Water Quality?

[imp81318]

I have been exclusively brewing using extract and bottled water (Deer Park) and haven't paid any attention to water chemistry, but lately I've been thinking about switching to RO water from the local dispensor, which would be fine for extract. But I've also been thinking about getting into all grain brewing as well, so I decided to look at my water quality report from my water company:

pH: 7.1 to 7.9
Hardness: 62 to 208 mg/L
Fluoride-naturally occuring: 0.1 to 0.3 mg/L
Fluoride-added: 0.7 (added to maintain average concentration of 0.7)
Sodium: 24 mg/L
Iron: less than 0.1 to 0.17 mg/L
Disinfection: mono-chloramine
Residual level: 1.5 to 2.2 mg/L
Corrosion control: corrosion inhibitor
Lead: .001 mg/L (9th percentile result)
Copper: 0.27 mg/L (9th percentile)
Chromium 6 or hexavalent chromium 9: 0.11 to 0.2 ųg/L

So, what does all of this mean and where do I find recommended water profiles to compare against?

 

[jwalk4]

I have been exclusively brewing using extract and bottled water (Deer Park) and haven't paid any attention to water chemistry, but lately I've been thinking about switching to RO water from the local dispensor, which would be fine for extract. But I've also been thinking about getting into all grain brewing as well, so I decided to look at my water quality report from my water company:

pH: 7.1 to 7.9
Hardness: 62 to 208 mg/L
Fluoride-naturally occuring: 0.1 to 0.3 mg/L
Fluoride-added: 0.7 (added to maintain average concentration of 0.7)
Sodium: 24 mg/L
Iron: less than 0.1 to 0.17 mg/L
Disinfection: mono-chloramine
Residual level: 1.5 to 2.2 mg/L
Corrosion control: corrosion inhibitor
Lead: .001 mg/L (9th percentile result)
Copper: 0.27 mg/L (9th percentile)
Chromium 6 or hexavalent chromium 9: 0.11 to 0.2 ųg/L

So, what does all of this mean and where do I find recommended water profiles to compare against?

Sadly, your water report doesn't show levels of important brewing ions: Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sodium (Na), Sulfate (SO4), and Chloride (Cl). Edit: Oops, Sodium is in there.

The good news is that if you are willing/able to buy pure RO water from your local store and use it for 100% of your brewing liquor (I do), you don't need another water report!

Just buy some Gypsum, Calcium Chloride, and some phosphoric or lactic acid on your next trip to the LHBS, download Brunwater, and start reading!

You'll be glad you did!

 

[RM-MN]

How serious are you about cloning beers. Do you need the exact water profile to create a duplicate of a particular beer? If so you buy RO or distilled water and add the correct minerals to match the source water for the brewery.

If you only want good beer to drink, try adding half a campden tablet to your tap water to remove the chloramine and brew a batch with your own water. If your water tastes reasonably good for drinking it probably will be acceptable for beer. If that batch turns out sub-par, go back to buying water.

 

[imp81318]

At this point, I'd say that I only care about making beer that tastes good. As I get into all grain brewing I may start to try some clone recipes, but even then my thinking is that I'll be trying to clone a beer that I like so that I create a really good beer, and I won't really care if it doesn't taste exactly the same.

When you say to add 1/2 a tablet, is that assuming a "standard" 5 gallon batch (i.e. 7-ish gallons of water pre-boil)? Would it be OK to use the same amount of a campden tablet for smaller brews - say 1-2 gallon batch?

 

[RM-MN]

At this point, I'd say that I only care about making beer that tastes good. As I get into all grain brewing I may start to try some clone recipes, but even then my thinking is that I'll be trying to clone a beer that I like so that I create a really good beer, and I won't really care if it doesn't taste exactly the same.

When you say to add 1/2 a tablet, is that assuming a "standard" 5 gallon batch (i.e. 7-ish gallons of water pre-boil)? Would it be OK to use the same amount of a campden tablet for smaller brews - say 1-2 gallon batch?

Yes, the half campden tablet is for a 5 gallon batch. With smaller batches I'd try to divide it into smaller pieces or just treat a full 5 gallon (or 7 gallons) bucket and store what you don't use on this batch for next time.