This is a daunting area of my much loved new hobby.
Previously I’ve avoided water treatment by using ASDA still water for 3 x AG brews, never tested anything just got on with it with no issues, problem is not so much cost as its about £2.50 for 37 litres (my preboil volume for 23 litres with losses and 20% evaporation!) but getting rid of the plastic bottles is a right ball ache especially when I’ve a few brews on over a weekend. It all but fills our recycle bin bag.
Can you tell me if this is acceptable as basic water treatment, i got some good info from this thread but still is a bit unclear to me viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11841&p=198839&hili ... ly#p198839
I’ve tested tap water with PH strip and this is about 7 so do I still need to use CRS, I’ve got none but can buy some if needed.
Max I can get in HLT is 23 litres so should I put 18.5 litres in HLT with half Camden tablet to remove chlorine/chloramine, heat, add to grain and mash in as normal
Add remaining 18.5 litre and rest of tablet to HLT, is it absolutely necessary to raise the PH to 6 for sparge fluid as link above?
What is grain likely to do to liquor i.e. turn acid or alkali. I know I need to make it 5.5 so a little alkali. Approx how much Gypsum would you add for a given example of required change?
I’d like to do as little as is necessary to begin with, just the necessary.
Water Treatment Basics HELP!
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mysterio
Re: Water Treatment Basics HELP!
Ph of your tap water doesn't matter. You need the total alkalinity. You can phone your water board or test it with an aquarium kit. You will also need to add campden tabs to neutralise chlorine/chloramine. Both are covered here:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24442
Chris gives further details here:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12480
Once you have a figure, we can go from there, but this is very much the basics. Grain acidifies the liquor, darker grains moreso, so you need a more alkaline water for darker beers. From around 15 mg/L carbonates for pale beers up to 50 for stouts. You can get there with either CRS or Chalk, but you need your alkalinity figure first.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24442
Chris gives further details here:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12480
Once you have a figure, we can go from there, but this is very much the basics. Grain acidifies the liquor, darker grains moreso, so you need a more alkaline water for darker beers. From around 15 mg/L carbonates for pale beers up to 50 for stouts. You can get there with either CRS or Chalk, but you need your alkalinity figure first.