Oki, I use ph balancer 5.2, and I would like real soft water, what would i add to do this ?
I mean what solo chemical, you hear of salt etc, just need to be sure of the correct "version" for brewing.
Also, if there is such a thing for us brewers, how much would I add to gain an overall softening, im not to fussed over gaining water reports etc, just a sensible amount to add, remember though, I add 5.2 now so if its based on an ingredient there in the 5.2, I just need the remainder calculation.
Cheers, brew on, lee
Softening water ? pls help.
-
Aleman
- It's definitely Lock In Time
- Posts: 6132
- Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 11:56 am
- Location: Mashing In Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
Re: Softening water ? pls help.
Lee I would suggest you take yourself down to your nearest Tropical Fish shop, they should be able to sell you Reverse osmosis water for not a lot of money. . . Failing that Asda Smartprice water is very 'soft', and again not all that expensive.
This is no magic 'salt' to add to water to make it soft . . . I suppose if you add phosphoric acid you will get a precipitate of calcium phosphate removing calcium from the water and thereby making it softer . . . but to do that you need to know the alkalinity of the water as well.
It is very rare that there is a need to 'soften' water for brewing . . . what is normally needed is to reduce the alkalinity (Carbonate . . . more or less) when brewing pale beers. . . . in most cases a certain hardness (calcium level) is required to really make a beer shine
This is no magic 'salt' to add to water to make it soft . . . I suppose if you add phosphoric acid you will get a precipitate of calcium phosphate removing calcium from the water and thereby making it softer . . . but to do that you need to know the alkalinity of the water as well.
It is very rare that there is a need to 'soften' water for brewing . . . what is normally needed is to reduce the alkalinity (Carbonate . . . more or less) when brewing pale beers. . . . in most cases a certain hardness (calcium level) is required to really make a beer shine
-
leewink
Re: Softening water ? pls help.
Yea I see, it was just a thought.
I used to keep marine fish, so very up on the chemical removal properties of R/O D/I water, only problem there for this application, is that RODI systems remove the majority ( anywhere from 90-99.999% ) of all components of water, in other words they strip it to basically water with nothing in, sounds silly but its right, a decent RODI system will leave a TDS (total dissolved solids) read of zero, that is water with nothing in !!
I live near stansted airport, and when i kept fish, my TDS read on tap water was about 390, RO ALONE gave me about 38-40 read, and the additional DI gave me a read of zero, so being totally honest, any of them alone will naff your beer in my honest opinion, whether it be a RO system or both RODI.
SO will jug type filters, they remove primarily metals, great !! (joke there)
One chap posted here to look at his cartridge when he changed it and seemed chuffed that it was yellow or sandy, I replied there too, because you can NEVER know when the filter is tiring, your sandy colour filter will be leaching back nasties into the water, FAR worse than just leaving it off, because now he has concentrations / multiples of it to deal with, and of course sand is full of sillicates and nasties.
Problem there lies in RODI to repeat, is that it will strip ALL beneficial nutrients needed by yeast, I.E. metals etc, leaving you with a poor starter, actually, a crap no use starter for your beer base.
I have posted a similar response here on the forums, and repeat it now, simply because alot of people may think RO or RODI water is the way to go, really it is not.
Like NO manufacturer of such systems will EVER tell you that any of these filters really are getting towards (jug filters) or are bad for you (RODI), simply because by stripping everything out, your body leaches its minerals into it, then you pass it all, in effect draining your body of its nutrients over time, on one hand taking the bad stuff out of you, the other taking the good aswell.
Personally, for my health, i'll stick to tap, and in brewing, simply add a campden and some 5.2 balancer.
cheers, Lee
I used to keep marine fish, so very up on the chemical removal properties of R/O D/I water, only problem there for this application, is that RODI systems remove the majority ( anywhere from 90-99.999% ) of all components of water, in other words they strip it to basically water with nothing in, sounds silly but its right, a decent RODI system will leave a TDS (total dissolved solids) read of zero, that is water with nothing in !!
I live near stansted airport, and when i kept fish, my TDS read on tap water was about 390, RO ALONE gave me about 38-40 read, and the additional DI gave me a read of zero, so being totally honest, any of them alone will naff your beer in my honest opinion, whether it be a RO system or both RODI.
SO will jug type filters, they remove primarily metals, great !! (joke there)
One chap posted here to look at his cartridge when he changed it and seemed chuffed that it was yellow or sandy, I replied there too, because you can NEVER know when the filter is tiring, your sandy colour filter will be leaching back nasties into the water, FAR worse than just leaving it off, because now he has concentrations / multiples of it to deal with, and of course sand is full of sillicates and nasties.
Problem there lies in RODI to repeat, is that it will strip ALL beneficial nutrients needed by yeast, I.E. metals etc, leaving you with a poor starter, actually, a crap no use starter for your beer base.
I have posted a similar response here on the forums, and repeat it now, simply because alot of people may think RO or RODI water is the way to go, really it is not.
Like NO manufacturer of such systems will EVER tell you that any of these filters really are getting towards (jug filters) or are bad for you (RODI), simply because by stripping everything out, your body leaches its minerals into it, then you pass it all, in effect draining your body of its nutrients over time, on one hand taking the bad stuff out of you, the other taking the good aswell.
Personally, for my health, i'll stick to tap, and in brewing, simply add a campden and some 5.2 balancer.
cheers, Lee
-
boingy
Re: Softening water ? pls help.
We've had a bit of an RO discussion fairly recently. The utopia for the brewer is to be able to construct the perfect brewing liquor by starting from a blank canvas and then adding all the salts and elements that the beer needs. Of course, in reality it is rarely that simple and unless you are a chemist you will probably end up screwing up the water rather than improving it.
As Aleman says, most waters need the carbonate reducing, which you can do by boiling or by adding carbonate reducing solution (CRS: http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/Catalog/de ... RU20154464). To use CRS you need to have some idea of the carbonate levels in the first place.
Or you can just mostly ignore water treatment apart from the campden tablet. I'm personally not a fan of the 5.2 stuff, simply because I don't know what's in it but I know others on here use it and are happy.
As Aleman says, most waters need the carbonate reducing, which you can do by boiling or by adding carbonate reducing solution (CRS: http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/Catalog/de ... RU20154464). To use CRS you need to have some idea of the carbonate levels in the first place.
Or you can just mostly ignore water treatment apart from the campden tablet. I'm personally not a fan of the 5.2 stuff, simply because I don't know what's in it but I know others on here use it and are happy.
