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Effect of local water in brewing
Many of you folks are "hardcore" brewers that know what your local water profile is. We would love to see what kind of water you have in your local area. What are your stats for... (ppm)
Calcium (Ca++)
Carbonate (CO3--) or (HCO3-)
Chloride (Cl-)
Magnesium (Mg++)
Sodium (Na+)
Sulfate (SO4--)
And maybe you can share how (if you do) treat it.
So, you want to know about water do ya?
I live in the limestone capitol of the world, yes, that's right, near bloomington Indiana...
Any questions about where limestone comes from?
The ph is 8.0, the total hardness above 900!!!!!! hello.
I used to use acid(two kinds) but I had to use so much that it came thru as a taste to the beer, I stopped.
I boiled the water first, I stopped.(too much energy and not enough result)
I filtered it, and there is where I came to terms with it.
Once I knew what I could make given this GOD awful water.....Dark beer! I make the best Imperial Stout ever. My pilsner however, has issues, but charactor.
The water defines the beer as a background charactor and gives most of us a choice of beers we make well and some we must strive to make.(At least if we make more than 5 gallons.)
good luck,
Ca: 37.8 mg/l
Mg: 10.3 mg/l
Na: 20.7 mg/l
SO4: 84.0 mg/l
Cl: 31.0 mg/l
HC03: 73.0 mg/l
Average pH: 7.98
The above figures were produced by my brewery lab service provider, not the local water department.
I am a firm believer that local water is a defining character that can be used to make your beer unique. The only treatment of water I utilize is sediment and chloramines filtration through gel resin media and pH adjustment using 80% phosphoric acid. Otherwise, I slowly preheat the water (not to boiling, but rather 80 deg. C) the night before dough-in to precipitate the majority of the temporary hardness load. By ensuring that my mash and boil pH are as close to 5.3 as possible, I produce very smooth beers without the need for any other techniques.
all the best,
i never have this much emphasise on my water and this looks too much important in brewing but hope as a newbie it will be ok with mine whatever i have is working fine but now will have a complete scrutiny on it
Tacoma, Washington profile as provided by the water company -
Green River Water Source:
Ca: 6 mg/l
Mg: 1 mg/l
Na: 5 mg/l
SO4: 10 mg/l
Cl: 20 mg/l
HC03: 37 mg/l
By the way, if you are looking for a free water profile calculator, I have one on my site that is free to use and has several commonly duplicated target water profiles included in it. All of my brewing calculators can be found here: http://powersbrewery.home.comcast.net/tables.html
I've often wondered about this topic. Is there someplace or something that gives "fixes" for waters that are particularly high or low in a certain characteristic?
Also... Andy, what do you use to filter your water? Just a commercial water filtration system? How does it change the characteristics of your water?
Ive brewed beer in many places. So i use bottled spring water. I like to try to keep it some consistancy in my recipies. So i guess i should research what the stats on the bottled water is.
I have always used the local water supply. One reason I got into homebrewing to begin with was to lower my costs so it never made much sense to me to purchase spring water (what a stinkin' ripoff, man). I do have a Culligan filter on my sink and it is charcoal based and does a good job. The only concern I would have with any local water supply is wether they use chloramine or not as it could affect your brewing in a negative way. A good charcoal sink filter will deal with that.
If you have a lot of hard water in your area consider a water softener. It's always good to know that you are starting from a completely soft vantage point, especially when charging your mash or water with CACL2 or Gypsum. With most ales, especially that Burton on Trent style, you can purchase a preset amount of salts from an internet brew supply company. I've always found that with Lager (my preferred style) the softer the better...
Cheers,
Tim
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