KISS approach to treatment

[timbo41]

Sticking my head over the parapet here.
I'm just a hobby Brewer....like to make tasty, quaffable beer
But even I realise that my local water supply just ain't of the right quality to help me.
So I've decided my first step is to use RO
without anyone mentioning cations,salifert etc. is there a way of adding for example, a tablespoon of dws or gypsum. to my water each brewday to make the liquor better to brew with

I'm. sorry, I'm not after perfection. just a general state if affairs better than current,....not trying to reproduce Burton, or Yorkshire dales....just a nice general purpose liquor

[Aleman]

I don't favour the use of RO Water soley as a base for brewing . . . Basically there is F All in it.

Guys with hard water / High Alkalinity have it much easier treatment wise than guys like me who have water with B All in it . . . How do you increase alkalinity? Without increasing sodium?

I know I've said in the past that treating water without knowing what's in it is Witchcraft, but knowing that you have nothing in it is not really any better. I know that Gordon Strong Advocates using RO Water, and a lot of the beer factories use deionised water . . .the beer factories employ an army of water chemists, who know which salts to add in what order to precisely hit the profile that suits their minimally flavoured coloured water..

There are minimal levels of the major ions required and these can easily met by chucking a tsp of gypsym or calcium chloride in the boil and the mash . . .but what about those trace elements? you relying on getting them from the ingredients?

The reason Tesco Ashbeck and Asda smartprice are recommended as low alkalinity bottled waters to start with is that while they have a low level of the brewing ions, they have a stable and more or less known ionic profile, with trace elements . . . makes it much easier to say use Ashbeck and throw a tsp of gypsum in the mash and one in the boil and you are sorted.

[ECW]

Most people seem to swear by a half a campden tablet to remove the chlorine and chloramines from tapwater. I've been using them for the last few brews and they seem to remove some of the homebrew twang.

[timbo41]

Cheers aleman...you see, at bottom of your informed response is what I'm looking for.....use a cheap mineral water. and add some gypsum. Not perfect,but an improvement none the less. What about these dws salts. Will half a teaspoon help as well? They don't even have a label saying what's in them

Or would I be better off with a bit of the Ph buffer you can buy?
Really just want a " add two oxo cubes" to boiling water Heath Robinson solution to this. ad I say

[timbo41]

Most people seem to swear by a half a campden tablet to remove the chlorine and chloramines from tapwater. I've been using them for the last few brews and they seem to remove some of the homebrew twang.

and thanks ECW. throwing a crushy in is something I've always done as a matter of course....have to here tap water tasted like a swimming pool

[Matt12398]

Really just want a " add two oxo cubes" to boiling water Heath Robinson solution to this. ad I say

Unfortunately I think you are searching for something that doesn't exist.

My water is like Aleman's. Really easy to make a good pale ale but for stouts and porters you're adding enough sodium bicarbonate to not want to have to add any more.

[Eric]

Sad to say, if your water's alkalinity is typically that for your area, it's likely your only options are to measure it and compensate or buy in water that meets your specification.

Using acids such as CRS or sulphuric with heavily alkaline water will provide the majority of necessary brewing salts. The test is very simple and inexpensive.