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Working with RO water

 
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Pugs13




Joined: 03 Jan 2013
Posts: 34
Location: MN


PostLink    Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:39 pm    Post subject: Working with RO water Reply with quote


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Hey everyone, I have learned some pretty awesome stuff on here already. The next issue is my water profiles. Because my city water is riddled with junk I am forced to use pure RO water. The only salts I have used thus far have been the Gypsum and Calcium Chloride.
The questions that I have is:
Is there a way to take RO water and treat it up to almost match that of Dublin's water profile or even London's or Edinburgh by using the different salts?
Is there a recipe for the salts that I could go off of each time when treating my water for each specific beer I want to brew such as Souts, Porters, English Bitters, Pale Ales, and IPA's, and of course the scotish ales as well?
and the last question: Can you please help me build a nice water profile from RO water for these styles or point me in the right direction?
Thansk everyone!
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Pugs13




Joined: 03 Jan 2013
Posts: 34
Location: MN


PostLink    Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 6:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw this on another homebrew site...thought I would post it and get your thoughts.

I use this water for my Alts: the sulphate and Mg levels are kept low though the also could be higher to bring out the hops. But I haven't played with that yet. I wanted the calcium to be above 50 ppm (Palmer indicates that this is good for the yeast) and the bicarbonates are chosen to get me a residual alkalinity of about 100 mg/l HCO3. For a dark amber beer, this gives me a mash pH of about 5.3 which is generally my target

30L (8 gal) reverse osmosis water +
0.4g NaCl
0.3g MgSO4
0.9g NaHCO3
2.0g CaCO3

(58mg/L Ca; 3mg/L Mg; 32mg/L Na; 10mg/L SO4; 21mg/L Cl; 150mg/L HCO3)



This I use for a light colored pale Ale. It mimics the water I had in NC:
The increased sulphates bring out the hops and a residual alkalinity of 20 gives me a pH of 5.3

30L (8 gal) RO water+
1.6 g CaSO4
1.2 g NaCl
0.6 g MgSO4
1.0 g CaCl2
0.4g NaHCO3
1.4g CaCO3

(44mg/L Ca; 5mg/L Mg; 24mg/L Na; 45mg/L SO4; 44mg/L Cl; 60mg/L HCO3)


When building water use a program and make sure all the ions stay within reasonable bounds. Palmer suggests these:

Ca: 50 -150
Mg: 10 - 30
HCO3: 0 -250
Na: 0 -150
Cl: 0 - 250
SO4: 50-150

Kai
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Pugs13




Joined: 03 Jan 2013
Posts: 34
Location: MN


PostLink    Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobody has any thoughts or comments?
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huaco




Joined: 05 Apr 2012
Posts: 1506
Location: Burleson Texas


PostLink    Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm waiting for comments on this. I have very hard water and will use RO water when I brew pale or hoppy beer.
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I use EZWaterCalculator to turn my water into the targets I want (my water's very low in minerals, not far from RO). See some of my recipes in the recipes section for the kinds of targets I recommend per style.

Kal

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huaco




Joined: 05 Apr 2012
Posts: 1506
Location: Burleson Texas


PostLink    Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 2:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Kal... Yeah I have the EZ Water tool. I just haven't spent much time with it yet. I have just been making due with the water I have... I will definitely check out your "targets"
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Pugs13




Joined: 03 Jan 2013
Posts: 34
Location: MN


PostLink    Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Kal, will do...do you believe that all RO water has about the same stats? I mean I know they won't always be the same but for the most part will they be pretty close?
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kal
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Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RO (or distilled) water by definition has nothing in it. All zero's.

In the real world, RO water is only as good as the RO system you use and how recently the filter(s) were changed. Some brewers use special PPM meters on the output to know when it's time to change their RO filters.

If you buy RO or distilled water you can bet it's pretty close to zero for everything.

Kal

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We ship worldwide and support our products and customers for life.
Purchasing through our affiliate links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!
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Pugs13




Joined: 03 Jan 2013
Posts: 34
Location: MN


PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is what I came up with using 100% dilluted with RO water for a peach ale I want to do using Maris Otter, Crystal 20L and Biscuit Malt. What are your thoughts. Thanks.

Calcium (ppm) - 52
Magnesium (ppm) - 7
Sodium (ppm) - 8
Sulfate (ppm) - 98
Chloride (ppm) - 42
Bicarbonate (ppm) - 16

Hardness - 157
Alkalinity - 13
RA - -28
SO4/CL Ratio - 2.31
pH - 5.3
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