Water Treatment

[Beerbuddha]

Does anyone know a handy guide when it comes to using RO water when AG brewing.

Im not 100 positive what values to enter for RO water (jims water calc)...some guides have said 0 for everything on the water treatment calculators.

But someone must have a guide as in          RO water....lager..Add salt 1g...gypsum 2 G...epsom 3 g Per 23L
                                                                 RO water...stout ..Add salt 2g...gysum 3g......chalk..4g  per23L
Cheers 
                                                                           

[HomeBrewWest]

That's a very interesting question; its one we have been asked by microbreweries here.

I'd be very keen to see what you guys have to say.

The idea is to "putify" the water, and then add chemicals to get the desired profile.

Not sure about RO though?

[Eoin]

RO should be very pure water.
Braukaiser has a spreadsheet for water treatment.
http://braukaiser.com/blog/blog/2011/03/07/brewing-water-spreadheet-update/


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[Greg2013]

Where do you guys buy your RO water from ? We have a couple of auto shops locally but other than that i can' think of anywhere to get RO or Distilled in any quantity.

[Eoin]

Aquarium Shops will do RO in quantity

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[Beerbuddha]

Just a bit of background. I have a well as water source... its hard as nails. I had it tested for the main 8 parametres in regards to brewing water.
So when i need to brew a style i simply slot in my values to Jims water treatment calc and hit the style and presto additions sorted.

But when i want to brew lets say a Marzen i cannot modify my well water to match the profile. As part of my house water system the treated softned water runs through a reverse osmosis system 5 filters which goes to drinking water fossit. this RO water according to some info i read if the system is working correctly all values should be 0 due to all minerals removed ect.

So as such im guessing someone has done the hard work and has the values for the additions needed. Im just not 100% sure 0 for all parametres is correct.

[RichC]

BB this is an excellent and simple starting point. I've been finding my pH is still slightly high with this approach but it has still yielded excellent beer. I've started bumping up the acid malt a bit http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460


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[RichC]

BB, you can buy a tds meter on eBay quite cheaply. It'll tell you how efficient your RO unit is. Test a sample before and after and do the maths. They claim to remove 99.something %

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[Greg2013]

Aquarium Shops will do RO in quantity

Don't have any locally but i will look after work next week 

[Beerbuddha]

Tds cheers for the heads up. I had kinda assumed as my filters just replaced the system is up to scratch but that it good piece of kit will save me buying filters when not needed.

When i treat the well water the mash ph is always between 5.2 -5.4 ish i think so im happy with that. I just assumed someone has a spreadsheet with additions for RO water. i find when i read posts about this subject it can be a bit of a mind field so many opinions so a spreadsheet with values would be rock solid and no need to look further unless i wanted to become a water specialist 

[Beerbuddha]

If I were to do a Marzen, this is what I'd target for the mash:

SRM 12
RA  53

          ppm
Ca      70
Mg      15            sufficient Ca and Mg to ensure good lager ferm.
Na       <30
Chl       70
Sulf      55          C:S ratio in the 1.1 to 1.3 range, balanced to low malty.

So when i add target profile into calc with all values Zero for RO water i got
7.06g epsom salt
3.81g salt
2.46g calcium chloride
1.77g chalk
I just taught these additions a bit much so this is why i want to find spread sheet to confirm

[Beerbuddha]

If I were to do a Marzen, this is what I'd target for the mash:   This quote and recommendation is from a brewmaster not me !

[DEMPSEY]

I have a RO water system that I got from Brenmurph so as my Family and Wife could have nice water for making Tea and Coffee and it just so happens to be useful for my brewing Hobby too :. I use the software Beersmith and everything works out very easy there for me. I set up the software with my equipment and set up that my water is RO, after that I went through the water profiles listing thet give you from around the world and copied and renamed the ones I needed. I have a Wolstan Nut Brown Ale,a Wolstan Pilsner Lager,a Wolstan AIPA,a Wolstan English IPA,a Wolstan  Stout,a Wolstan Vienna Amber. Went through the water profiles of which there are many and now when I am going to brew one of those styles I click the water I want and beersmith lists in my ingredients the various salts to add . I hit the ph 5.2 bang on .
E.G. Tomorrow I am brewing a Stout and it has listed I need to add,
1.25gr Calcium Chloride,
1.25gr Gypsum(Calcium Sulphate),
1.61gr Baking Soda,
5.63gr Chalk.

On my other beers like AIPA it had Salt and Epsom Salt as additions and the great thing about it is if any of the water profiles are not what you want you edit them to suit and then just click when brew recipe is forming.

[Beerbuddha]

I have not spent time using beersmith correctly. Setting up profiles ect.
That seems like the way to go I just need to put some time into it.

As it was the first time using  RO water it asked for chalk additions. Again on looking up on chalk I found minefield of suggestions. What type chalk do you use or maybe easier way to ask where do you buy it and how is it supplied ? Second how do you add it ? Most say it needs to be dissolved under CO2 pressure or something similar ?

[alealex]

Aquarium Shops will do RO in quantity

Don't have any locally but i will look after work next week 

Petmania or any bigger pet shop would have it.
Petmania Eur 5.00 per 25 litre (bring your own drum)