Building a water profile from RO.

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I've been doing some research about this, and am trying makes sense of it all so any advice about this would be great.

1. I should be adding yeast nutrients.
2. Targeting a mash ph of ~5.5
3. A low chloride to sulfate ratio will accentuate hops.
4. If your ppm is too high you will taste it.
5. Calcium Chloride and Gypsum seem to be the most commonly used minerals for adjustment.

That's really all I could find.
Some practical guides are saying "Just add 1 tspn of Calcium Chloride, and 1 tspn of Gypsum if it's hoppy and 2% acidulated malt"
Doesn't that completely ignore the whole chloride to sulfate ratio thing?

Anyway, I'm brewing another berliner soon with an OG of 1.040 and 70/30 Pilsen/Wheat. Using this information I'd build my water profile with 6 grams of Calcium Chloride and 4.5 grams of Calicum Sufate.

Right? Am I worrying too much about this ****? Should I just get Palmer's water book and stop making stupid posts?
 
For starting out playing with water profiles, I used EZ water Calculator (http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/) this is a very basic and simple excel spreadsheet for water profiles. Start basic and build up knowledge from there.

I've been doing some research about this, and am trying makes sense of it all so any advice about this would be great.

1. I should be adding yeast nutrients.
2. Targeting a mash ph of ~5.5
3. A low chloride to sulfate ratio will accentuate hops.
4. If your ppm is too high you will taste it.
5. Calcium Chloride and Gypsum seem to be the most commonly used minerals for adjustment.

That's really all I could find.
Some practical guides are saying "Just add 1 tspn of Calcium Chloride, and 1 tspn of Gypsum if it's hoppy and 2% acidulated malt"
Doesn't that completely ignore the whole chloride to sulfate ratio thing?

Anyway, I'm brewing another berliner soon with an OG of 1.040 and 70/30 Pilsen/Wheat. Using this information I'd build my water profile with 6 grams of Calcium Chloride and 4.5 grams of Calicum Sufate.

Right? Am I worrying too much about this ****? Should I just get Palmer's water book and stop making stupid posts?

1. Yes
2. mash ph at room temperature: 5.4 to 5.6 At mash temp 5.2 to 5.4
3. Sulfate will accentuate dryness and allow the hops to pop
4. http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html
5. yes

Always measure weight for the brewing salts for better results
For books to read on brewing water, I like the brewing lager beer book by Greg Noonan

hope this helps,

Cheers,

Michael
 
There's nothing better than trial and error. I dumped 2+ batches of alka seltzer beer before I got away from 100% RO water and started using a mix of city water and RO water. Saying 1 tsp of x and 1 tsp of y is pretty dumb b/c that doesn't account for batch size. You need to be looking at ppm with something like ez water calculator.
  • Sulfate accentuates hops
  • Chloride accentuates malt
  • Lactic acid or acid malt to lower mash ph
  • Epson salt or pickling lime to raise and buffer ph (sodium kind of sucks for beer so give the pickling lime a try)
  • Get a ph meter or everything is a guess, ph stripes are garbage
  • Get a water report, they're like $20 from ward labs
Books are good but I get alot of my water info from SirDickButts
 
1. IMO, yeast nutrient works better w/ making a starter (its just a good habit to make a starter for every batch).
its not necessarily needed, unless you're making a BIG beer ie 1.070+

2. your target mash ph depends on the grist and hardness/alkalinity of your water profile.
you'll want your mash PH in the range 5.2- 5.6 (light beers, lower ph scale / darker beers on the higher scale)
while 5.6 is borderline high, its makes a very smooth/well rounded darker beer without the sharp roast bite.
learning how to write grain bill that buffers to the target PH is important...
which is one of the reasons why i think majority of the local breweries in Houston are failing @ the IPA. just my opinion...

3. you'll want the chloride:sulfate to be 1:2-3 to bring out/accentuate hop character.

4. MOST DEFINITELY.

5. calcium chloride and gypsum are the most commonly used.
i think the easiest way of adjusting your profile is to dilute your current tap water with distilled.
but first, you'll need to get a water analysis from your local government or send a sample off to ward labs.
i highly recommend using: https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/ to dial in your numbers and get a feel of how to build recipes around your water profile. the acid calculator is VERY ACCURATE.
 
Anyone an expert on RO systems? I'm building out my brew room and want to put an RO system in. Looking at a spectrapure auto-flushing system with solenoid pressure switch and 52gal pressure tank.
 
I highly recommend Bru'n Water over EZ Water Calculator. Every single batch I do is 100% distilled water, and I have had much better luck just sticking with Bru'n Water.

From what I understand, Palmer's book is a little advanced for dummies like me. Read the different tabs on the Bru'n Water spreadsheet and that's all you need to know for now.

Always remember that there is not 1 perfect water profile for each style, no matter what people wish. It has taken me over 3 years of experimenting with different profiles to find what *I prefer* in each style. For example, I like West Coast IPAs over "Vermont" IPAs. My IPA water profile has over 300ppm SO4 and under 50ppm Chloride. "Vermont" profiles are much different.

(I sound like a goddamn commercial)
 
just discovered I get free RO water from the co-op I belong to.

Will definitely be taking full advantage and filling multiple carboys for brew days :)
 
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