Brisbane Water Report

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bloubrak

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Hi fellow hop heads...where would i be able to find the latest Brisbane quality water report, so I can make the necessary water chemical additions? Thanks in advance for the information.
 
Hi fellow hop heads...where would i be able to find the latest Brisbane quality water report, so I can make the necessary water chemical additions? Thanks in advance for the information.
hi bloubrak, just looking at your posts and history, there is not much to go on, so i don't know if you have serious brew history behind you (1st brew, 1000th brew??), or just starting out and you've read a scary article about how your water can ruin your beer, so,
having gone through that scenario myself, and if you are just starting out, i came to the conclusions that
1. i can't actually taste brisbane water in the finished product. the website by argon, above, points out that the chlorine in the water will boil out. that's the main one i watch for. if you boil the water eg as boiled wort, goodnight chlorine.
2. i don't notice chlorophenols or any other weird plastic, artificial tastes off brewing in bris.
having said that, i do throw a dose of PH5 solution into my mash water when i remember, about 60% of the time. i can't tell on the finished product if there is PH solution in there or not.
argon's website is great if you want to emulate a particular water eg munich to get the authenticity of a munich brew, but equally, i wouldn't be too concerned otherwise.
if you boil at least most of the water you're going to have in the finished brew, then brisbane water's pretty ok.
 
butistart - you should have read the intro on the link to Brisbane water analysis, it says they use both Chlorine and Chloramine. Chlorine can be reduced by boiling or to a smaller extent by evaporation although neither gives complete removal. Relying on it being removed in the mash/boil would be a very bad idea as Cl will react with polyphenols in the mash survive the boil and go into the finished beer, Cl needs to be removed before you mash in.
Chloramines cant be removed except by carbon filtration or reacting with Metabisulphite (well there are other ways but not easy or safe).

All I can say is that even if you cant taste Chlorophenols as a discrete flavour, their absence will make a big difference to the flavour of your beer.
At a minimum do a trial it will take less than 20cents worth of Metabisulphite to find out, I wouldn't trust the palate of someone who claims to 103.

Interesting amount of Bicarbonate in the Brisbane water, especially as Carbonate is reported as 0 (zero), I suspect you will never get down to the ideal mashing pH range with just mineral additions, some acid or acid malt would be necessary is my first thought.
Mark
 
butistart - you should have read the intro on the link to Brisbane water analysis, it says they use both Chlorine and Chloramine. Chlorine can be reduced by boiling or to a smaller extent by evaporation although neither gives complete removal. Relying on it being removed in the mash/boil would be a very bad idea as Cl will react with polyphenols in the mash survive the boil and go into the finished beer, Cl needs to be removed before you mash in.
Chloramines cant be removed except by carbon filtration or reacting with Metabisulphite (well there are other ways but not easy or safe).

All I can say is that even if you cant taste Chlorophenols as a discrete flavour, their absence will make a big difference to the flavour of your beer.
At a minimum do a trial it will take less than 20cents worth of Metabisulphite to find out, I wouldn't trust the palate of someone who claims to 103.

Interesting amount of Bicarbonate in the Brisbane water, especially as Carbonate is reported as 0 (zero), I suspect you will never get down to the ideal mashing pH range with just mineral additions, some acid or acid malt would be necessary is my first thought.
Mark
did i say i was 103?? maybe i was doing a slight exaggeration LOL. but not long to go, nonetheless.
ok, interesting. comments on chlorophenols or absence thereof is interesting, regardless of my sagging palate.
i might actually pm you for further advice if that's ok, on this, in november, if that's ok. then i can sit down and compare. (up to here with work between here and there)
 
butistart - you should have read the intro on the link to Brisbane water analysis, it says they use both Chlorine and Chloramine. Chlorine can be reduced by boiling or to a smaller extent by evaporation although neither gives complete removal. Relying on it being removed in the mash/boil would be a very bad idea as Cl will react with polyphenols in the mash survive the boil and go into the finished beer, Cl needs to be removed before you mash in.
Chloramines cant be removed except by carbon filtration or reacting with Metabisulphite (well there are other ways but not easy or safe).

All I can say is that even if you cant taste Chlorophenols as a discrete flavour, their absence will make a big difference to the flavour of your beer.
At a minimum do a trial it will take less than 20cents worth of Metabisulphite to find out, I wouldn't trust the palate of someone who claims to 103.

Interesting amount of Bicarbonate in the Brisbane water, especially as Carbonate is reported as 0 (zero), I suspect you will never get down to the ideal mashing pH range with just mineral additions, some acid or acid malt would be necessary is my first thought.
Mark
ah, my lhbs has potassium betabisulphite for $4, 50gm, popped some into my next shopping cart, will give it a spin. sort the bicarbonate thing out later. (science done one step at a time)
 
Thanks guys for the assistance. I have made the necessary changes and added them to my water input report. Thanks for the help so far guys. I always use campden tablets in the water before brewday. Boil the water and add tablets to mash and sparge water tanks. Never had any TCP tasting beer ever since I have been using this process.
 
hi bloubrak, just looking at your posts and history, there is not much to go on, so i don't know if you have serious brew history behind you (1st brew, 1000th brew??), or just starting out and you've read a scary article about how your water can ruin your beer, so,
having gone through that scenario myself, and if you are just starting out, i came to the conclusions that
1. i can't actually taste brisbane water in the finished product. the website by argon, above, points out that the chlorine in the water will boil out. that's the main one i watch for. if you boil the water eg as boiled wort, goodnight chlorine.
2. i don't notice chlorophenols or any other weird plastic, artificial tastes off brewing in bris.
having said that, i do throw a dose of PH5 solution into my mash water when i remember, about 60% of the time. i can't tell on the finished product if there is PH solution in there or not.
argon's website is great if you want to emulate a particular water eg munich to get the authenticity of a munich brew, but equally, i wouldn't be too concerned otherwise.
if you boil at least most of the water you're going to have in the finished brew, then brisbane water's pretty ok.
Hi I wont say I have made a 1000 beers yet...but can say I am not new to brewing.
 
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