Does anyone build water up from r/o?

[haeffnkr]

Hi,
I am a homebrewer with a r/o filter.
I build water all the time for brewing and add what ever "salts" and stuff I need to get it to whatever profile and ph I need.
I use https://www.brewersfriend.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow - it is awesome.

What "profile" do I need for distilling?
If building water I just want a soft water profile with a PH of 7 for sugarheads since it will go down.
If building all grain whiskey water it would be also be a soft profile but with a lower ph, probably about 5, since the grain will buffer the ph?

thanks in advance
haeffnkr

[BayouShine]

I use the water chemistry calculator.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I run the Balanced Profile II.

[cede]

I dont
In fact I have spring water on tap, low minerals and I brew with it.
I prefer to brew my own than to try to mimic or clone something.

[RedwoodHillBilly]

Myself, I mash with my local tap water. Now, for proofing, I always use RO water. My choice, to each their own. I haven't seen a problem with my protocol, but YMMV.

[still_stirrin]

I’m with RWH....tap to brew...RO to temper.
ss

[bilgriss]

Same here. Tap for mash and ferment. RO for proofing it down.

[haeffnkr]

Hi all,
Thanks for the replies.
The information seemed to vary a lot

I could see the point that in a sugar wash where most of the water is removed and it is ultimately run through a reflux that the starting mash/wash water does not matter much.
I will try tap to start off with for what kind of wash.

For a whisky run I will make up some soft water starting with R/O

take care all.
haeffnkr

[Bushman]

I have an artisian well where I live and the water is great. When I first started distilling I was a afraid in late summer I might stress the well but that has never happened.

[Saltbush Bill]

I have a rain water tank .........it has assorted shit in it ,,,,,,,,,birds, possums, bats and god knows what else ...........it makes good booze and tastes OK if you just want a drink of water.

[Nunyo]

For those of you using tap water, are you doing anything to “clean it up” at all? My tap water has chlorine and chloramines among other things. For my reef tank, I use my RODI filter but I know DI water isn’t good for mash let alone consumption. I am new to this hobby and trying to figure out what steps I need to take to make my water acceptable for my mash or wash. I am sure I will need to address my waters pH as I think it’s in the low 8’s out of the tap but it’s the other elements that concern me most. An easy solution would be to just put a 2 or 3 stage filter in and run the water through a 5 micron sediment and then a carbon block and or chloramine filter. I just hate pissing water down the drain in the form of waste water. I live in a drought state where we have water restrictions and I already use 300 gallons of RODI water for my reef tank. My RODI unit is a 1:1 unit but that’s 600 gallons of water to make 300 gallons for my reef. My goal is to make mash in up to 45 gallon batches so I am trying to be cognizant of my water usages and the time it will take to fill the pots and mash barrel.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[HDNB]

just let the water stand in the sunlight for 4 hours and chlorine will be gone.
the minerals are good, don't remove them.
the ph is a bit high. prolly ok for dough in, which will reduce it to 6.5 for hi temp enzymes, but you are going to want to add some acid for a ph of 5.5 for saccrification enzymes at mash in.

unless your tap water tastes like shit, use it as is with an eye on ph.

[bluefish_dist]

I carbon filter my wash/wort water. If I had an RO system I would build my own water so it is more repeatable. Right now I find the utilities is varying the water and I am getting different results.

[zapata]

I use tap water for all but proofing. Chloramines here instead of chlorine, and I don't do anything about it. I have before, but can't say it mattered so I don't.

I've found plenty of good reports on scotch whisky water. The interesting thing to me was how much it varies. Some soft, some hard, lots in the middle. A fair bit of ph variation as well. Some are using natural surface water sources, some wells, some municipal. With as much as is going on in a good scotch, I sure can't pick out any flavors or smells associated with various parameters of their source water.

If I had to make up a number, I'd say less than 1% of a whisky's flavor has anything to do with source water, as long as the water doesn't have serious ph or mineral flaws that hamper fermentation in the first place. In a beer, about 90% of it is the water you start with including minerals. In a whiskey, you'll end up with what, about 35% of the source water and almost none of the minerals. Any effect would have to be on how the minerals influenced the yeast to produce congeners.

[butterpants]

When I brew beer at home, yep every time. Most control over pH and flavor salts.

At the brewery, no. We just carbon filter out chlorine/chloramines and adjust as necessary with Phosphoric Acid, Gypsum or Calcium Chloride. Big RO systems are expensive and make a TON of waste water.

For distilling mashes I did at first but found it made no difference. I do add a bit of campden to mitigate chloramine. Just optimize for enzymes by adjusting pH with gypsum, chalk or backset.

In simple sugar washes or UJSSM, no way. I use my hard as hell home tap water with a little campden tab.

[Nunyo]

Great info. Thanks guys! Now I just need to decide which route to go. I will likely use the tap water and run it through a sediment, carbon and chloramine block before using it. I’m a few weeks out before I get my feet wet with my first batch so I have a bit of time to plan things out further and accumulate the rest of my equipment..

[zapata]

This actually raises a question, is there anything that reliably and reasonably filters chloramine? Last time I looked into it seems like what I found was not very encouraging, like carbon filters could do it, but it required so much dwell time that in reality few filters actually did anything for it.
I know campden tablets work, but if there were a simple filter setup that worked I'd consider just installing one semi-permanantly.

[Mr Sippy]

This actually raises a question, is there anything that reliably and reasonably filters chloramine?

This is old and gets kind of sciencey but the experimentation seems sound
https://www.morebeer.com/articles/remov ... from_water" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[butterpants]

This actually raises a question, is there anything that reliably and reasonably filters chloramine? Last time I looked into it seems like what I found was not very encouraging, like carbon filters could do it, but it required so much dwell time that in reality few filters actually did anything for it.
I know campden tablets work, but if there were a simple filter setup that worked I'd consider just installing one semi-permanantly.

Potassium Metabisulfite destroys Chloramine so swiftly and at such a low concentration, I personally think you'd be out of your mind to spend any money on another method for its mitigation.

[Shine0n]

My mash water is hard but a ph of 7 and it works great but distilled water for tempering always.

[zapata]

Potassium Metabisulfite destroys Chloramine so swiftly and at such a low concentration, I personally think you'd be out of your mind to spend any money on another method for its mitigation.

True. I must confess I was kinda fishing to see if anybody had a good filter solution because I have a skin condition and have been told filtering chloramine from the shower water would be beneficial. Adding metabite to the shower water is impractical, and most flow through filters get mediocre reviews on chloramine. But that more beer link makes me think I just need to shower under a large britta filter, lol.

[butterpants]

My mash water is hard but a ph of 7 and it works great but distilled water for tempering always.

pH of your water is irrelevant. The buffering capacity via residual alkalinity is the big deal and independent (mostly) of pH. pH can swing easily or require some large effort but still start at the same spot depending on buffering capacity. It's weird... I hope that makes sense.

Your home water pH has to be alkaline, otherwise your pipes would corrode.

[butterpants]

Potassium Metabisulfite destroys Chloramine so swiftly and at such a low concentration, I personally think you'd be out of your mind to spend any money on another method for its mitigation.

True. I must confess I was kinda fishing to see if anybody had a good filter solution because I have a skin condition and have been told filtering chloramine from the shower water would be beneficial. Adding metabite to the shower water is impractical, and most flow through filters get mediocre reviews on chloramine. But that more beer link makes me think I just need to shower under a large britta filter, lol.

That's funny. Yea use a carbon filter setup. Most small breweries do just that.

I would like to see you frosted like a sugar cookie with Kmeta in the shower though.

[Twisted Brick]

Potassium Metabisulfite destroys Chloramine so swiftly and at such a low concentration, I personally think you'd be out of your mind to spend any money on another method for its mitigation.

Ah, this is good to know, but I cannot find a listing for chloramines in my city's water analysis in order to determine metabite dosage. Could it be listed under another name?

[butterpants]

Potassium Metabisulfite destroys Chloramine so swiftly and at such a low concentration, I personally think you'd be out of your mind to spend any money on another method for its mitigation.

Ah, this is good to know, but I cannot find a listing for chloramines in my city's water analysis in order to determine metabite dosage. Could it be listed under another name?

1 campden tablet (fresh not old, Kmeta degrades with time) will neutralize up to 20 gallons in 15 minutes with some stirring. If you're paranoid just leave it overnight.

Don't need to overthink it... but do crush up the tab between 2 spoons

[Twisted Brick]

Thanks Butter.... I'm on it.

[zapata]

I would like to see you frosted like a sugar cookie with Kmeta in the shower though.

[Twisted Brick]

Hahahaha!!! With shower cap!

[Nunyo]

Potassium Metabisulfite destroys Chloramine so swiftly and at such a low concentration, I personally think you'd be out of your mind to spend any money on another method for its mitigation.

This brings up a question.. What amount of potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite do you recommend to eliminate chlorine and chloramines? I’ve read up to 25mg/gal for potassium metabisulfite but obviously I don’t want to add more than need. I’m preparing to start my first wash (50 gallons). I stocked up on all kinds of supplies including potassium metabisulfite as well as sodium metabisulfite.. Not sure why I ordered both.. I also got a 3 stage filter with a 5 micron sediment and two carbon blocks but one of the stages has a cracked top causing a nice leak so I’m waiting for a replacement. I figured I could just use the potassium metabisulfate to get my first wash going or just use the water out of the tap.

That brings me to my second question. As a long time reef hobbyist, chlorine and chloramines as a big issue for me but it seems they aren’t an issue in home distilling or home brewing as many just use the water right out of the tap. What effect if any do tap water concentrations of chlorine and chloramines have on the fermentation process? I would have throught they would impact or kill the yeast but it appears that isn’t the case. Our water here isn’t terribly bad and doesn’t smell of chlorine like water in other states but I’d never use my tap water for my reef tank. I have an RODI for that with a seperate 3 stage filter ahead of it with Pentek ChlorPlus filters just for peace of mind and RODI cartridge longevity.

I have a Milwaukee Total Chlorine digital photometer which I haven’t bothered to use. My plan was to test after water treatment to be certain I’ve eliminated both chlorine and bound chloramine as that will show the presence of chloramines.

[zapata]

In the beer world it's more of a problem with phenolic off tastes. Think bandaid or medicine. And many home brewers do care, but many have found they can get by fine with tap water. I did a quick googling, and all the chlorphenols I looked at had really high boiling points, so maybe that's why fewer stillers worry about chlorine.

I've never had a problem with yeast health that I thought was due to chlorine/amine.

[Nunyo]

In the beer world it's more of a problem with phenolic off tastes. Think bandaid or medicine. And many home brewers do care, but many have found they can get by fine with tap water. I did a quick googling, and all the chlorphenols I looked at had really high boiling points, so maybe that's why fewer stillers worry about chlorine.

I've never had a problem with yeast health that I thought was due to chlorine/amine.

Thanks for the reply. I think I may be making a mountain out of a mole hill. I have an acquaintance near me who is on the same water supply who’s a home brewer and he doesn’t do anything with his tap water. He just runs it and he takes his beer seriously. Seems I’d be just fine running it as is.