Bottled Water...

[2DogAle]

I want to make a czech pilsner but have hard water (no I don't have a water profile I just know it's hard) and I remember seeing some place that certain bottled water is relatively soft. Does anyone know if any of the national brands are soft enough to brew a pilsner. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

[Lufah]

You could go half bottled spring water and half RO water. I don't know what the water profile on the spring water is, but it seems fairly soft from what I've used.

Travis

[DannyW]

Our local bottled water, Zephyrhills, looks a little hard to brew Pilsners all by itself.

Ion Pilsen Zephyrhills
Calcium 7 65
Sodium 2 6
Magnesium 2 5
Carbonate 15 140
Chloride 5 11
Sulfate 5 10
TDS 35 200

Hmm... I wonder if Zephyrhills dilutes with RO or something. I live about 100 miles S of them and my water is 2-3x as hard as theirs. Flow in our aquifer is to the S, though, so maybe it just picks up that much extra between there and here.

[2DogAle]

You could go half bottled spring water and half RO water. I don't know what the water profile on the spring water is, but it seems fairly soft from what I've used.

Travis

Thanks Travis.

Stupid question... where do I buy RO water?

Rob

[DannyW]

Maybe it's a local thing around here, but we have "water machines" all over the place. It's a box about the size of a refrigerator outside many drug stores, convenence stores, etc. Bring your own jug (or carboy or bucket) and for 25-35 cents per gallon they will fill you up.

Regular muni or well water goes in. Inside the box they particulate filter, carbon filter, RO filter, and treat with UV light.

[Lufah]

Distilled water is the same thing. You should be able to get it at the grocery.

Travis

[elam]

Before you try to brew something pale you might want to calculate your water ph. I use Zyphyrhills spring and I had a pale ale turn out a bit astringent because of the water. The carbonate is relatively high especially compared to the calcium and magnesium and with no dark malts you will get a ph of over 5.8 will won't give you a good beer.

John Palmer and Ray Daniels have formulas for figuring out your ph. For a Pilsner I would think that you may be better off using RO or distilled and adding the neccessary salts.