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Soft water and efficiency

C

crasher1339

Due to a water softener in my home (our well water is very hard), the water from my tap is extremely soft.  Like in 0 Calcium and 1 Mag (these numbers are from the water analysis done when we purchased the home).  I recently started doing AG and have been getting low efficiencies, anywhere from 60-65%.  I'm batch sparging, and admittedly refining my technique and setup, but my question is will the softness of the water influence my efficiency?  If I add some gypsum, can I expect improvement?  Will the soft water cause other problems?
 
I started out doing my all grain with softened/filtered water, but was getting efficiencies of  around 75% or so.  Only recently have I found out why I am getting efficiencies of 55-60% (found a pitted hole in my brew pot)

I don't know if the different minerals will affect the efficiency as you have described, but I will be comparing my previous one to my next batch after I replace the brew pot.
 
I was having a similar problem.

My water is about 9ppm Ca, according to John Palmer's How to Brew calcium is needed for the enzymes to do there thing.

Try adding a tsp or two of gypsum to the mash, this brings it into the 50 ppm for me.
 
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