Water question - reports and filters

[najel]

Hello!

So far I have only done extract brews, and I would like to start some all grain brewing now. For my extract batches, I used distilled water only. However, I'd like to save some money and use filtered tap water as the base for this.
I have access to water from a coffee shop, where an espresso filtration system is in place. The system consists of a particle filter, a carbon filter, and an ion exchanger.
I can draw water from either the carbon filter (this would not go through the ion exchanger) or from the ion exchanger.
Below are water reports from the city water (I would assume that this would be very similar to the water coming out of the carbon filter, is that assumption correct? At least in terms of the items measured in the reports below) and a lab analysis I had done on the water from the ion exchanger.
My questions are:
- Which water would be more suitable for brewing? I will mostly do pale or amber beers with light to medium hoppiness.
- The ion exchanged water is low in minerals and high in sodium, which would be expected. Would this be suitable as more of a "blank canvas" water to build water up with minerals? Is the sodium too high for most beers?
- Is it correct that the carbon filter does not change minerals, sodium, alkalinity, etc much? It just filters chlorine and such?

Thanks for any help with this. At this point, I really don't think I am ready to get into too much water chemistry/building water profiles etc. So I am looking for a good starting point of which water to use for my first few all grain brews.

Here are the reports:
City water:

- calcium  40-60 mg/l
- sulfate  150-180  mg/l
- sodium   25-38  mg/l
- carbonate  Not measured but it is low, it is removed during our softening process.
- bicarbonate  Not measured but is one compound of the alkalinity total below, it is low.
- chloride     24-28  mg/l
- magnesium   28-34  mg/l
- Total Hardness  180-200  mg/l
- Total Alkalinity  35-80  mg/l
- pH  8.4-8.9

Filtered water (particle, carbon & ion exchanger):

pH 8.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 356
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.59
Cations / Anions, me/L 5.1 / 5.4
ppm
Sodium, Na 109
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 1
Magnesium, Mg 4
Total Hardness, CaCO3 19
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.2 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 53
Chloride, Cl 27
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 66
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 64

 

[ajdelange]

- Which water would be more suitable for brewing? I will mostly do pale or amber beers with light to medium hoppiness.

The filtered water is suitable for ales if you can tolerate the level of sulfate which is way to high for some people (and some style of beers) and way to low for the tastes of other people. You need to try beers with this level of sulfate and without to see which you prefer. The alkalinity level is OK but fairly variable. This will give you different mash pH's depending on what the alkalinity is on the particular day you collect the brewing water. The best way to dispose of this variability is to use none or very little of the tap water i.e. use mostly or exclusively RO or DI water which has had its minerals supplemented.

- The ion exchanged water is low in minerals and high in sodium, which would be expected. Would this be suitable as more of a "blank canvas" water to build water up with minerals?

No, because the calcium has been removed and replaced with sodium.

Is the sodium too high for most beers?

That's really a matter of personal taste. The sodium level isn't terribly high but it is high. You should be able to brew lots of beers with this water as is but as suggested above you should try some with water with less mineral content as well.

- Is it correct that the carbon filter does not change minerals, sodium, alkalinity, etc much? It just filters chlorine and such?

Yes.

 

[najel]

Thanks for your response! That helps a lot understanding some of the aspects of water chemistry. It is kind of hard to find your way through all the stuff that is written about it; it seems some people place more importance on certain things than other people. It is quite a confusing topic.
I think for now, to keep things simple for my first batch, I may try this:
Use the water that has went through the carbon filter (I would like to avoid using the tap water directly, as it has lots of chlorine). I will make no additions. After mashing in, I will check the pH and adjust that with acid or baking soda, if necessary.
Does that sound like a reasonable approach? Later on, I may try brewing the same recipe with different water, i. e. RO with my own additions, etc.

 

[ajdelange]

Yes, it is very confusing. There are opinions as to what pH you should shoot for, how much sulfate you should have etc. and that is fine but there is also a lot of misinformation too. I hope we are gradually sweeping that away.

You definitely want to be rid of chlorine/chloramine and while GAC filtration isn't always the most practical solution because of long required contact time it's probably safe to assume that the coffee system is designed with sufficient contact time provided.

I think your approach is sound. See the Primer in the Stickies for some ideas on how to use RO or water diluted with RO.