BeerBorg

I've been using our well water for 12 years (when we moved in) and brews have always come out good. A couple days ago we were connected to city water, it's Reverse Osmosis water. I have not tested the water but probably should to see where I stand. But for the moment, I'm fixing to do up a wheat, will it turn out as good as usual, or should I add anything to the water first? All my brews have been tinkered with/adjusted for our well water, which is highly mineralized/high ph. What do y'all add to RO water for a good outcome if anything?

Isn't RO water basically the same as distilled water?

If so, I think you'll want to build your water from scratch.

But I don't know much about water chemistry.

Is it RO water with minerals added back in, or is it actually untreated RO water?

You would for sure want to add minerals back in yourself it is untreated.

mashani wrote:Is it RO water with minerals added back in, or is it actually untreated RO water?

You would for sure want to add minerals back in yourself it is untreated.

Good question, I don't know, all I do know is it's RO water with no chlorine added. Guess I need to call them to get specifics and/or have a sample analyzed. I have some powdered calcium, I will throw a .5 tsp(?) in when I brew Monday. I'm crushing grains today and getting everything together out of storage... been a while since I've brewed.

FrozenInTime wrote:Guess I need to call them to get specifics and/or have a sample analyzed.

That's what I would do, for sure. The water I get locally is basically 0 across the board. It's been RO'd, filtered, spayed, neutered, etc. so I build up my water from scratch.

reportedly ... the pH of municipal water is 8.2.
it's that high to prevent damage to the pipes.

HerbMeowing wrote:reportedly ... the pH of municipal water is 8.2.
it's that high to prevent damage to the pipes.

Water here from the Eerie Lake has varied anywhere from 7.2 - 7.5 at my tap, it's never tested below or above that. It varies by season as they tweak the water they pull out of the lake for whatever the hell they tweak it for. Otherwise, it is somewhat hard and very similar to a Cologne water profile, I can turn it into an almost exact match with just minor tweaks.

It's good for a lot of beers, but I *do* have to treat it with Campden when I brew AG because it does have chloramine in it to avoid strange background flavors. Never seemed to affect extract beers, its a "mash thing".

I have to build really soft water IE for a BoPils from RO water from scratch, I can't do it with my tap water no matter what.

bpgreen wrote: ↑Fri Feb 04, 2022 11:30 pm Isn't RO water basically the same as distilled water?

If so, I think you'll want to build your water from scratch.

But I don't know much about water chemistry.

Yep, I think the same as Distilled water is certainly purer than basic tap water but reverse osmosis gets the upper hand. I only use distilled water to top off my tank. I don't have an RO filter and the distilled water from the grocery store works fine. RO and distilled are basically the same thing. Both types of water go through a process that removes all contaminants from the water.

Still haven't had the time to test the water but I did find out the harness is 8.0. Have done a couple batches and so far, both have been low on the expected OG. I need to get it done.... if I can get caught up on my chores.... never ends. 1st batch is conditioning and second one is on counter bubbling away so don't know about taste yet.

Contact your local water department and they should test it for free. I received my results recently when I asked. Brewersfriend.com has a good water calculator and information.
Example my results were:

Our most recent results of interest are:
Really helpful when building or adding/adjusting your water profile. (Nice to know a chemist at the local water dept)
I always use Campden Tablets to remove Chloramine which is added to our water to kill bacteria.

Chloride = 32.2 ppm
Sulfate = 43.5 ppm
Sodium = 20.9 ppm
Magnesium = 11.9 ppm
Calcium = 41.3 ppm
Total Hardness = 119 ppm
Bicarbonate Alkalinity = 111 ppm

Ward Labs does a really good homebrewing water test. It's a little expensive for what it is, I think around $45, but it's worth it in my opinion. I used to do it every few years until I realized my water is terrible for brewing, so now I just start with 100% distilled water. This allows me to build whatever profile I want.

All you need to do is go to their website and order the test, you pay online and they send you a small water bottle with a postage paid return box. You fill it with water and send it back and in a couple days you'll get an email with the full report. Here's the link: https://www.wardlab.com/product/water-test-kit/