Water woes

[stuknkrvl]

So I just finished reading Palmer and Kaminski's Water and I'm pretty lost. Chemistry was never my strong suit. I understand the concepts (I think), but the book didn't include examples for building a water profile from RO or distilled water.

Any tips on that? I've seen Martin Brungard's Bru'n Water spreadsheet. Has anyone used that? Has it helped?

 

[Komodo]

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

Seriously, keep it that simple. There are so many other things to focus on. If you're water is clean, and tastes good, then you are pretty much there.

 

[stuknkrvl]

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

Seriously, keep it that simple. There are so many other things to focus on. If you're water is clean, and tastes good, then you are pretty much there.

That's the problem. My water tastes like garbage.

I'm at the point now where I want to make my recipes better. I just brewed a RIS last week with two teaspoons of gypsum added to my water (store bought Nestle pure life drinking water with added minerals, i added an additional 1 tsp/gal). It'll be a while before that's ready for drinking though.

 

[Komodo]

FWIW - I've used Bru'n water, as well as another spreadsheet. My water is decent, fairly low in every category and pretty high in Ph. This is pretty typical soft water company water. After I crunch numbers in the water spreadsheets, it usually comes pretty close to what AJ Delange talks about in that link.

I guess my point is, if you are using RO water, you could probably do those simple water additions and the acid malt where necessary and your beers will be awesome. Where people seem to get into trouble is when they start to match city profiles thinking they have to do that to make a successful beer style.

You may try messaging AJ and asking about building a base water profile from RO water and see what he says.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Do you know what your tap water is like? Post an analysis of your water and you'll get plenty of help on here. You might not even need RO water.

 

[stuknkrvl]

FWIW - I've used Bru'n water, as well as another spreadsheet. My water is decent, fairly low in every category and pretty high in Ph. This is pretty typical soft water company water. After I crunch numbers in the water spreadsheets, it usually comes pretty close to what AJ Delange talks about in that link.

I guess my point is, if you are using RO water, you could probably do those simple water additions and the acid malt where necessary and your beers will be awesome. Where people seem to get into trouble is when they start to match city profiles thinking they have to do that to make a successful beer style.

You may try messaging AJ and asking about building a base water profile from RO water and see what he says.

Thanks for the tips. Definitely not trying to recreate any particular region's water, just looking at the general recommendations from the book as far as calcium, chloride, and residual alkalinity for style categories. I'm still pretty new to brewing, but I'm a bit impatient and a lot ambitious, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can to make my brews better. I'm sure you know how it goes.

 

[stuknkrvl]

Do you know what your tap water is like? Post an analysis of your water and you'll get plenty of help on here. You might not even need RO water.

Actually not yet. I live in Texas and my water company is based out of New Jersey. The "customer service" website is no help and getting a human being on the phone is difficult. I'm giving it another try today. I'll keep you posted.