtration system because that gets us to a point where we know what you have.

Backing up a little further, are you planning to brew all-extract? Will you use steeping grains? Will you do some amount of mashing? You mentioned going all-grain but the way you phrased it was a little ambiguous. If you are not preforming a mash, then it doesn't matter as much, as long as it tastes good and is potable. If I were in your shoes, completely new to brewing, I think I would start out with at least a couple batches with malt extract and bottled water (actually that is close to how I started out). There is plenty of equipment overlap so it isn't like you'd be paying for a bunch of gear that you'd never use again (unless you decided to start brewing a different volume of beer, but I'm not going to get into that). Brew a few batches with bottled water and start adding a little of your water as you go until you're about 50/50, and see what that is like.

If you're insisting on going all-grain right from the get-go, then as much as I hate recommending extra gear right away I would recommend you do some extra filtration (though I am reluctant to recommend a RO system). But, as I said earlier, the biggest thing is to get your water tested.

 

[ajdelange]

There was a time in my life, believe it or not, when I didn't know any of this brewing water stuff and brewed beer from softened well water. It was, I thought at the time, the ambrosia of the gods but I have since come to know better. It is safe to say that you will be better off if you bypass the softener and take the water directly from the well as it is hard to have 'excess' calcium but excess sodium is not that hard to reach. Besides which a softener does not do anything to the water's alkalinity and calcium helps (not very much unless there are tons of it) to combat alkalinity.

What's going to happen depends on what's in the water so make it your top priority to find that out. For home brewers a Wards Labs test of a sample taken before the softener unit is a good idea. If your installation has a neutralizer then be sure you get the sample before that too. You can also buy crude test kits at home improvement stores and more accurate ones at aquarists and pool suppliers.

 

[Seafoxskipper]

First impression: You're probably fine.

Long answer (and keep in mind I'm not a pro when it comes to brewing water): The general rule of thumb is that if your water tastes ok, you're probably fine. Other things I would consider are whether you have any build-up on faucets, or whether your glassware shows signs of something like rust. But even then it is a guessing game. Can you get your water tested (you said you'll know your water composition soon, so I assume yes)? Without knowing what you're starting out with, you don't know what you might need to filter out. Figure out what you've got to start with. Without that, I don't think we can do much besides recommend you go with an RO filtration system because that gets us to a point where we know what you have.

Backing up a little further, are you planning to brew all-extract? Will you use steeping grains? Will you do some amount of mashing? You mentioned going all-grain but the way you phrased it was a little ambiguous. If you are not preforming a mash, then it doesn't matter as much, as long as it tastes good and is potable. If I were in your shoes, completely new to brewing, I think I would start out with at least a couple batches with malt extract and bottled water (actually that is close to how I started out). There is plenty of equipment overlap so it isn't like you'd be paying for a bunch of gear that you'd never use again (unless you decided to start brewing a different volume of beer, but I'm not going to get into that). Brew a few batches with bottled water and start adding a little of your water as you go until you're about 50/50, and see what that is like.

If you're insisting on going all-grain right from the get-go, then as much as I hate recommending extra gear right away I would recommend you do some extra filtration (though I am reluctant to recommend a RO system). But, as I said earlier, the biggest thing is to get your water tested.

All great suggestions and thank you. I wil probably do some extract brewing I am sure but I really am already set up for all grain anot that would prohibit me from extract of course. I do plan on having my water tested soon (prior to starting) and I also have a Bio Chemist for a son so I got that part covered lol. I figured I would have to use the hard water and make the adjustments needed or just buy spring bottled water in the five gallon containers which is no big deal at all.

 

[Seafoxskipper]

I have my water test form but not sure if I need all these tests done or just a select few???

 

[Seafoxskipper]

First impression: You're probably fine.

Long answer (and keep in mind I'm not a pro when it comes to brewing water): The general rule of thumb is that if your water tastes ok, you're probably fine. Other things I would consider are whether you have any build-up on faucets, or whether your glassware shows signs of something like rust. But even then it is a guessing game. Can you get your water tested (you said you'll know your water composition soon, so I assume yes)? Without knowing what you're starting out with, you don't know what you might need to filter out. Figure out what you've got to start with. Without that, I don't think we can do much besides recommend you go with an RO filtration system because that gets us to a point where we know what you have.

Backing up a little further, are you planning to brew all-extract? Will you use steeping grains? Will you do some amount of mashing? You mentioned going all-grain but the way you phrased it was a little ambiguous. If you are not preforming a mash, then it doesn't matter as much, as long as it tastes good and is potable. If I were in your shoes, completely new to brewing, I think I would start out with at least a couple batches with malt extract and bottled water (actually that is close to how I started out). There is plenty of equipment overlap so it isn't like you'd be paying for a bunch of gear that you'd never use again (unless you decided to start brewing a different volume of beer, but I'm not going to get into that). Brew a few batches with bottled water and start adding a little of your water as you go until you're about 50/50, and see what that is like.

If you're insisting on going all-grain right from the get-go, then as much as I hate recommending extra gear right away I would recommend you do some extra filtration (though I am reluctant to recommend a RO system). But, as I said earlier, the biggest thing is to get your water tested.

Wondering if I need all these tests? I have attached by water test request form.

 

[Kent88]

I'm in the middle of a move and of course I forgot to bring along my copy of the book about brewing water...

Check out the Brewers Test (W-5A) provided by Ward Laboratories here. I remember looking into that test a while ago and thinking that it pretty much covered all the essentials. From there you can look around and see if you find other services that cover the same stuff, but for a better price.

Not sure why you quoted me in that last response. If you are trying to get someones attention in one of your posts you can just start typing in their name, like @Seafoxskipper (I've been told that you might not even need the '@') and it will let them know you mentioned them. Also, you can delete parts of quoted messages and save people some unnecessary scrolling (though that isn't as big of a deal since the site upgrade). Before you start typing a response you can go "More Options" and one of the options you'll have is to preview a post before it is published, so you'll know that you didn't break the quote process. Just some things to think about.

 

[Seafoxskipper]

Sorry about that. I noticed that the quote was grayed out in my reply and it wouldn't allow me to delete it for some reason.

 

[Kent88]

All good SFS. Since the upgrade some things are still confusing me as well. Just don't be afraid to play around with it a bit and use that preview function. I recently revived my old practice of typing my responses in a text editor and copying it over so that if I goofed something up with the formatting, or accidentally hit the back or close buttons, I wouldn't lose all my typing.

 

[Seafoxskipper]

@Kent88 Thank you for the link that is exactly what I needed to get the testing done!

 

[Gnomebrewer]

For brewing, you only really need Chloride, Sulfate, Ca/Mg/K/Na, and Carbonates/Bicarbonates.
You might also consider testing for Nitrate, Ammonium, Phosphates and micro-nutrients for peace of mind about the drinking water quality (not from a brewing perspective) of your water.

 

[Piruz]

Hi! I dont want to start new thread, because my question is similar to this topic.

I don't have water softener, but I do have soft municipal water.

Calcium 14
Mg 3.6
Sodium 10
Chloride 8.1
Sulfate 12.2
Bicarbonate 50

So its pretty similar to Pilsen, except bicarbonate. So I'm going to use Campden tablets to get rid off chlorine/chloramine.

What else should I use to my water when AG brewing light lagers?

I have brewed 2 wheat beers with my water, and they had this harsh aftertaste in them. Last one I brewed added 0.1ml/l lactic acid (1.5ml to about 4 gallons of water) and got mash pH to 5.5.

Anyone can help if theres something else I should add to mash water when brewing light beers? Calciumsulfate? Calciumchloride?

 

[ncbrewer]

Anyone can help if theres something else I should add to mash water when brewing light beers? Calciumsulfate? Calciumchloride?

This thread might help: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/a-brewing-water-chemistry-primer.198460/