[reverseapachemaster]

I had an unfortunate client that called me in too late who had this problem with their brewing water and the resulting beers came out very acidic. With nearly 300 bbls of acidic beer that they ultimately had to waste, the economic impact was the end for that brewery.

They could have tossed it in some barrels with brett and sold it at a premium. 

[hopfenundmalz]

I had an unfortunate client that called me in too late who had this problem with their brewing water and the resulting beers came out very acidic. With nearly 300 bbls of acidic beer that they ultimately had to waste, the economic impact was the end for that brewery.

They could have tossed it in some barrels with brett and sold it at a premium. 

I saw a picture from Dark Lord Day.
A guy had 2 10 gallon Igloo coolers in front of him.
One said Free Water.
The Second said "barrel aged water -$10"

[HoosierBrew]

I had an unfortunate client that called me in too late who had this problem with their brewing water and the resulting beers came out very acidic. With nearly 300 bbls of acidic beer that they ultimately had to waste, the economic impact was the end for that brewery.

Wow, that's pretty awful. There was a well publicized brewery closing in the last month or so - any chance that's  the one ?

[brewinhard]

I like to measure out my water the night before brewing to save time and was wondering if I can add my salt additions to my mash and sparge water the night before with no ill effects?

[mabrungard]

Wow, that's pretty awful. There was a well publicized brewery closing in the last month or so - any chance that's  the one ?

Nope. Although John Palmer and I visited that brewery about a year and a half ago and found they had water related problems with their beer too.

[Philbrew]

Martin,
Earlier in this thread you mentioned "good RO water".  But what is "good"?  I get RO water from the machine at Wally-mart and check it each time with a cheap pen TDS meter to make sure the machine ain't broke.  The readings are always 14-22 TDS.  I think that's good.  But is it important to know what's in that 14-22 TDS or can I ignore something that small?  Thanks.

[Wort-H.O.G.]

Martin,
Earlier in this thread you mentioned "good RO water".  But what is "good"?  I get RO water from the machine at Wally-mart and check it each time with a cheap pen TDS meter to make sure the machine ain't broke.  The readings are always 14-22 TDS.  I think that's good.  But is it important to know what's in that 14-22 TDS or can I ignore something that small?  Thanks.

my RO reads between 9-13 on TDS. 14-22 would still be negligible contribution-probably mostly chloride and sodium contribution would be my assumption without testing it.

[HoosierBrew]

I believe I've read (maybe from Martin) that RO water should definitely be under 50ppm TDS. I've never found any from a machine (yet) any higher than 25ppm, usually more like 14-20ish.

[hopfenundmalz]

One machine I buy from has been reading 3 ppm TDS with my meter, it is $.44/gallon. Another has been reading around 45 ppm TDS, it is $.27 a gallon. The first is on a water system that uses Lake Huron water as the source, the second is sourced from wells with high mineral content and may not be maintained as often. The first source is used for lagers, the second for ales.

[mabrungard]

Low is relative. I have suggested that 50 ppm TDS is an appropriate level at which you start to worry about RO quality. As mentioned above, the typical RO machine is going to produce much better quality than 50 ppm, so that value would be significantly out of range.

Now let's look at what that 50 ppm TDS might mean in actual ionic levels: maybe 12 ppm Ca and ppm HCO3 or 14 ppm Na and 36 ppm HCO3. As you can see, these are very lot concentrations. If you start including more ions, then the totals of each will fall even farther. So these are still teeny levels that shouldn't destroy your brewing, but still signal impending problems with the machine.