I have not had my water tested, but when I started brewing I didn't do anything with my water. My water is from a well and has been softened, it's so iron rich it will stain your car with 1 washing so I have to use soft water. But then I started using gypsum to get the ph down, while I was getting the gypsum one day the lhbs guy recommended 5.2 ph. Well I bought it and have been using it and I just made the connection now that since I've started using it my mash efficiency hasn't been better than 65% witch puts brewhouse at ~55%. Before I was able to hit 70-75% regularly. Anyone else notice this trend while using 5.2 ph? Ps. I have a ward labs water test kit on the way!
Throw the 5.2 away, it’s kind of a joke. Your ph is going to vary from batch to batch, depending on grains. Use a brewing program to build your water profile. I would advise against using water that has been softened. It’s going to give you elevated sodium, you don’t want that. I have a water softener, which I used once and it was awful. Pretty sure your best option will be to buy RO water and build from scratch.
The best information I have read on 5.2 is that it works for for a certain type of water chemistry. I tried it a couple of times, and realized it didn’t work as advertised for my water. That was verified with a pH meter. It was thrown away.
Thanks. Ro might be my only option then. The water around here is mineral rich and there's no way around a softener. The water even turns my grass orange. I'll see what the test says n put it in the spread sheets & go from there.
The orange is from iron, at least around here. You don’t want iron in your beer for a couple of reasons. Use RO.
