Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

(That's water to the rest of us!) Beer is about 95% water, so if you want to discuss water treatment, filtering etc this is the place to do it!
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Sye

Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by Sye » Mon Apr 03, 2017 4:03 pm

Well I have been brewing now straight from the tap for a good few years and my beers have been pretty good for the most part. So I'm at a stage where I am looking to make them a bit better and have started looking into all this water treatment stuff. To be honest I'm lost in the jargon, chemistry and wot not.

So I got my water report in with what I hope are the correct ones that I need.

Calcium – 17mg/l (PPM)
Magnesium – 2.35mg/l
Sodium – 7mg/l
Chloride – 15mg/l
Sulphate – 16mg/l
Alkalinity – 35.81mg/l CaCO3

I'm not after different profiles for IPA/Stouts etc at this stage, just a general adjustment to my Mash/Sparge waters (max 20ltr) that I can add to improve the beer and after looking at different posts and calculators online I have come up with this.

Additions:
Gypsum: 5.0
Salt: 1.0
Epsom Salts: 2.0
Calcium Chloride: 1.0

I have rounded the additions up and down just to make things simple for the time being.

Does this sounds okay for a starting point before I dump this lot into my HLT next brewday?
Last edited by Sye on Mon Apr 03, 2017 7:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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orlando
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Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by orlando » Mon Apr 03, 2017 4:28 pm

Read [url=http://forum.craftbr%20ewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=907]this[/url] first then ask your questions. Where did you get the water report from and what beer style are you trying to brew?
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

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Sye

Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by Sye » Mon Apr 03, 2017 4:42 pm

orlando wrote:Read [url=http://forum.craft%20brewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=907]this[/url] first then ask your questions. Where did you get the water report from and what beer style are you trying to brew?
Handy link.. ta.. as for the water report the Water Quality Advisor at Wessex water emailed me what I asked for. As for style, I know each style has it's own "profile" I'm lookin for a baseline to work from.

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orlando
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Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by orlando » Mon Apr 03, 2017 5:36 pm

Sye wrote:
orlando wrote:Read [url=http://forum.craft%20brewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=907]this[/url] first then ask your questions. Where did you get the water report from and what beer style are you trying to brew?
Handy link.. ta.. as for the water report the Water Quality Advisor at Wessex water emailed me what I asked for. As for style, I know each style has it's own "profile" I'm lookin for a baseline to work from.
What you need to do is decide the style, then decide what characteristics you are looking for from the flavour, that is going to shift as the style changes. Your water report is unlikely to be accurate. Most water co's will give you an average. If you really want to get to grips with water you have to have a proper report. Contact Wallybrew on here and get one from him. When you have done that and decided on what sort of beer you want to brew it will give anyone chipping in a good starting point.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

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Dennis King
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Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by Dennis King » Mon Apr 03, 2017 8:14 pm

orlando wrote:
Sye wrote:
orlando wrote:Read [url=http://forum.c%20raftbrewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=907]this[/url] first then ask your questions. Where did you get the water report from and what beer style are you trying to brew?
Handy link.. ta.. as for the water report the Water Quality Advisor at Wessex water emailed me what I asked for. As for style, I know each style has it's own "profile" I'm lookin for a baseline to work from.
What you need to do is decide the style, then decide what characteristics you are looking for from the flavour, that is going to shift as the style changes. Your water report is unlikely to be accurate. Most water co's will give you an average. If you really want to get to grips with water you have to have a proper report. Contact Wallybrew on here and get one from him. When you have done that and decided on what sort of beer you want to brew it will give anyone chipping in a good starting point.
I know Wallybrew is planning to do a new some testing early April, he likes to have several to test in one go. I recently e-mailed him as it's been a couple of years since my last test.

Rad

Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by Rad » Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:59 pm

I recommend checking out "bru'n water" spreadsheet. It has a very good list of "basic" profiles broken down by the colour and sulfate chloride ratio. I just pick the one that matches what I'm brewing and calculate the additions (either in the spreadsheet or BS). I use RO water and build it back up to what I want.

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orlando
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Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by orlando » Tue Apr 18, 2017 2:21 pm

Rad wrote:I recommend checking out "bru'n water" spreadsheet. It has a very good list of "basic" profiles broken down by the colour and sulfate chloride ratio. I just pick the one that matches what I'm brewing and calculate the additions (either in the spreadsheet or BS). I use RO water and build it back up to what I want.

As long as you ignore Calcium cells turning red when the levels go "too high". :D
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

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Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
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Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by IPA » Wed Apr 19, 2017 7:25 am

Use this.
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/water.html
Select General Purpose in the drop down box and enter your water details.
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orlando
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Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by orlando » Wed Apr 19, 2017 7:28 am

IPA wrote:Use this.
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/water.html
Select General Purpose in the drop down box and enter your water details.
Do read the notes thoroughly first though.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

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Re: Basic Water Treatment advice (Please)

Post by PhilB » Wed Apr 19, 2017 12:35 pm

Hi Sye
Sye wrote:I'm not after different profiles for IPA/Stouts etc at this stage, just a general adjustment to my Mash/Sparge waters (max 20ltr) that I can add to improve the beer ...
... I think this is where I don't think you've grasped the point ... the sorts of adjustments/additions that would make one beer in that spectrum "better" really won't be improving another beer, of a different type :?

As Aleman puts it in that thread that Orlando linked to above (admittedly about a slightly different element of variability in getting your water "right" but I think the principle still stands) ...
Aleman on Craft Brewing Forum (link) wrote:a "One Size Fits All" approach . . .Which is fine if you want a consistent level of mediocrity . . .but if you really want to lift you beer above the average then you really have to make an attempt to understand the logic and reasons behind water treatment
... we might as well forget the details about your water that you've posted, and give you the "generic, rule of thumb" advice that goes "add a teaspoon of gypsum to the mash, and another to the boil" ... but even then we should really add " ... for hop-forward beers, make it teaspoons of calcium chloride for malty beers and half gypsum, half calcium chloride, for 'balanced' beers" :?

I'm really not convinced that you'll get the improvements you're looking for (consistently) if you simply treat all beers similarly ... but if you're willing to follow some of the advice above and take it a short step on from there, then you really won't be that far off identifying the different treatments for the different beers you brew, to start gaining the benefits :?

Cheers, PhilB

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