I am now using only RO water for my all grain brewing. I am making a Irish red ale tomorrow and need to know what minerals I should be adding to the water. I have been using calcium chloride and gypsum but never quite know if I am doing it right. Any suggestions?
Water
- Thread starter tdmack73
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
There are some nice spreadsheet-based water calculators out there. I use EZ-Water. You just enter your water parameters and play with your additions and acid malt and it will calculate your pH and mineral values. You can download it for free.
Chuckd76
Active Member
First some full disclosure: I've never added anything to my water. That being said, and I hope others agree, if I were you I would start off by getting a water report. If you're not sure of what is exactly in your water you won't have any way of determining what to add. Also, from John Palmer: "if you're brewing a recipe that calls for the addition of gypsum or Burton salts, you need to get a mineral report for your water first, and then figure out how much to add" (Brewing Classic Styles, p28). Or, if you have always used gypsum, you could just try brewing without it to see if it's really needed. I think the general consensus is that most tap sources are fine with no alteration as long as you take care of chlorine or chloramine.
