Spring Water

[Sandy Feet]

In a quest to learn a little more about what might affect some recipes in the future, I am trying to get an idea of where I sit with the water I use. I have been online in all kids of places, and even though I can find basic things, I can't get the water chemistry that would be useful in brewing software for Publix Spring Water. I like using the stuff as it seems to be pretty good all around. Do any of y'all have some links that might be useful?

 

[Minbari]

this is what I use.. works really well, the PH it calculates almost always tests the same after mash-in.

https://ezwatercalculator.com/

it allows you to put in the chemistry of the water you are using as well.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

The best route is to get a water profile for it. You can contact the supplier or send it in to a lab like Wards. You need to know what minerals and salts are present such as:
Bicarbonate levels
Calcium levels
Magnesium levels
Chloride levels
Sulfate levels
Total hardness
Total alkalinity
These are the big ones. If you know these mineral levels you can get a good idea of what the water is good for as is or what needs to be added or diluted for the beer you want to brew.

 

[Sandy Feet]

That is what I thought, but I was hoping for something easy. The hard way it is.

 

[west1m]

Not hard, just expensive. Around 40 bucks for Ward Labs.

 

[Dogwood]

Not hard, just expensive. Around 40 bucks for Ward Labs.

But, for me, well worth it! My beer was so bad I wound up dumping several batches. Turned out I had high ph and hard water. Now using ro water and good beer again!! A local microbrew is going to share water with me so I don't have to use all those plastic jugs!

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

I’m surprise they don’t send you a report or post it on their website. Sometimes the water mineral make up changes because it may not come from a single source.

RO water is nice to work with because you start with a clean slate. You can build your water with the exception of alkalinity. Alkalinity can’t be added very easily. In that case, you would blend in another water source with alkalinity to get the proper profile.

I have very high alkalinity in my well water, so I mostly use RO. Very rarely do I blend unless the beer is very dark.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Yeah if buying anyway RO is a good move.

 

[Sandy Feet]

At some point in time, I probably need to do something about a filtration system at the house. The water here is extremely hard and can smell like chlorine at times. I got in the habit of using bottled spring water because it seemed like a good, all-around compromise, and it actually does make some good beer. If I were making big batches, it would get rather expensive. That isn't the case right now.
I think they are using Silver Springs in Ocala as a water source, but I need to double check with my labels when I get home.

 

[Craigerrr]

Are the mineral/ion details not on the bottle? Here in Canada it is, probably as it is mandated...

 

[Sunfire96]

Are the mineral/ion details not on the bottle? Here in Canada it is, probably as it is mandated...

Some brand name companies have the info on their websites. But grocery store brand water rarely includes that info. I agree that if you're buying OP, go with distilled and build your own water profiles from nothing

 

[Craigerrr]

go with distilled and build your own water profiles from nothing

I could not agree more!
Personally I use RO water, which is pretty close to zeros across the board, and is a bit cheaper.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Some brand name companies have the info on their websites.

I checked the Publix Spring Water site. Even though they asked for a code from the jug (I selected one at random) it had very little info. That pH range is so wide it's pretty useless.

 

[Sandy Feet]

That is kind of the same thing I found. Mine is sourced from Ocala. I can go online and find water reports concerning the contaminates from the City of Silver Springs, but no profile from the spring itself at the bottling source. I was more curious than anything else at this point, but in the future, I am going to need to learn a few more things and ways to play with the water.