Hard water maybe affecting my beer

[eryk4381]

I have had good and not great results with brewing in my new neighborhood. I just received a water report and I was wondering if anyone had this issue and what worked for them. I take extra special care in sanitation and cleaning and have a decent setup for brewing and fermentation but for some reason, some beers will come out tasting funny. Its not like alcoholy or sulfur type taste but just strange. Can anyone help?

View attachment Water_Report_ 2014_2.pdf

 

[z-bob]

I don't see anything useful there. Is there a different report with Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity (or HCO3), Iron, Sodium, Sulfate, etc?

 

[Devilsnight]

Seems like most cities go with the bear minimum for testing, which doesn't help us out at all. You can try emailing the water department, they should be able to at least tell you how hard the water is.
Guy at the water dept. rattled off the number to me off the top of his head. Said I'd have to have the water tested myself to find out the rest of the things I needed to know. Not worth it. So im back to using RO,distilled, spring, even well water and just experimenting.

I'd start with figuring out which styles turn out good, and which not so good. Some will show the flaws easily, some brews off flavors could be masked by other things. Are you AG? and are you adding anything to the water?

 

[MindenMan]

Starting with RO, you can blend your own water profile for whatever style you are brewing.

 

[z-bob]

That report is called "water report 2". Where is just plain "water report" or "water report 1"?

 

[MVKTR2]

I'm not a water-treater as I haven't had to be however the ways water effects beer are many. First, describe the weird off putting flavor(s). Then tell us the beers that had this issue as well as some that didn't, this could include clues. Another thing is to ask are you filtering your water? Is it chlorinated with chlorine (few municipal sources are these days) or with chloramine? You can tell which one by smelling of your water, boiling it for 20+ minutes, cooling it and comparing the smell of the boiled water to unboiled water. If the chlorine smell is gone you have chlorine in your water which is easily boiled off or simply dissipate off if given enough time. If the boiled water still smells of chlorine you have chloramines which must be filtered out.

The easy answer is to brew with bottled water for a fist full of times and if your off-taste disappears you know it's the water. If not it's you. Or at least it's something else!

 

[eryk4381]

That report is called "water report 2". Where is just plain "water report" or "water report 1"?

I had to snip just that page from the rest as it was to big to attach. Ill see if I can get the rest on there

 

[eryk4381]

I'm not a water-treater as I haven't had to be however the ways water effects beer are many. First, describe the weird off putting flavor(s). Then tell us the beers that had this issue as well as some that didn't, this could include clues. Another thing is to ask are you filtering your water? Is it chlorinated with chlorine (few municipal sources are these days) or with chloramine? You can tell which one by smelling of your water, boiling it for 20+ minutes, cooling it and comparing the smell of the boiled water to unboiled water. If the chlorine smell is gone you have chlorine in your water which is easily boiled off or simply dissipate off if given enough time. If the boiled water still smells of chlorine you have chloramines which must be filtered out.

The easy answer is to brew with bottled water for a fist full of times and if your off-taste disappears you know it's the water. If not it's you. Or at least it's something else!

Well I am having trouble mostly with IPA's. They turn out sweetish or more of a sourish taste no matter what hops I am using.

 

[eryk4381]

Seems like most cities go with the bear minimum for testing, which doesn't help us out at all. You can try emailing the water department, they should be able to at least tell you how hard the water is.
Guy at the water dept. rattled off the number to me off the top of his head. Said I'd have to have the water tested myself to find out the rest of the things I needed to know. Not worth it. So im back to using RO,distilled, spring, even well water and just experimenting.

I'd start with figuring out which styles turn out good, and which not so good. Some will show the flaws easily, some brews off flavors could be masked by other things. Are you AG? and are you adding anything to the water?

I can make a mean Stout, Porter and Pale without any issue. A Red, IPA will come out "off". Sweet cloying type taste. A little alcohol bitterness with the flavor that supposed to be with what I brewed.

 

[MVKTR2]

Do you have calcium deposits on faucets, maybe hard water stains elsewhere?

Water that's good for dark roasty beers is usually not ideal for pale beers such as blondes, pilsner, pale ales, IPAs. That you're making good pale ales and good stouts tends to conflict the conclusion that it's water chemistry, especially since APA & IPA styles are very similar. Could it be something you're doing differently with the IPAs from APAs such as hops?

Tell us more about the bad flavor.

Only one way to know for sure, brew control batches with other water.

 

[eryk4381]

Do you have calcium deposits on faucets, maybe hard water stains elsewhere?

Water that's good for dark roasty beers is usually not ideal for pale beers such as blondes, pilsner, pale ales, IPAs. That you're making good pale ales and good stouts tends to conflict the conclusion that it's water chemistry, especially since APA & IPA styles are very similar. Could it be something you're doing differently with the IPAs from APAs such as hops?

Tell us more about the bad flavor.

Only one way to know for sure, brew control batches with other water.

Good idea with the control water but if it is the water, should I use a filter to combat?

As far as the taste for example, I made a strong hoppy IPA that should have not been sweet at all but turned out with a citrusy/sour not on the end. Its hoppy but not like youd expect. Just a soury end feel.

 

[BarleyStanding]

I had a similar conundrum a while back. All my beer tasted great except IPAs, which had an overly harsh, soapy, stinging bitterness. I did some reading (danger!) and decided that maybe it had to do with the extreme hardness of the local water. I went to 100% of a relatively neutral bottled water for the mash, with a pinch of gypsum in the strike water. And then roughly 3:1 bottled to muni for the sparge. It's not very precise or scientific, but it fixed the problem and my IPAs are coming out really nice now. I think the key is finding a nuetral bottled water (you still have to track down their report and check the numbers).