Lawrence Brewers Guild

Prepping my homebrew shop list for fall/winter sessions. I'll be making a few pilsners, and I assume that for Lawrence water I should do something more/different than simply pour straight from the tap. A review of the 2009 Lawrence Water Quality Report left me with more questions than answers. What have other Lawrence residents done?
I don't have a system for filtering that volume of water, so do I need to buy distilled and then add elements to bring it in line? Or can I use tap water and add appropriate elements?
Thanks!
-Sally

I'd use half tap and half distilled. The tap for your minerals and the distilled to cut back on the hardness.

For Pils, you generally want softer water, and Lee's suggest for cutting it 50% with distilled is a very good idea.

For all of our brewing, we use one of these:



It costs $13 -
http://www.amazon.com/Culligan-RV-500A- ... WURJ07H4JF

We used to never adjust our water. Just recently started to. ProMash has a menu that helps you adjust water, I'm sure Brew Smith does as well. In that program, you can place the median of Lawrence water, and adjust accordingly to bring it closer to the region/city you want to brew.

I'm still learning what amounts I like to adjust for, which also depends on what water I'm trying to replicate, but I will use a mixture of Gypsum, Epsom Salt, Canning Salt, Baking Soda and/or Chalk to bring it closer to our target.

Real quick way to get a baseline of your water is to go to your local spa shop and get an AquaCheck set of test strips (about $15)



These will test for total hardness (0-1000 ppm), Alkalinity (0-240 ppm) and pH (6.2-8.4). They also test for dissolved bromine, but lets hope your tap water does not have any of this. Dip the strip int the water, wait 15 seconds and read. Too easy.

They are a good ballpark starting point if you are going to re-work your water chemistry. I am sure you local water shop provides quarterly reports online. This is a report of a "random" samples of tap endpoints in your area. Your water will very from the report depending on where you are on the water mains, your plumping and about 1/2 million other variables.

Jason

Those are all great tips - and very doable - which is a bonus since this the lagering bit will be a new venture and will have to be thrown together ghetto fashion as it is (winter, insulated trashcan containing ice blankets, etc.). Not the permanent solution, but a workable and budget-friendly one for now.

All good suggestions above. Caveats: 1)The water report is posted yearly and gives a range for all the variables which is fairly wide. 2)It makes a BIG difference if you get your water from the Kaw or Clinton Lake.
You can call the water dept to find out which place you're supplied from and they have monthly data they can share with you.
Unless you "build" your water for each brew you may not get consistent levels of flavor ions.
That said, I've brewed Pilsener using the method Lee described and it worked out well.
jim

Fwiw,
My BOS Gr. Pilsner used straight filtered water from Clinton. PH 5.2 in the mash.

OMG Jason! I used the test strips and found I was Preggers!!!!!!!

fergmeister wrote:OMG Jason! I used the test strips and found I was Preggers!!!!!!!

We knew that years ago.

Jdl973 wrote:Real quick way to get a baseline of your water is to go to your local spa shop and get an AquaCheck set of test strips (about $15)



These will test for total hardness (0-1000 ppm), Alkalinity (0-240 ppm) and pH (6.2-8.4). They also test for dissolved bromine, but lets hope your tap water does not have any of this. Dip the strip int the water, wait 15 seconds and read. Too easy.

They are a good ballpark starting point if you are going to re-work your water chemistry. I am sure you local water shop provides quarterly reports online. This is a report of a "random" samples of tap endpoints in your area. Your water will very from the report depending on where you are on the water mains, your plumping and about 1/2 million other variables.

Jason

of course you want to read those strips in sunlight or under a 6500k lamp for a repeatable, and truly accurate reading....

or there are electrical devices, but that is a totally different discussion...

The other key point is NOT to read them upside down...really messes things up

Unfortunately, been there, done that.

Jason

Jdl973 wrote:The other key point is NOT to read them upside down...really messes things up

Unfortunately, been there, done that.

Jason

And you call yourself a Lab Rat?

you can be a lab rat and an IDIOT all at the same time

Jason