Brisbane Water for brewing

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

QUU.

They took 2 days to get back to me.

I have the 'whole of brisbane' report, which is taken from the CBD and actually has the specific chemicals/make up of the water that the ezy water calculator uses.

The pH of the area is actually useless because there is no spot to pop it in the spreadsheet.

 

[Meddo]

Just received an update from QUU for Morningside water, covering the July-November period, see link below. Given some previous questions in this thread, I asked if this data was appropriate for use in East Brisbane, Coorparoo, Cannon Hill and Carina, the answer was "The data here can also be used as a guide for the suburbs you detailed in your email." So make of that what you will.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zs6wnuFoqeSVZ4ruuVTbl0PZANbtEYWtMqT2ZMh1lrg/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Matplat]

You read New Scientist Meddo?

:icon_offtopic:

 

[Meddo]

I do. Why's that?

Edit: Oh, avatar?

 

[Matplat]

Yeah.... just saw that photo reading this morning!

 

[Matplat]

Back on topic, those figures are almost identical so what I recieved.

I was told the sample point was at Greenslopes, I'm in Holland Park West, and that if anything were to vary it would be Nitrate/Nitrite but the difference would only be minimal.

 

[Parks]

I recently got an RO unit and had it tested. My water is from Mt Crosby (I'm in Kenmore).

This may or may not help you but it's interesting none-the-less.

 

[Rocker1986]

Nice work Meddo! Given where I live my water is probably coming from the Wellers Hill reservoir too as I'm a lot closer to it. Or perhaps the Tarragindi one.

In any case, those numbers aren't much different to the ones on the QUU water report from 2015 that I used as my base water profile. I might send em off an email later though and see if I can get this information as well. Would be better than relying on yearly reports that aren't all that specific (although still close).

Didn't know the water supply used chloramines rather than chlorine... what's the best way to remove these things? Not sure boiling works?

 

[Parks]

"A pinch" of sodium or potassium metabisulfite breaks down chloramines in seconds.

 

[tj2204]

Didn't know the water supply used chloramines rather than chlorine... what's the best way to remove these things? Not sure boiling works?

Potassium Metabisulphite, I just put a tiny pinch in my strike water as I'm filling up the urn.

 

[Meddo]

I'm no expert but from what I've read a ~700mg campden tablet does the trick for roughly single-batch sizes at the levels we've got (2mg/L). As per the link below $5 will do you 50 brews. Mick at Cannon Hill carries these too for the same price from memory.


http://www.cleverbrewing.com.au/campden-tablets.html

 

[Matplat]

I've started filtering my water with 'activated carbon' as this achieves the same purpose without changing the water composition...

 

[Coodgee]

Using the average for calculations is not very accurate. There is a pretty large range of values.

 

[Meddo]

True, but without sampling each time we need to pick a number of some sort. I haven't actually looked yet to see what the variance is like and whether some other method than average would be more representative - but the as-reported data is there to interpret to your preference anyway.

Edit: Ha, looks like something exciting happened on or before the 6th July...

 

[Rocker1986]

It probably rained a fair bit recently before that date in the dam catchment areas - they're full of limestone and when it rains a lot on them, the water temporarily goes harder. Dad used to test tap water in the lab at one of his old jobs and noticed this occurrence regularly following reasonable amounts of rainfall in the catchment areas. I expect the data for December will show a spike somewhere as well following the rain and storms that have been around in the last fortnight or so.

Thanks for the tips on the chloramine removal too guys. I might pop over to Cannon Hill on Monday and grab some campden tablets since I'm on holidays for 4 weeks after tomorrow, and I have a brew day planned for a day next week. Seems the easiest method to use.

 

[rhino86]

It is obvious to me that I need to improve on the QUU tap water I use. I'm currently using the boiling and chilling method as I have no other equipment to improve or test.
The first beer and ginger beer I brewed using the boiling and chilling method, the result was better than I thought. More brewing to come.
The chlorine scent is quite strong in QUU tap water. Thank you for the advice and reports, it will help me improve the methodology and approach for future brews.

 

[dirtynidge]

Sorry to chime in in this so late. I'm just getting into AG with a Robobrew and was just wondering whether I would be best with Brisbane water (North Pine) or tank water.
I'm not advanced enough at this point to worry about changing water profiles etc, I just want to avoid any off flavours from chlorine/chloromides.

I've been using bottled water for small batch extracts thus far but this seems a bit expensive if unnecessary.

Any thoughts are much appreciated

 

[Rocker1986]

Tap water is all I use, and now I add minerals depending on style but for a long time I did nothing to it at all and had no problems. If you're worried about the chlorine/chloramines affecting the beer, grab some campden tablets, and simply crush one up and dissolve it in warm water, then add this to your brewing water. It'll break them down and remove them from the water. I use these tablets on every batch now, not because I had problems but because it's an easy way to prevent them occurring in the first place.

 

[dirtynidge]

Thanks Rocker (aka Otto?!)

 

[Coldspace]

Yep, brissy tap water is ok, but you will make a better beer with some simple things,

I fill my gf's up the day before or at least several hrs before mashin to allow my mineral additions to dissolve properly,

I run my tap water slowly through one of those cheap carbon inline caravan filters, I then treat my gf with half campden tab, and the sparge water urn with half a tab crushed and stired up well.

If doing hoppy type beers, I dissolve 10 grms of calcium sulphate, 2 grms of magnesium, 4 grms of calcium chloride, into my batch.

If doing lagers or English bitters etc, I use 6 grms calcium sulphate, 2 grms calcium chloride.

These might not be perfect but gets me close. Good enough and since doing this have noticed a nice improvement to my brews.

Cheers