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Quick Questions Regarding Water

Ck27

Grandmaster Brewer
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So, a couple people complained about something being off in 3 of my last beers so I'm trying out some different bottled water than I usually use and was wondering since I brew IPAS, what would you suggest adding to this water, the following link is the the most recent water report arrowhead has and gave to me. https://www.nestle-watersna.com/asset-library/Documents/AR_ENG.pdf?_ga=2.234447838.1783872623.1512970290-359924579.1512970290

I usually use Crystal Geyser but had to buy this cause they dont have enough at my store and this was like $0.50 a gallon on sale.

And also has anyone used arrowhead mountain spring water in brewing???

Ive got all the minerals and whatnot just need some help on what to add.
 
Those are some pretty wide ranges listed, although all the minerals are on the low side. For an IPA you generally want a high sulfate-to-chloride ratio, but when the report states 0-12 for chloride and 0-56 for sulfate you don't really know where you stand to start. The only way to know what ratio you get in the end is to add so much stuff that you overwhelm those starting numbers. The calcium is fairly low so you could add enough gypsum to give 50-75 ppm of sulfate and then you could be sure to have a high sulfate-to-chloride ratio without having too much sulfate, and your calcium should still be OK. Depending on your grain bill you might have to add some acid to bring down your pH, but the alkalinity range listed is so wide that it would be hard (pun intended) to know how much.

--GF
 
If you're going to add salts to your brewing water anyway, you're probably better off buying RO if available. Most supermarkets have RO dispensers and it's cheaper than bottled water, usually about $.35/gal.. I use a TDS meter to check each time and always see less than 10ppm total dissolved solids, so pretty much know I'm starting with a clean slate.

If you are having good results with a particular brand of bottled water and don't mind the extra cost, by all means, use it.  Above and beyond the cost of spring or mineral water, if you can find an analysis it usually shows a fairly broad range of chemical concentrations. I like knowing what's in the base water before building on it.



 
GigaFemto said:
Those are some pretty wide ranges listed, although all the minerals are on the low side. For an IPA you generally want a high sulfate-to-chloride ratio, but when the report states 0-12 for chloride and 0-56 for sulfate you don't really know where you stand to start. The only way to know what ratio you get in the end is to add so much stuff that you overwhelm those starting numbers. The calcium is fairly low so you could add enough gypsum to give 50-75 ppm of sulfate and then you could be sure to have a high sulfate-to-chloride ratio without having too much sulfate, and your calcium should still be OK. Depending on your grain bill you might have to add some acid to bring down your pH, but the alkalinity range listed is so wide that it would be hard (pun intended) to know how much.

--GF

pH meter said 6.5 just tested water
 
BOB357 said:
If you're going to add salts to your brewing water anyway, you're probably better off buying RO if available. Most supermarkets have RO dispensers and it's cheaper than bottled water, usually about $.35/gal.. I use a TDS meter to check each time and always see less than 10ppm total dissolved solids, so pretty much know I'm starting with a clean slate.

If you are having good results with a particular brand of bottled water and don't mind the extra cost, by all means, use it.  Above and beyond the cost of spring or mineral water, if you can find an analysis it usually shows a fairly broad range of chemical concentrations. I like knowing what's in the base water before building on it.

I normally use my well or tap water but the last 4 beers something has been off that I don't get when I use bottled so I'm running some test brews. But I suspect my water has something going on.
 
I second, BOB357. If you're going to buy water and adjust it, just buy RO or distilled and build from there. Then, you know exactly what you've got. That's what we've been doing lately and it's improved our beers noticeably.
 
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