Bought a homebrewing book about water

I was planning on getting this book soon. Only problem is that I am taking five classes already, and the last thing I want to do is get another book and study what's inside.

However, I think it will be prudent to read this before my new ten gallon system is complete. With all that I've put into it, I would be quite foolish not to ensure that my water is appropriate for what beers I'm making, especially since I'll be making twice as much of them. Yeah.

Up till now, I haven't bothered much with the water since I got here. The water where I brew (at my bro's house) seems to make fine beer. I've been adding campden tablets (about one per five gallons) just to guard against chloramine, but I am not sure if I really need to do this or not. However, a professor at the school told me that almost all municipalities, including where I live, use varying degrees of chloramine in water treatment, and vary (or eliminate) the use during different times of the year. Thus, campden is a precautionary measure.

I suppose I'll need to get a water report for my bro's exact water too (I have a link saved somewhere for that send-in analysis service). Before I moved here, I checked out some water reports, but didn't get one for my brother's exact address (I used my mother's zip code, but the houses are not very close).

So whatever, yeah, water, check. It's on the list, and the book is in my cart on amazon, ready to check out. I'm rather pissed at amazon right now tho, and will likely try to buy the items in the cart elsewhere if possible. Prolly best to not even get me started on amazon's bullcrap. Just trust me on that one. But REALLY, don't bring up microsoft and/or computers this week, at least if your aim is to NOT get me started on a multi-page ranty-rant, with plentiful expletives, a smattering of ALL CAPITALS and bold print (with exclamation points!), hyperbole that goes all the way up to eleven, and carefully devised torture plans for the programmers at microsoft. It's probably best to just not mention those two topics at all.

BTW I've accumulated just about all of the parts for the system, except for some of the hardware (thermometer sleves, ball valves, tubing, whatever is needed to attach everything together, basically). The last major pieces of hardware I need are two pumps and a plate chiller (plus the tubing, clamps etc).

I've also got two fermentation freezers with controllers, and the buckets and carboys to have two 20 gallon batches going at one time. Theoretically I could brew every weekend, keep two batches going each on a two week turnaround schedule, bottle once a week, and always have 20 gallons of beer conditioning. Of course this is an unrealistic timeline, as I don't brew every weekend, some beers need more than two weeks to be finished,* and school makes the schedule a little haphazard. But it's theoretically possible.

Now as for the man-cave / brewhaus, I've also accumulated just about all the wood I need to build the next section of the deck, the part on the outside of the brewhaus where the actual key components will be set up. It's not an easy project, btw. The mancave is built out over a ravine, so the supporting columns are much longer on one end than the other (actually one end basically touches earth, the other has support beams almost ten feet long). There isn't that much room either, at least given that we are not going to cut down any trees, so we're working around trees and such as well.

And as for the actual brewing system, well, that's an engineering work in progress. I've done a lot of searching, but haven't finallized the design or tested anything about the new system yet.

If I can get my one buddy who builds decks to help me (and bring more tools, as I have a nice saw and hammer, but don't have a full set), then we are looking at doing the deck portion in the next week or so.

*most of the beers I brew do not require aging, nor secondaries in a carboy etc, so they could be on a two week plan and come out fine. I would say the average for my brews is closer to three weeks tho, which is fine.


/rambling. somehow I always ramble in these late night posts.

 

So, what is your opinion on buying Microsoft products from Amazon?

On topic, the gang of four of us who brew together have made water chemistry the next major project. I'm embarassed to admit I haven't done it yet at my house, but our well water makes my favorite styles so excellently I have not bothered. This book is on the list for sure.

 

Sooooo. How 'bout those CTL_ALT_DLT buttons? Can't believe ol' Gates admitted they were a mistake!

Just got Water in the mail on Friday. Finishing up 'Wild Brews' first and then I will dig in.

 

Now where did I leave my ice-pick agaiin?

Same boat here tho, local water = good, priority to "fix" it has been low.

 

I feel like this is an unavoidably ultra-dense read. Confirm/deny?

 

Did you post at 4 AM and then again at 8:30?! Do you sleep?

So far I've been lucky with water (and computers, mostly. Just switched back from Mac to Windows. It's a thing...). I can't see myself personally ever need to get that intimate with it, though I do some adjustments, especially for my hoppy beers.

 

I've read about 6 pages and I've already learned a bunch of stuff. Beer is almost all water. I am imagining as dense as it is, I'll still be left with questions. (ps - water chemistry can make or break a beer. If you're a serious all grain brewer, entering competitions, or have visions of going pro learn water chemistry ASAP. IMO!)

 

John said it could have been longer. They wanted the book to be for pros and amateurs, so that explains the waste water section.

As for being ultra dense, for me it is not, as I was forced to adjust water where I live. I am still learning from this nook, though.

 

I hope this book is helpful as "Brewing with Wheat" it's the same publication as "Brewing Classic Styles" but Classic style is not that grate as Brewing with Wheat or Farmhouse Ale. I own the above tree books having some more space on my self for more helpful book or two.

 

sometimes I'm insomno-manic. If that happens, I just go with it. I learned how to not sleep in the army. I also learned how to sleep anywhere, anytime, whenever you can while I was in the army. Go figure. But for some reason I tend to write long posts in the middle of the night (often with several emails or other things at once). What can I say, I can type fast.

 

I look forward to the book. Like others in the series, I suspect the book will be a good source of geeky fun that does not lead to drastic changes in my brewing process. (What can I say - I've done graduate coursework in water chemistry).

However, in the past, the subject of water chemistry and beer has left a bad taste in mouth (ha!) because my local utility's report only provides information on what is legally required, which is primarily contaminant stuff and not important brewing info. When I called to get more info, they gave me the runaround. I base my adjustments off of some Wards Labs data obtained from a tap sample by another local brewer. I don't think we see dramatic changes throughout the calendar, but information would be nice. Fortunately, my water has a low-moderate ion content and is pretty forgiving. I wonder if the local brew pub strips and rebuilds their water or if they just go with the flow (zing!) .

 

I got the book last week, though haven't jumped into it yet.

 

Skeet skeet.

Seriously though, looking forward to reading this when the thesis is done. Been re-reading yeast during breaks in writing to relax, but based on comments above don't think Water will be as easy to read.

 

It arrived yesterday. I ended up getting it through Amazon as my wife wanted something or other and I needed to get over the $25 mark to get free shipping. It plus my wife's item, did not quite do it, so I decided I might as well get other beer-related stuff to read (from Randy Mosher and Gordon Strong) while waiting for the Palmer book . It's a good think I started making some mead this week so others don't think I am one-dimensional.

 

I've looked through most of it and read various sections is detail. It is quite technical in lots of places, but overall I give it two thumbs up. Even if one does not want to deal with all of the chemistry, there is still a lot for the homebrewer who has ignored his/her water up to this point. In particular, Chapter 7 has all of the essentials for the average homebrewer who wants to start making informed choices with respect to brewing water.

 

I already have the other two (yeast and hops). Might as well go for the vertical. Malt up next?

 

I havent read the others in the series for this exact reason. I understand its a relative question, but did anyone change their brewing process after reading hops or yeast? Assuming you already make calculated yeast starters, understand temperature control etc etc.