Water treatment

[shamfein]

Hey all,

Im brewing now for about 3 years and im an all grain brewer.

I just wanted to get a consensus as to what percentage of brewers treat their tap water before brewing.

I have always considered it but i havent tried it yet. I had a great conversation with a fellow brewer local to me who is a much more advanced brewer than myself and he advised me if nothing else to get my PH correct.

I wanted to ask if there are many other who dont treat their water or if people do have they noticed much of a difference to their beers such as more hop profile, cleaner etc

 

[acidrain]

I live in Seattle and treat my water every time (it's a great starting water profile). I usually add a bit of gypsum and calcium chloride for most pale ales, a bit more for of in different quantities for other beers, and for Hefe, a little acid.
Your friends advice is good, but you still need to know where you're starting from... simply adding acid to bring down the PH is not doing your wort any good if you are low in minerals.
Also keep in mind that you are not adjusting the water to a specific PH, you are adjusting the mash.
Taking PH readings of the water, and then adjusting it before strike does not equal correct mash PH.

 

[djt17]

I used to make crappy beer; then I sent my tap water into Ward Labs for testing. I now treat my water & brew great beer.

 

[Spartan1979]

I run all my tap water through an RO filter and the add back salts depending on the style. Usually gypsum and calcium chloride and occasionally epsom salts.

 

[oakbarn]

Our local water is great. You can get a general profile from your water supplier. When we make a light lager, we use 50% distilled water. We do use a buffer in the mash to keep ph with the perfect range

 

[raysmithtx]

According to my wife who is much better at tasting faults in beers, the quality of my beers went up dramatically once I started treating the water per style brewed. Personally I could tell a difference but it wasn't as dramatic to me as it was to her.

 

[Izzie1701]

I have been using RO water with no adjustments. Just made a stout with adjustments and I must say its amazing. I do have to say I have never made it before so maybe it would have been amazing without the adjustments but I hit mash Ph bang on and it seems smoother and crisper then all my others. Easier to drink. Well all of it's easy to drink but just seems to feel better.

 

[shamfein]

Interesting stuff guys, i guess i better get myself some water testing equipment before i go adding anything to my brew water.

 

[Izzie1701]

I wouldn't go out and buy all the expensive testing equipment. Get some RO water and start from scratch. Only thing I would test with RO is the PH. Everything else should be at 0 ppm

 

[urg8rb8]

I agree. Get some RO water and just add your own salts. It's cheap, predictable, and easy to do.

 

[bfish]

tap water here. I let it sit out over night to help gas off any chlorine…just because

 

[JonM]

Give this a try:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460

The last part of the first post gives some general guidelines on how to treat RO water for different styles. I have really good water here in Milwaukee, but I still build straight from RO and it has been the single greatest improvement in my brewing. (and you can take your fermenter to the grocery store and fill them up at their RO machine for something like 29 cents/gallon - worth every penny.)

I'd highly recommend Palmer's Water book. I don't have a science background so I had to read a couple of the chapters a couple times to make it click, but it's very much worth the effort.

As far as equipment, AJ DeLange has recommendations for good pH meters (Maybe $150) and you'll need a good scale that measures down to at least 0.1 gram. I got mine for $30.