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Author Topic: Beer Water  (Read 2684 times)

Offline Wilbur

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Re: Beer Water
« Reply #45 on: February 19, 2020, 09:35:19 pm »
Your gonna get arguments with those universal truths. Dudes here will pick that apart like a chicken on a June bug.

For example: duplicating water from a specific source really doesn’t matter because you don’t know what the brewer did to the water to create their brewing liquor.

...and on and on... right down the line.


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The other interesting stat I found is that 55% of home brewers do nothing to their water. Guess I’m in that group. Brewing for 20 plus years and the only thing we do is filter our tap water.
My tap cones in at 300-600 ppm tds (400 as of last weekend), not doing anything isn't really an option where I'm at.

I believe the RV hose Drew is talking about is a white, food grade garden hose, rather than a run of the mill hardware store garden hose.

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Offline dbeechum

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Re: Beer Water
« Reply #46 on: February 19, 2020, 10:41:53 pm »
Depending on how a the water treatment plant, chloramines are only present when both chlorine and ammonia are used for disinfection but I would defer to Martin on that.
 Can you elaborate on what an RV hose is and what kind of water you use?

I believe the RV hose Drew is talking about is a white, food grade garden hose, rather than a run of the mill hardware store garden hose.

Wilbur got the hose - it's just a white potable water hose sold for RV use (bought mine at the ACE near my house). Don't use water passed through a regular old green garden house! (Also, Wilbur, sorry about your water.. that's a hard situation.. sorry about the word play too [not really])

For me I use good old fashioned Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District water. Given the amount of miles that stuff is running, you best believe they're using chloramine for sanitation.

Mine reads:
Ca: 47.0
Mg: 12.0
Na: 51.0
BiCarb: 187.0
Carb: 0.7
Sulfate: 78.0
Chloride: 35.0
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Offline HopDen

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Re: Beer Water
« Reply #47 on: February 20, 2020, 04:18:42 am »
Happiness is in the eyes of the beer holder.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
MY NEW MOTTO!!

TXFlyGuy

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Re: Beer Water
« Reply #48 on: February 20, 2020, 05:46:11 am »
Happiness is in the eyes of the beer holder.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
MY NEW MOTTO!!

Guess we are lucky, as the water we have appears to be suitable for brewing a variety of beers, sans treatment. Our brews are primarily lighter beers, mostly lagers.

But we are quite anal about yeast health, pitching rate, sanitation, quality (fresh) ingredients, and temperature control. This probably has contributed to our overall brewing success as much as the water quality.

There was an interesting post on Brulosophy about water treatment. Showing that a number of tasters could not differentiate between beers with treated vs. untreated water.

http://brulosophy.com/2018/10/25/water-chemistry-treated-vs-untreated-in-new-england-ipa-the-bru-club-xbmt-series/
« Last Edit: February 20, 2020, 05:49:03 am by Myron Oleson »

Offline denny

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Re: Beer Water
« Reply #49 on: February 20, 2020, 08:20:54 am »
Happiness is in the eyes of the beer holder.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
MY NEW MOTTO!!

Guess we are lucky, as the water we have appears to be suitable for brewing a variety of beers, sans treatment. Our brews are primarily lighter beers, mostly lagers.

But we are quite anal about yeast health, pitching rate, sanitation, quality (fresh) ingredients, and temperature control. This probably has contributed to our overall brewing success as much as the water quality.

There was an interesting post on Brulosophy about water treatment. Showing that a number of tasters could not differentiate between beers with treated vs. untreated water.

http://brulosophy.com/2018/10/25/water-chemistry-treated-vs-untreated-in-new-england-ipa-the-bru-club-xbmt-series/

As always, I must say that's a data point, not a conclusion.  I've participated in tests that were the opposite.
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narvin

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Re: Beer Water
« Reply #50 on: February 20, 2020, 08:40:04 am »

There was an interesting post on Brulosophy about water treatment. Showing that a number of tasters could not differentiate between beers with treated vs. untreated water.

http://brulosophy.com/2018/10/25/water-chemistry-treated-vs-untreated-in-new-england-ipa-the-bru-club-xbmt-series/

This is interesting, but not my experience either.  My mash pH before acid additions for that grist would be at least 5.7, which leads to wort darkening and harsher bitterness.  I remember a long time ago someone testing out Rahr for base malt and saying that it came in lower than the expected 5.8 distilled mash pH.  Perhaps it's better suited for beers with minimal water additions.

I do think Cl:SO4 ratio is blown out of proportion.  But I can definitely tell the difference in a beer with 80ppm chloride and 0 sulfate, which is my well water by default, vs one with less extreme amounts.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2020, 08:41:50 am by narvin »

Online hopfenundmalz

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Re: Beer Water
« Reply #51 on: February 20, 2020, 09:04:57 am »
I like the taste of Gerolsteiner. I wouldn't brew with it.

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TXFlyGuy

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Re: Beer Water
« Reply #52 on: February 20, 2020, 10:23:22 am »
Yes...water that tastes bad would not make good brewing water. Water that tastes good might make good brewing water. Then again, it might not.

In our case, the charcoal filtered tap water tastes very good, and will make excellent beer. Yes, we are fortunate.