Display posts from previous
Sort by

Water chemistry question.

Post #1 made 13 years ago
by Jeltz
I know that trying to brew 100% with purified water isn't viable as there needs to be some minerals but I wondered if its the mash or the fermentation where they are needed. I have a reverse osmosis unit which produces >95% pure water and our tap water is pretty hard most of which is permanent hardness.

I'm planning on using half and half RO and tap water on my next brew and as the mash wants to be a low pH I thought I would use 15L RO 5L Tap in the mash then sparge with 10L of Tap after. (I plan on doing a 20L BIAB mash and sparge by dunking the grain bag in 10L tap water for about 10 mins to rinse it)

If its at all advantageous I also have loads of Epsom salts (Magnesium Sulphate) as Mrs J bought a tray full of 500g tubs some years ago, apparently it was a lot cheaper buying 12 pots in a try than 12 pots individually, buy still I have no explanation as to why 12 pots were needed in the 1st place :scratch:
Regards

Nic

Post #2 made 13 years ago
by BobBrews
Jeltz,

The mash needs to have a pH at about 5.4 to be at it's optimum. The mash itself changes the pH as it does it's converting. I think that this is where you should have all the minerals (zinc?). I never looked at my water's pH because that involved work and my beers were collecting medals. To fill out a brew supplies order for free shipping I added pH strips to get over the order amount. When I tested my water it was off the scale? I panicked and ordered a cheap digital pH tester and retried the test. The digital tester confirmed I had a pH of 9.7?

I found that a 2.5 gallons of store water and the rest supplied with home softened water bring me in about 5.4. I do test the mash pH itself and do adjust with Gypsum and or other chemicals? This is all new to me and as always, everything changes with the brew because dark grains like roasted barley change the pH by themselves and must be accounted for. Highly hopped beers are effected by pH more than some other beers but I don't remember at the moment how?

I do know that since I now monitor the pH. My clear beers are clearer? I have only begun to play with this and I have a long way to go. I hope I got close to what you were asking?
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #3 made 13 years ago
by joshua
Good day, I have found, that 1oz/28g of Roast Barley does drop the Ph of 16L around 1.6-2.0 Ph. But, doesn't darken the beer much more than 2-5 SRM and doesn't add much bittereness, and no tannins.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #5 made 13 years ago
by datamichael
I've attached a .pdf you may find useful. It was originally developed to help with BJCP exam prep classes I teach. It's been edited, updated and peer-reviewed over the past 10 years.

Cheer!

Michael
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Post #6 made 13 years ago
by Jeltz
Thanks Gents that's awesome. I will need more info about my water to apply that lot properly so in the meantime I will just get on with my plan of mashing with 15L RO and 5L tap with a teaspoon of Epsom salts, the tap and salts should provide some buffering but allow a low pH.

Sparging with boiled tap water should provide plenty of minerals to the final wort if the fermentation needs them as well.
Regards

Nic

Post #7 made 13 years ago
by datamichael
Jeltz wrote:Thanks Gents that's awesome. I will need more info about my water to apply that lot properly so in the meantime I will just get on with my plan of mashing with 15L RO and 5L tap with a teaspoon of Epsom salts, the tap and salts should provide some buffering but allow a low pH.

Sparging with boiled tap water should provide plenty of minerals to the final wort if the fermentation needs them as well.
You may want to read the .pdf I posted. There is no reason to add epsom salts - ever in my opinion. If you just want to use RO water and one salt to raise the calcium level, use calcium chloride or calcium sulfate.

Also note that as the .pdf explains, an all-malt wort contains all the nutrients required for fermentation with the exception of oxygen (or other sterol source, such as olive oil, for cell-wall synthesis) and zinc.

Michael
Last edited by datamichael on 30 Oct 2012, 22:19, edited 2 times in total.

Post #8 made 13 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
datamichael wrote:There is no reason to add epsom salts - ever in my opinion. If you just want to use RO water and one salt to raise the calcium level, use calcium chloride or calcium sulfate.
+1

Epsom salt is magnesium sulphate. The malt contains all of the magnesium you need. Calcium, I think, should be a bigger concern. So add either calcium chloride (CaCl or CaCl2) or gypsum (calcium sulphate, CaSO4).
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 30 Oct 2012, 22:27, edited 2 times in total.

Post #9 made 13 years ago
by Jeltz
Thank you, I did read the PDF but I don't have calcium chloride at the moment and was just hoping to provide some minerals with using a proportion of tap water this time and my reasoning for the magnesium sulphate was to just keep the pH down and as much as anything because I have some :D but I'll just leave it out.

I'll get a water report from my provider before the next brew but in the meantime the hardness in the proportion of tap water should be a mix of chlorides and sulphates of magnesium and calcium any way. I've boiled the water with campden to remove any chloramine and carbonates and will do the same with the sparge water.
Regards

Nic

Post #10 made 13 years ago
by nik
I have nothing but to agree with the others .Playing with water may lead to serius screw up your brewday.Try to get a water report to have a ballpark to start with .
There is a video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... Jj__jEkFUE with John Plamer explaining some things and also at his web site you can find exept beneficial reading a spreadsheet to play with. http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15.html .
But first of all get a water report to take out the guesswork.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Greece
Post Reply

Return to “BIABrewer.info and BIAB for New Members”

Brewers Online

Brewers browsing this forum: No members and 44 guests