When did you start really thinking about water?

[ebaynote]

I listened to the brew strong epsiode I on water yesterday during a run. It got me excited and confused at the same time. I've had a gradual progression over the last year or so. Extract in the kitchen, full boil extract/steeping grains, PM, and hope to do first all grain next month.

I was just wondering when and how everyone stated thinking about water. For now I'm glad to be figuring out my system and trying to hit mash temperatures. But also excited to drill down a little more.

Look forward to the input.

 

[Got Trub?]

I spent about a year focusing on water, got a water analysis, added salts etc. Worried about my mash pH with lagers etc. I then heard JZ talk about how he just uses his water. No salts, no 5.2 etc. I've been doing that since with no ill results. I still will add some gypsum when brewing certain English styles, not sure I can tell the difference in taste, but otherwise I do nothing. It is a good exercise to better understand your process etc but in terms of bang for your buck I would focus more on pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast and fermentation temperature control to really improve your brewing.

GT

 

[GRHunter]

Uhhhh ... not yet.

 

[Edcculus]

I was brewing for ~3 years before I started messing with my water. IMO, you can get by and focus on other parts of your brewing unless your water is just TERRIBLE.

 

[malkore]

I have pretty high pH tap water, that's carbonate/alkaline hard (7.8pH, and I think around 160ppm carbonate hardness).

From my aquarium days, I knew I had fairly hard water...ideal for stouts, but not so great for a kolsch.
Sometimes I dilute with RO, and I use 5.2 in the mash. I think my lighter colored beers do taste a little better with that in the mash.

 

[riromero]

Unfortunately I live where the water coming out of the pipes is awful. Not just bicarbonate and brew relevant minerals, but selenium, iron and other levels are very near to the legal limit. Horrible. So I'm starting with RO water in the first place, and adding the 6 main brewing salts in proportions similar to the locale closest to the style origin. It's so easy, why not do it?

 

[jpc]

Given the amount of scale build-up on my shower, I knew my water would be questionable to brew with. Therefore, I started looking into the water before I even made my first all-grain. I end up diluting 50/50 with distilled (based on my water company's analysis) and get half-way decent results, but I'm about to do the Ward Labs thing to get a better understanding (and perhaps control) over the process.

It doesn't help that there are three potential sources for my water, with two of them being surface water and the other (which is the one I usually get) from a pristine well that doesn't require chlorination. With the good comes the bad, I guess...

 

[hammacks]

I started looking into a few months in, but just now got serious (couple years in) because my pH is so effing high (9.4!). I kept getting tannin extraction

 

[Wellshooter]

After a year of brewing I started using tap water instead of purchasing spring water. My beers turned very bitter. I used the city water analysis to start with and my adjustments made my beer much better (city water CACO3 is 300+ & PH=8 ). Then I switched to commercially filtered water not RO (CACO3 is 192). At each change I got a new analysis. Finally, I took a sample of my adjusted water and had it analyzed (CACO3 is now 67 & PH = 6.7). Next step is to tweak the adjusted water. It is a long process but worth it if you want to make good beer.

 

[Bobby_M]

After two years of all grain brewing, I got to the point where I knew my process was as good as I was going to get it. Hoppy styles never worked and water was the next frontier. I found out that my Cl:S04 ratio was badly inverted from the norm.

Keep in mind that some water profiles are middle of the road enough that it won't ever damage a beer. In other words, it's only a bit off on the extreme ends of the spectrum. Jamil's water may be like that. You can usually design a recipe to compensate for this type of water. With the exception of my very low S04, my water is like that. You can't assume that your water is middle of the road. It might

 

[ksbrain]

I tried messing with water early. I had barely any ions in my water, and I would doctor the water, but I never could tell any difference. So I gave up on water. But now I am thinking about going back to water work. I live in a different place, so my water might be different, but my thinking is that if I like the way my beer comes out, I should know what kind of water makes it. I might even be able to improve it with the right adjustments.

 

[HotbreakHotel]

When I started brewing (started out with all grain) my city tap water was so nasty my dog wouldn't drink it. I started out using distilled water and salts, and built my water from the info in How to Brew.

So I started thinking about it right away. I moved and have different water but I still control the mineral content in every batch.

 

[hammacks]

Keep in mind that some water profiles are middle of the road enough that it won't ever damage a beer. In other words, it's only a bit off on the extreme ends of the spectrum. Jamil's water may be like that. You can usually design a recipe to compensate for this type of water. With the exception of my very low S04, my water is like that. You can't assume that your water is middle of the road. It might

I was in a similiar situtation. My water is overall forgiving and easy to modify a bit for darker beers, except for the pH during sparging (lactic treatment from now on)

Sry for mispells - Commodore Perry IPA + Christian Moerlen IPA + Seira Nevada (Stuck in Ohio)

 

[Pilgarlic]

Sixty days and eight brews into the hobby I tamed my hardness and chloramine via PH 5.2 Buffer and Campden. For lighter colored beers I'll now dilute with 3:1 reverse osmosis water to tap. That's all I do and I'm happy with it for now.

 

[Beer_Guy]

I used my tap water for a while. I removed the alkaline taste with a 0.05 micron filter. It tasted like bottled water.

Then for my last batch I was going to use some stored filtered water. It had been stored for several months, so I poured a glass to taste it. YUCK!!!

It seems the finer alkaline particles had greatly affected the taste again. I made a quick run to the store and got some spring water.

I can now detect the alkaline taste in some older brew.

 

[MBasile]

I haven't started really thinking about water yet, but I did JUST download all four Brew Strong water episodes.