Help - hard Surrey water causing astringency etc

[Matt12398]

Do you think Paul will reply or is he really busy?

[barneey]

Just did a little test using Martins Program and its giving me 1ml of 80% Lactic will neutralise 536 per litre so there or there abouts.

[Eric]

Do you think Paul will reply or is he really busy?

Murphy's would never seem to be in any hurry to correct their disastersheets.

[Charles1968]

Norstar, your water should be great for making beers with a lot of melanoidins from well kilned malts - Oktoberfest, Vienna lager, darker Belgian beers. If you match the beer to the water you shouldn't need to add chemicals.

For pale beers you need to treat the water or replace it with soft mineral water. Boiling is another option but you have to put back the calcium if you do that.

[Dave S]

Tesco value is not the same as Ashbeck which hasn't changed in years AFAIK.

That's right, but wasn't the link that the OP was pointed to for the Tesco Value water? Or did I get that wrong?

[AnthonyUK]

That's right, but wasn't the link that the OP was pointed to for the Tesco Value water? Or did I get that wrong?

Oh I see what you mean
There is a link in the thread to a pdf - http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/137448/ ... survey.pdf
Page 25 has some data for the various Tesco water.

[sladeywadey]

Tesco Value water is the same as Asda smart price water - it is mains water and both come from Yorkshire water company where they filter it to remove crap etc. It is then sent to Princes foods in Bradford who further process it. I would not use these waters due to the differing sources as you can't be reasonably sure what the sulphate and calcium levels are.

If you are going to use mineral water, use Tesco Ashbeck or Asda Eden Falls (both from the same source) and adjust calcium/chloride/sulphate levels accordingly.

[Dave S]

That's right, but wasn't the link that the OP was pointed to for the Tesco Value water? Or did I get that wrong?

Oh I see what you mean
There is a link in the thread to a pdf - http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/137448/ ... survey.pdf
Page 25 has some data for the various Tesco water.

That's a useful link mate, hadn't spotted it in the original, thanks.

[norstar]

Don't trust the Tesco Value water, it changes like the wind. I treated a brew a while back based on that analysis and it turned out that the alkalinity in it was near as damn it the same as my own tap water, (high) - result - complete cock up. As Eric mentioned above you could save yourself a whole load of pain by getting an alkalinity test kit and measuring each and every brew.

That might explain why a few brews back, I tried using Asda smart price water to try and eliminate reasons for bad brews and astringency and found no big difference. Turns out that was actually disguised tapwater according to the newspaper...

I've used either a combination of boiled water and Tesco's ashbeck, or just Ashbeck recently and although the beers are currently conditioning, early impressions are of a significantly different beer with no astringency. The pH seems lower as well generally.

[Wonkydonkey]

Just my 2p worth, water is water, it's just some has more dissolved minerals in it, I was listening to a brewing podcast the other year. About water chemistry, the info I got out of the show was, get a water report, then use RO Water to bring down those high minerals in a ratio ie if you add 25% RO then all the minerals will have dropped by 25%, then add only if you need to any other minerals that have been lowered too much for your brew, ie sulphites etc. don't worry about being bang on, just try get it around-about the same amount

Buying bottled water, is like selling ice to the Eskimos. @ 5lt = £1. RO water is a lot cheaper, imho.