distilled water

[Sloanick]

I want to distill my water and then add the right amount of minerals for my mash to get healthy yeast (i do not trust any water other than water i process myself, I watch too many documentaries and read too many scary things about what big brother feeds us)
I tried searching for a thread on this but wasn't finding any answers...
I do not have any tools for measuring ph or anything like that. I want a basic recipe for a 25l fermenting pail...
what minerals, and how much...
if there is a link you know of please post it and i will be glad to do the reading

[heartcut]

This might help get you lined out:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Sloanick]

hummm thanks heartcut. I think that is a bit much for me to understand... and these are specs for different beers...

Anyone use distilled water and have a formula? aomunts of cal, salt, etc. per litre?

I have added like a tsp of epsom, 500mg of vit c (crushed up) and a multi vit one a day (crushed) a cup of boiled bakers yeast, and some yeast nutrient.
That worked ok in my toronto city water, but i am switching over to distilled, and i'm going to be making ujssm...

Any suggestions on other additives would be great! I'm no master mind, and i'm broke so buying water testing equipment doesn't really appeal to me.
I do have fine grade stainless steel tea spoons and table spoons So those could be put to use if I knew what to measure in them and how much to measure!

[Prairiepiss]

Is tour reason for doing this for your safety or the safety of the yeast?

You will be distilling it in the end anyway. So your safety shouldn't be a concern.

And its not that hard to make the yeasties happy.

[heartcut]

Here's some equivalents:
1 tsp Calcium Carbonate CaCO3 (chalk) = 1.8 gm
1 tsp Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) NaHCO3 = 4.4 gm
1 tsp Gypsum CaSO4 (sheetrock) = 4 gm
1 tsp Calcium Chloride (deicing salt) CaCl2 = 3.4 gm
1 tsp salt Sodium Chloride NaCl (granulated salt) = 6 gm (don’t use iodized salt, yeast hate it)
1 tsp Magnesium Sulfate (epsom salt) MgSO4 = 4.5 gm

For a balanced mineral profile, to 5 gal distilled water, add:
1 tsp chalk
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp Calcium Chloride
1 tsp Epsom salt
¼ tsp table salt (not iodized)

Should be a good starting point, you can do a lot if you're adding your own minerals. Like PP said, most of the time your muni water, maybe just boiled if it's really scarey, should work well. Good luck.

[WhyZed]

I have not completed a wikkie run yet so prepping 'water' beyond purifing it, to aid in fermenting or help in distilling is new and foreign to me. Interesting to know if and how tho.

I'd most likely be spicing my harvest after the fact.

[Coaster]

@ Sloanick,

Going through all the rigamarole with distilling water and then adding all the required minerals to the water that the distilling process removed is only part of the process of obtaining ‘Good’ water for fermenting mash washes. The distilling process removes the free suspended oxygen from the water. “Good” water for fermenting mash washes requires free suspended oxygen in the water. You are going to have to add oxygen to your distilled water to obtain successful fermentation of your mash washes.

Also all those chemicals you are going to have to add to the distilled water are not ‘pure’ ‘refined’ chemicals. Those chemicals contain traces of other chemicals and in my book defeats the purpose of using Distilled water in the first place.

Labatt Brewery, Amsterdam Brewery, Mill Street Brewery, and Granite Brewery located in Toronto Canada (your location) all use Toronto city water in their brewery and they don’t seem to have any problems.

Regards,
Coaster

[Sloanick]

oh wow very good point!!! about the beer. It is freaking amazing out so i just picked up a case of Cool beer from the brewery, no doubt they are using city water too.
so should I just pre boil the city water and add what i mentioned before?

yeah I was worried about the yeast health. i would just buy spring bottled water, but! the plastic leaches out all kinds of crap and i'm not sure if it is all heavier than water (meaning distilling still wouldn't clean it possibly)

I am liking the idea of using tap water because it will save me all the bother of distilling water...

[Cvoss]

So if i got my tap water tested, what could be present that is unwanted for whiskey? Iron? Does a simple activated carbon filter remove these minerals or would that be good?

[heartcut]

I believe your city water dept will give you a copy of there latest test results. The inline carbon filters you buy for ice makers work for trace metals and chlorine. If chlorine is the only bad thing, heating, adding a gram of vitamin C per 5 gal or just letting it sit in a loosley covered container for a day will remove it. If you use heating, be sure to stir it some or syphon it so it splashes to add some more O2 before you add yeast.

[Cvoss]

I'm trying to learn what's good and bad in tap water for whiskey... I will get those results, i know the minerals that are good, what is bad for whiskey? Chlorine I got.....

[Sungy]

Sloanick

I live just down the road in the Hamilton. Have had no problems with the city water here. And this is the Hammer after all. After the Walkerton water issues the municipal water supply has been cleaned up all over Southern Ontario. I work in several water purification plants in the area. All have gone through massive upgrades to their facilities. I have spoke to many plant engineers and have asked if they drink the water, and they do. They get pissed when you ask them about it too. They are telling me it is safe and in there plants it is frowned appon to bring in bottled water.

That being said I do not worry about it. All my ferments run off no problems with city water. For chlorine let it air for a day or add lemon juice or vitamin c
And yes the big breweries use city water and have no issues. All 6 wineries that I work at also use city water.

Paranoia will rule your life my friend.