Beer Forum

I have brewed in the past with RO water from my local Wal Mart Culligan RO dispenser. I understand this is definitely not recommended for mashing darker malts due to the softness etc. and that you're never really sure how much is actually in the water due to filtration age and equipment used to do the RO.

My local HBS recommended getting Wal-Mart's Drinking water and using that. If I still am going to use the RO, I should figure out what additions are needed to fit the style of beer.

What do you guys recommend? Should I go the extra step and start with Distilled water and craft water to the style of beer? I've also heard that adding too many salts to "pure water" to meet specific needs will "over salt" the beer.

My city water is terrible. No one drinks it unless it is run through a filter. It actually isn't too bad then. I had a general report sent to me from the water authority but am still waiting to get a specific report on the ion levels, etc. What I do know is that it's pretty hard water and has moderate to high alkalinity. Maybe in the end, I'd only have to make a few adjustments for my city water on darker brews and go with some other store bought stuff for pilsners, lagers etc?

I just want good water

Depending on the style, I'll use some portion of city water and all the way up to 100% RO/distilled and build from there. I'm currently using Bru'n Water but have also used Palmer's Residual Alkalinity Calculator (check out howtobrew.com).

Bru'n water has some built in water profile targets and I will usually go with a general color-based profile and build up from there. Also, I think Beersmith has water profiles also, but I haven't used those.

I am NOT an AG brewer, but I was just playing around with the Brewer's Friend water chemistry calculator here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

Are you on municipal water or a well?

Usually, you can find municipal water reports online pretty easily, but not very much about these reports is standardized from one municipality to another. Your latest public water report seems to only detail potential contaminants (http://www.bfwater.net/BFWaterreport2012.pdf) and other than that, it doesn't go into very much detail at all. Of the 7 water chemistry variables germain to homebrewing, the only one on their report is chlorine.

Calcium (CA+2)
Magnesium (MG+2)
Sulfates (SO4-2)
Sodium (NA+)
Chlorine (CL-)
Bicarbonate (HCO3)
Alkalinity/hardness

If you are that concerned and you're willing to pay for an independant report, you could always bring a sample into your nearest pure water/Culligan etc.. and have them test it. Just know that you're only getting a snapshot in time, and that seasonal swings can be significant depending on municipal water sources. If you're on a well, you can count on more consistency, although they will tend towards being more mineral rich.

They're required by law to provide this information, though...right?

RoKozak wrote:They're required by law to provide this information, though...right?

Yes, but it's meant to protect people from things in the water that are/could be harmful. As far as mineral content goes, I'm not sure they are required to provide that info. My municipality does, but that could well be a CA thing, or they're just doing it voluntarily.

Duzdisluk Infektid wrote:

RoKozak wrote:They're required by law to provide this information, though...right?

Yes, but it's meant to protect people from things in the water that are/could be harmful. As far as mineral content goes, I'm not sure they are required to provide that info. My municipality does, but that could well be a CA thing, or they're just doing it voluntarily.

Gotcha. I just got off the phone with my local authority and he is going to get back to me with some of what I asked for. He said he knows for sure that they don't test for Bicarbonates. That is kind of important, eh?

This is all they were able to give me:

pH 7.4
Alkalinity 190 ppm
Sulfates 71.6 ppm
Chloride 51.2 ppm
Chlorine 1.2 ppm
No Sodium Report
No Bicarbonate Report

Is it vital to have those two they do not test?

If you want to be able to adjust and ballance with salts, yes. You may be able to test for sodium yourself, and calculate bicarbonate based on known PH and total alkalinity. http://www.ehow.com/how_7251238_calcula ... ation.html

This is the first Google return for Sodium Water test Kit...it's $40, but their may be cheaper alternatives if you care to look further.