Unique Water Chem Question

[photodude]

I'm new to the Water Chemistry side of brewing, but not new to brewing. I wanted to take a new step in brewing. I have done some searching and have found things on distilled water and bottled water, but nothing on using RO/DI water. I use a RO/DI system for my reef aquarium as starting water parameters are brutally important with a reef tank. A RO/DI system strips the water of everything in the water so in the end all you get is pure 100% H20.

My question is.. with starting with 100% pure water (0 ppm) I know the outcome of the water used is more controllable as to what you can put in it.. but what do I want to put in it for the types of beers I am making?? Is there a chart somewhere as to what types of beers use what water types?
Thank you

 

[PoppinCaps]

I'd start here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

It can get pretty complicated really fast. Starting with a blank slate is a good way to start though.

 

[photodude]

Thanks for the reply. That was an interesting read.
The water chem thing isn't too complicated for me since I run a reef aquarium and deal with water chemistry on a daily/weekly basis and have test kits for a bunch of different parameters.
I have found a couple of excel charts, but they seem to not like working with the number 0 too much.
I'm looking at brewing a moose drool brown ale clone.
I guess I could email Big Sky and let them know I'm wanting to brew a clone and ask them if they wouldn't mind sharing a water chem report on what they use for that beer.

 

[mabrungard]

Going with deionizing columns is fairly extreme for brewing, but I suppose if that's what you have, go for it. Bru'n Water has no problem with zeros as water entries. In addition, it includes a suite of verified and balanced water profiles from historic brewing centers as well as more generic profiles loosely based on beer color. That should get you where you want to be.

I find the biggest problem in brewing with RO water (not deionized) is that the very low alkalinity can create situations where the mash pH can be undershot when mashing some grists. Having a source of alkalinity to create an appropriate mash pH is important. If the local tap water has high alkalinity and is otherwise suitable for brewing, blending that water into the RO is quite effective. Pickling Lime (Ca(OH)2) is another option, but it requires careful measurement and dosing. Chalk is not such a great alkalinity contributor unless its fully dissolved into solution with carbonic acid.

 

[DSmith]

What alkalyinty (range) have you found to result in accurate pH predictions for the Bru'n water spreadsheet? I blend distilled water & tap water and have come up with an alkalinity of about 60 (CaCO3 ppm) when I use 83% distilled water. I've used both the Bru'n water and EZ water spreadsheets for my beers, have noticed the differences between their predictions and have been looking into pH meters lately.

 

[photodude]

The water first goes through a softener. It comes out at around 350ppm from there. The RO unit is separate frome the DI. RO gets the water to about 4-6 ppm, then it is pushed through DI which brings it to 0 ppm.

The RO/DI alkalinity (kh) is 0.

Thanks for the info.. Ill have to take a look at that software.

 

[ajdelange]

There is seldom a need to go to the DI step in brewing - RO is sufficiently low in ions to be considered, especially in terms of the magnitude of typical salt additions, pure. you should be able to find reams of postings on treatment of RO/DI water in this and other forums. By using RO water (skipping the DI step) you will extend the time between required regenerations of the exchange resins. Perhaps not significantly because there is such a low load on them but it's something for you to think about.

The alkalinity of DI water to an end point of 4.3 is about 2.5 ppm as CaCO3 which is effectively 0 if you are using a drop count test with resolution of 10 ppm per drop.

I guess I should mention, for breadth of perspective, that I do all my beers with RO water, never augment the alkalinity and have yet to experience a pH undershoot. I can only conclude from this that I must be using less dark malt, or dark malts with less titratable acidity or base malt with higher DI mash pH than those that do. IOW I'm not saying it doesn't happen but that it doesn't happen to me from which I conclude that it is largely malt dependent

 

[Homercidal]

I've been using Brunwater spreadsheet since that's the one that makes the most sense to my brain when I started learning about pH and brewing water.

As Ajdelange states, you really don't need to go any further than RO for brewing. The amounts measured at RO are minute as far as brewing is concerned.

Do you have a water report to show? Depending on your starting makeup, you make choose to use all RO water, or a mixture, depending on the type and amount of grain used.

 

[photodude]

There is seldom a need to go to the DI step in brewing - RO is sufficiently low in ions to be considered, especially in terms of the magnitude of typical salt additions, pure. you should be able to find reams of postings on treatment of RO/DI water in this and other forums. By using RO water (skipping the DI step) you will extend the time between required regenerations of the exchange resins. Perhaps not significantly because there is such a low load on them but it's something for you to think about.

The alkalinity of DI water to an end point of 4.3 is about 2.5 ppm as CaCO3 which is effectively 0 if you are using a drop count test with resolution of 10 ppm per drop.
dependent

As this is the water I use for my reef aquarium I have a 55 gallon drum I keep full. The resins are far from my concern, but thanks for the thought.

Thanks for the second bit of info, I'm not sure what the resolution is on the test kit I use.

I live in central Texas north of Austin. The water here is pretty hard. I do not have a water report in front of me, but I'm sure I can get one off the water company's website.