Distilled water

Distilled water is 100% H2O with zero mineral content. As long as the water is indeed distilled there is no reason to have it checked.

Needless to say but you will need to add mineral salts to the distilled water to 'build' suitable brewing water.

Cheers!

 

I use distilled and build water, works as advertised.

Cheers

 

Most bottled water companies (the big ones at least) post water quality on their webpage. At the very least, you can email them and ask. Most will tell you.

 

This is not very likely to happen, such difference, because RO water has only about 10 % of the original mineral content.

From RO water :

For 5 gals of a pale beer you can go adding 2 gms of Calcium Chloride and 2 gms of Gypsum.You will need to acidify this mash to get a proper Ph mash(5.2-5.7).
For 5 gals of a dark beer you can go adding the salts stated above plus 2 gms of Baking Soda.Acid addition maybe required as well.

Tebuken

 

I'm a fan of building from distilled because there is no RO water near me and I've yet to buy a home RO system.

 

I've always asked this question, so I'll ask it again... why are you fooling around with your water? Is there a problem?

Or are your beers to the point that mineral content is the only thing you've got left to work with?

Buying distilled water adds a lot of cost and effort (buying, transporting, recycling) to your brew.

The majority of small breweries don't mess around with their water, or (I hate to say it) don't know what they're really doing when they do things like add gypsum and calcium chloride - they don't even take pH readings!!!

I'm just curious because unless you've got an issue I don't see what the point is.

 

The small Breweries around me that don't do something about the highly alkaline water make poor quality beers, with a chalky flavor. The water sucks, I use RO.

 

The RO water around here comes in at 3-8 ppm according to my TDS meter. That is with tap water that is more than 600 ppm TDS.

Those low levels are negligible amounts of the Brewing ions.

 

Same here (distilled for me though). I have brewed at a small brewery like the ones you described, and water was a point of contention that in the end I could do nothing about. The result was drinkable (I swallowed my pride and poured it at a Brewfest), but it wasn't the same as the homebrewed version.

 

I asked the same thing VikeMan and was told that RO was too expensive. Now I understand it's a hell of a lot more water, but it's important; and if I can get a small RO system for my home for $1,000 to $2,000 what's the cost for a small brewery? - Haa! I just saw a post about a new brewery in Jackson FL... Wicked Barley?... that has an RO system. It can't be that expensive, I just think some owners are a little misguided about what the important things are.

Another thing I should note, what got me thinking about whether there was a problem or not, was that I just judged a homebrew competition where the entrant noted the use of Burton salts in his British-style pale ale. I assumed that it was from a qualified brewer and that it would be great, but in fact the beer was riddled with fermentation flaws. Putting the cart before the horse in my opinion.

 

An e-mail is the best way.

 

Nano filtration units are cheaper to run. Less backflushing, more trough put, my local brewery gets down to 20-30 ppm TDS with the 600+ tap water. They have won a GABF and World Beer Cup medals in just over 2 years - a good Brewer helps too!

 

As long as you replace all your filters as recommended by the manufacturer, you can treat RO water as being fully pure in any calculations. There is not a human on this planet that could detect a difference in a beer that was brewed with the minute difference RO has in mind. I agree there's science in brewing but some people take it to a level where they lose the craft aspect. Loosen that butthole once in a while, your beer will taste better for it.