I mean own water
I don’t blame you for wanting to use homegrown/locally sourced stuff, Pete - it’s a good approach for a lot of non-brewing items too. I was just thinking in terms of the suitability of your water vs water that’s universally accepted as good for beer. Speaking as somebody who started looking seriously into water after brewing for some time, I can attest to the underrated impact (good or bad) it has on our beer. Cheers !
Thanks for the good advice Jon. I realize I’m being stubborn so I appreciate that your not letting me off the hook without a fight. Its good for me to hear the facts from those of you who have witnessed the difference in water firsthand even if it goes against my romantic notions of beermaking.
Oh boy! There is something appealing or romantic about brewing your own beer with your own water. This concept of Terroir is an interesting concept. However, a brewer needs to recognize that sticking to only their water is not a good idea. Even if the water was perfect for some beer styles, it cannot be ideal for others. All waters MUST be altered to some degree if you want to brew a wide variety of beer styles.
I have a member of my HB club that is trying to maximize the use of their local tap water in the beers he brews for his brewpub. He showed me the water test results and they are far from ideal…actually at the limit of bad for brewing. Of course the water tastes fine, but taste is not a good enough qualifier for determining if a water is suitable for brewing. I’ve already mentioned that they are going to continue to produce poor tasting beers until they recognize that less of the tap water and more RO water is utilized in their brewing. They do have a RO machine, so altering their approach is only a moment away. But it’s that terroir thing that is clouding his mind. I can only hope that he sees the writing on the wall and makes the needed changes.
Don’t be that person! Sometimes water sources can be unsuited for brewing and still be decent drinking water.
I have no problem making adjustments, that’s why I got a test and posted here. I just want to figure out if my report is so bad that going with 100% water that I ship in is necessary or even better. For instance is 65 sodium even noticable when brun water recomends less than 60 but says up to 100 is good and others say up to 150?
Something occurred to me that might change my attitude towards bringing in RO water if true. I was assuming that places liken walmart were having it delivered. Does anyone know if what really happens is that they have their own RO system and are just using their existing municipal water supply? If that’s true and I can refill containers I definitely don’t mind as much.
It is a machine that fills off of local water supply. Quality will vary based on the local water, but most should be great for brewing with salts added.
I was just going to mention this.
Yep, +2
The sodium content can become an issue in cleaner styles with little flavor (light lagers, etc). It can also become an issue when you want to add a good deal of sulfate. If those situations don’t affect you, then brew on! The 65 ppm level is not detectable by most.
The retail RO vending machines I’ve seen, have an actual RO unit in them. This is also a reason that anyone buying water from those machines should have their own TDS meter so that you can detect when the machine is not producing high purity water. When the TDS exceeds about 25 ppm, its time to be concerned. If its above 50 ppm, don’t buy it.
Thanks Martin, great to get those numbers from you!
I’m glad I posted, this is all good info. I don’t brew light lagers and probably won’t with great regularity. Since I don’t get to the store much I could get maybe ten gallons of RO and add some when the style calls for it.