Just moved to a new house with hard well water. Got a water softener and a RO filter, which has been working spatially. Other then the new water, my equipment and process is the same as my old house that was on city water. With my old water I needed to add about 12ml of 25% acid to hit a 5.2 Ph. With the new water I need to add 28.5ml of 25% acid to hit my Ph. On my first brew at the new place I noticed some blue-green sediment in the bottom of the kettle. I washed it out but some of it got in my wort. It seems to have gotten worse and on my last brew (have done 7 batches in the new house) the brew water came out very blue green. I dumped out that sparge water and heated fresh water in my kettle without the copper coil and it remained clear. The water in my MT was still in contact with the inside of the copper coil and I would guess it's just as contaminated. Don't know what the copper levels in my finished beer is going to be. Will some of it fall out in the fermenter? Wondering if I should dump all 35 gallons?
https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Copper-in-drinking-water
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I have a non-traditional three kettle HERMS set-up with two pumps and a single induction burner. My BK starts as the HLT until I sparge. I start by heating all of my strike and sparge water in my BK/HLT that has a built in 1/2" copper coil. As the water is heating I add calcium, Burton's water salts and acid to hit my Ph. I then pump the strike water to the MT and run a regular HERMS set up. After heating the MT to my mash out temp, I pump the sparge water to the HLT that has no coil or burner. It only takes a few min to pump over. After the sparge I clean my MT and move the HLT next to the BK and fill it with ice blocks. I then pump the ice water in the HLT though the same coil built into the BK to chill the wort very quickly. Works great and less to clean with only one coil. Here are some photos of my setup: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/new-home-basement-bar.663517/
My best guess is that the added acid in the new water is adhering to and corroding the copper coil. I am going to replace the copper coil with stainless steel. I made the copper one but will buy a stainless one.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Copper-in-drinking-water
View media item 70161View media item 70163View media item 70171View media item 70162
I have a non-traditional three kettle HERMS set-up with two pumps and a single induction burner. My BK starts as the HLT until I sparge. I start by heating all of my strike and sparge water in my BK/HLT that has a built in 1/2" copper coil. As the water is heating I add calcium, Burton's water salts and acid to hit my Ph. I then pump the strike water to the MT and run a regular HERMS set up. After heating the MT to my mash out temp, I pump the sparge water to the HLT that has no coil or burner. It only takes a few min to pump over. After the sparge I clean my MT and move the HLT next to the BK and fill it with ice blocks. I then pump the ice water in the HLT though the same coil built into the BK to chill the wort very quickly. Works great and less to clean with only one coil. Here are some photos of my setup: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/new-home-basement-bar.663517/
My best guess is that the added acid in the new water is adhering to and corroding the copper coil. I am going to replace the copper coil with stainless steel. I made the copper one but will buy a stainless one.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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