Water profile question

[AidanMatthews]

I know for my first ag people say dont worry about water profile which is fair enough,

But what i want to know is generally pilsners are brewed with soft water, would my carbon filter be enough to produce a softish water. (the filter i have strips the chlorine and other stuff, assume metals aswells)

Also when brewing somthing like an english porter should i not use the carbon filter knowing that the water the english brew with is generally quite hard.

Im in adelaide btw,

[rotten]

I use a pura tap filter for everything, strike, sparge water etc. The water in the riverland is very clear, but you can smell and taste chlorine etc. Puratap takes at least most of it out and I can certainly notice the difference since putting it in nearly 12 months ago.
I would use your filter for any brew, why wouldn't you?
PH and buffers etc are out of my league, the filter does enough for me for now.
Cheers

[AidanMatthews]

I use mine alot, but was just thinking if u are to brew a beer that requires hard water ie english beer, there water tends to be very hard, so just thinking why take it out with a filter and put it back in with water additives.

Edit

By taking it out im refering to mostly the minerals etc that make the water hard to begin with not so much the incredible amount of chlorine, that needs to be reduced fullstop.

[rotten]

That's what I thought you meant, apologies for posting. There are guys around who can answer your mineral questions etc.
Good luck with it Aidan.
Cheers

[matr]

I am pretty sure a carbon filter will only remove chlorine / chloramine & bacteria / bad tastes odours etc. It won't remove the ions that affect hardness (ca & mg). I think you have to use RO to remove them and get a clean slate.

This is only from what I can recall when reading How to brew. Someone more experienced with water chemistry will be able to clarify.

You do however need to know what you are starting with.. Have you got a local water profile report?

[billybushcook]

Get your self some PH stabeliser, cheap, easy & it works.

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=2538


Cheers, Mick.

[AidanMatthews]

I am pretty sure a carbon filter will only remove chlorine / chloramine & bacteria / bad tastes odours etc. It won't remove the ions that affect hardness (ca & mg). I think you have to use RO to remove them and get a clean slate.

This is only from what I can recall when reading How to brew. Someone more experienced with water chemistry will be able to clarify.

You do however need to know what you are starting with.. Have you got a local water profile report?

I have a copy of an old post from somewhere tha gives a water report from someone in adelaide, i will need to write to local council i think for an exact up to date report though. But i have a general idea.

[drsmurto]

As matr has pointed out, a standard carbon filter used in your home doesn't strip any of the salts out relevant to brewers. (see note below)

It will remove chlorine, chloramine and organic contaminants but you need reverse osmosis to remove dissolved salts.

For a pilsner I'd recommend using rainwater. It should be very soft and low and brewing salts. Some people have this inbuilt fear of rainwater which in some cases is fair enough particularly if your gutters are full of leaves and birds regularly use your roof as a toilet.

I've had mine tested and it was below 0.1 ppm (mg/L) for all the brewing salts. It is also very clean and i drink it unfiltered.

Adelaide tap water has a bad reputation due to the chlorine and chloramine content. The water itself minus these is very good for brewing and isn't overly soft or hard. Most experienced brewers (and I am referring to those far more experienced than myself) use tap water and have been doing so for years. A few add a small amount of potassium (or sodium) metabisulphite, sometimes referred to as campden tablets or PMS in the winemaking industry which will remove both chlorine and chloramines.

I personally use my rainwater for brewing and add salts back to it when required and this depends on the style i am brewing and whether i want to favour malt, hops or more balanced.

Cheers
DrSmurto

Note - i have tested a few off the shelf home carbon filters and they make less than a 5% difference in the brewing salts. Some actually added salts. I tested this using ICP-MS which had a detection limit of 0.1ppm with a control (before filtering) and a filtered sample (5 samples of each). I did the same with my rainwater.

[billybushcook]

How would you go with distilled water for Pilseners?

Mick.

[drsmurto]

In theory it should be the same as rainwater - ie. pure or close enough.

I used to use straight rainwater for my pilsners but my current batch used CaSO4 and CaCl2 to adjust the pH as i found without any salts and just base malt the pH was about 6. The only problem with that is that i now have a bo pils with more of the german pils character coming through (enhanced bitterness)

[AidanMatthews]

Thanks for the clarification,

My tank is very small, lots of rotting leaves and it smells like it to.

However my brother inlaw has 2 25000ltr tanks and a pura tap hooked up to that.

I might take 2 cubes up to his house, that will be perfect for a pilsner with the addition of brewing salts.