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water addition

Damrite

Grandmaster Brewer
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Hey guys,  I live in the city of mississauga, ontario. I use water from a regular filtering system that I bought from local hardware store, should I bother with any of the  water additives like calcium carbonate or calcium sulphate or calcium chloride and campden tablets.
any feedback would be great, I don't have a water profile for mississauga.
Cheers
 
Your question is impossible to answer, without knowing your water profile.  Send a sample out and get it analyzed.  It's not that expensive from what I hear.  Since I can get my water profile online from my city, I've never had to send a sample out.  Thus, I don't know who to send it to or how much it will actually cost. 

Someone will probably chime in with that information.

By the way, in the last BeerSmith video, Brad Smith interviewed John Palmer.  Mr. Palmer now sells a water analysis system so that you can do it yourself.  Check it out.
 
I will check it out, but if I use all of these as per manufacturer recommendation  can it hurt my beer
 
Of course it can.  I'm just getting into water chemistry, so I can't tell you how it will hurt or help it.  Let's just say that changing your water profile, without knowing what you're changing it to (or from, for that matter), is just basically a WAG (Wild A$$ed Guess).

Why guess, when you don't have to guess.

If you want to fool around with water chemistry, then find out what your water chemistry is and how to change it to the benefit of the particular style that you're trying to brew.  Each beer style has a group of water chemistry's that they thrive with.  Each beer style also has a group of water chemistry's that they don't thrive with.

If you change it to the wrong chemistry (say, for example, a chemistry that fits an English Porter or Stout) and you're making an American IPA, then you probably won't get the most out of your hops bittering characteristics.  This would result in a mediocre beer, at best.

You might make an addition to your water and have a really great beer.  You might make an addition that would ruin what would have been a great beer without that addition.  Know what you're doing and why you're doing it, and your level of consistently great beers will be much more frequent.
 
That answers my questions,  I was wondering if it would just balance it, I guess I got a shit of homework to do...
Thanks Scott
 
So do I.  I bought "Water" and tried to read it on my way to Indonesia and back.  My head is spinning now.
 
I found the Water Book to be kind of dry...I didn't absorb much. 
 
There are other sites that may be just as good, but I use      https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/        to adjust my water. Since you don't know your water profile, consider buying distilled water and building the water you need for your recipe.

If you want to use Bru'nWater, READ THE FIRST SHEET before you start mixing. It can be intimidating at first, but with a little brain sweat you can greatly improve your beer.

Did I mention it's a good idea to read the instructions?
 
Thanks I will read this, I manage to get my water profile, I will post it as soon as I get time to type it. Thanks to all of you.
 
Once again I chime in with the most unpopular answer to a question. I keep going back to the words of Charlie Papazian, as I have for 23 years. He says "If it tastes good, brew with it". That being said, I have to agree with what the others have said here. You can't adjust your water to mimic a certain water from another country unless you know what you have to start with. If you must mimic another water, get yours analyzed and adjust it to mimic the water of another area. You can send it off and find out what you have. It costs about 16 bucks. You may be able to get the info from your waterworks for free. That said, I also have a strong belief in local brews made from local waters. You can only make a beer from a certain area if you start with their water. My point is.....I can't make your beer if I don't have YOUR water so... be unique. Make your beer. No mater how good I am I will never be able to duplicate it regardless of what I add to my water. Your water is yours and yours alone. Brew with it and make a beer there that no one can make anywhere else.
 
I love what I brew, I'm willing to experiment too it,s only affects my blonde beer it has a sweet fruity flavor, never happen with water bought from the store, got a water filtering system thinking it would be ok, bought water additives like calcium carbonate or calcium sulphate or calcium chloride and campden tablets just need to find out which one should to use to start my experimentation. Here is the city of mississauga water profile, any recommendations would be appreciated,  cheers guys.

page 44: http://www.peelregion.ca/pw/water/quality/reports/2013/pdf/south-peel-report-2013.pdf
 
Beer Smith gives water profiles for specific areas. So, if you are brewing a style that is native to say.... Munich, take your water profile and input it into Beer Smith and it will tell you what to add to adjust it to match the water of Munich. Same goes for any other beer style. Pick the profile for the native city of that style and use the software to adjust it.
 
Apologies for my levity.  This brewing beer is serious business. 
 
KernelCrush said:
I found the Water Book to be kind of dry...I didn't absorb much.

It's hard to believe that Palmer had anything at all to do with that book. Like his name is on the cover just to sell books. How to Brew was a masterpiece and that Water book was utter crap.
 
Agreed.  Water and Hops are a way distant tie for second (actually not even in the same race)  behind the Yeast book.  Hoping Malt is better.  Preordered it on Amazon.  I heard the other day they are gonna call a mulligan on the Hops book and try again.

Edit.  That's not fair.  Actually they are coming out with a new Hops book.
 
grathan said:
It's hard to believe that Palmer had anything at all to do with that book. Like his name is on the cover just to sell books. How to Brew was a masterpiece and that Water book was utter crap.

Wow. Sick burn, bro.

 
The IPA book was crap too. Pretty good history lesson, but IPA then and IPA now are not even similar. They should have named it "The history of beer".


I don't have high hopes for Malt.


The sour book looks good though. Anyone read that yet?





 
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