I recently visited Keith at Yellowhammer and I knew he was busy but I did have one brewing question ready in case I got a chance to ask. The question was: what do you do to condition your water? He took the time to school me on his thought process. I live within 15 miles of the brewery so I figured what’s good for Yellowhammer is good for Big Deck BBQ and Brew. LOL
I feel like that’s my next step so I ask the same question here: what do you do?
I use my well water. It’s fairly, but not completely, neutral. For extremely light colored beer, I’ll either use all distilled or cut my water with distilled. Otherwise, I just adjust with CaSO4, CaCl2, NaCl, pickling lime, etc.
I have very soft water. For the vast majority of brews, I just add a half teaspoon of calcium chloride per five gallons to the mash and call it good. If its a hoppy ale, I used gypsum instead (same ratio).
For pilsners, I will add 3 oz. of acid malt per 5 gallons. And that is about it.
I am lucky enough to have a well with a very low mineral content. I input my well profile into Brewer’s Friend and Brunwater, then adjust to fit the profile I’m looking for.
I use gypsum in my hoppy beers. I use a combo of gypsum, CaCl and kosher salt in my malty or balanced beers. Then I adjust my mash pH to my target using lactic acid or baking soda if needed.
I used to play around with my water a lot more to match a specific profile, but now I just K.I.S.S. 90% of the time. Just like in cooking, if you taste the salt(s) then you used too much. In the right amounts they just amplify certain flavors.
I carbon filter my tap water and brew away.
Sometimes I toss a bit of gypsum into the boil kettle.
If I understood water chemistry better I might do more.
I don’t want to be the guy who posts, " I got my water tested, what do I do now?"
Tap water - Ward Labs tested; pretty soft already - run through an under-sink carbon filter, campden tablet, then Bru’n Water (Paid copy) for salt adjustments. Salts on-hand: Gypsum, Calcium Chloride, Epsom, Chalk, Kosher Salt. 10% Phosphoric acid to adjust sparge water to pH 5.8 (room-temp). The salts that the spreadsheet recommend for the sparge just go in the boil.
I have high bicarbonate levels in my tap water. So, I carbon filter my tap water (for chlorine) into gallon jugs that I have in my brewroom for brew day. I also have 6x3gallon jugs I fill with RO water from Walmart or other stores nearby. I will use a combination of my filtered tap water and RO water in conjunction with Gypsum and CaCl depending on what I am going to brew - using B’run Water.
To be honest, most of the beers I brew are probably 80-100% RO water - all my light lagers, my APA’s, IPA’s, Wheats, Bitters,etc.
My Ambers, Scottish, Milds, are generally 60-80% RO.
My Browns, Porters, Stouts are 30-50% RO.
I buy RO water and adjust it in Bru’n Water. I have pretty good luck using the basic profiles for most beers. On a few beers I use specific location profiles (like Plzen) or modify one of the basic profiles. It is far and away the best water adjustment software I have used.
I use my domestic water supply.
I have this tested for the relevant brewing ions once per year at a lab. And I also use a Hannah alkalinity checker to test my liquor before starting each brew.
I use campden tablets to remove chlorine and chloramine. What I do next will depend on the type of beer I am brewing. I use Bru’nWater to predict my mash pH and adjust the alkalinity usually with 35% sulphuric acid (have also used 80% phosphoric). Calcium sulphate and/or calcium chloride is then added to balance the profile towards hops or malt as the beer style dictates.
I have a small portable RO filter system I use for all my water. I occasionally use tap but I didn’t like it being variable throughout the year so I use RO water so I pretty much know where my starting point it everytime.