RO Water

[terdsbrew53]

I know I'm a dumbass but I use RO with no treatments every time I brew.I Know what your thinking "mineral content for healthy yeast,PH problems'' but I have never had any of these things happen.I have brewed about 20 all grains this way and my efficiency remains constant at 72%, no stuck fermentations, no incomplete conversions and (most the time) get some pretty damn good beer. I follow the gospel of the POPE but I started this practice before I knew shit about water and I have never had a problem with my beer so I figured why change it. That is my question today: why change it? Iv'e used the mentality of "If'n It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It" for a while now, but maybe I'm missing something. Could my beer be better is the question that keeps me up at night( i know that it's sad but it's true). As far as accentuating bitterness, i'm not looking to do that, I like the smooth soft bitterness of an IPA with no sulfate. I really want to know the other effects of brewing with RO on taste or smell of the finished product. Any insight would be great.

[Speyedr]

Your logic is definitely convincing, but from everything I've learned so far, you should be having all sorts of problems. Including fermentation issues, flavor issues, pH problems, conversion, etc. of course this assumes that you really are using pure water from a functioning RO unit, and that you know what you're talking about regarding the quality of your beer

I'm gonna assume the latter is a given and that you know what "good" and "bad" tasting beer are like. How are you getting your RO water? Do you have your own RO unit? If so, have you tested for dissolved solids with a TDS meter, and what was the reading? Have you tested the Ph in your mash, sparge water, RO water? What are those readings? Do you use starters and what kind of water for them, RO or tap? Do you use yeast nutrients in starters and/or wort?

I'm really curious about all of this. A lot of what we do comes from the word of the brewers before us, and it's not always right. Let's see what the deal is with this, and send some of your beer into the show for a taste test!

[terdsbrew53]

I agree completely, every book i've read that covers water in it says not to use RO but I have trouble finding in depth data on the subject. As far as testing for disolved solids in the water or PH tests I've never done them.I figured taste is everything and if that is good with no tannins or astringency and the conversion was complete than I shouldn't worry about it. I get my RO from a Culligan machine at my local Wal-mart,I don't generally use starters unless the gravity is 1.070 or more and i don't use nutrients. I work at a brewpub as an assistant and I've given samples to my head brewer and Rex Halfpenny( writer of MI Beer Guide and master bjcp judge) Both said it was good and clean and on style.Also the first comp I ever entered about 2 months ago I got first place in the american ale category so the beer is pretty good.And as for sending some beer in,It's already bottled I talked to justin and I'm sending it in on monday. I too am desperately trying to find out more about this.Also my brewbuddy just got RO in his house and he is getting similar results with no problems. Thanks for the help,
Cheers,
Bill G

[Speyedr]

Are you sure it's RO? I've seen the machines and never paid much attention to them. I figured they were just "spring" water or filtered water.

What do the people at the brewpub say about your water? Have you asked the brewers there?

[kace069]

I am using an RO system installed in my house with no problems. As for fermentation with the RO, no problems with my beer, but I defentiley see fermentation problems with my meads using the RO water. My mead ferments have been extended since I swtiched from my old nasty tap water to the water from the RO system through the water softner. My tap water was full of crap, which was prolly pretty good for the mead but made my beer nasty.

I have fermented a couple of hundred gallons of mead and I am familiar with the problems associated with a nutrient defecient fermentation. It appears to me that wort provides plenty of nutrients for the yeast. I am getting quick fermentations with my beer. I would say about 72 hours of a good hard fermentation. I don't get a huge krausen, like I see some people post pics of and maybe that is because of lack of water minerals, but I don't detect any kind of yeast stress.

I have been contemplating sending a RO sample off to ward labs. Just to see how clean the water really is.
BTW I have a culligan water system installed and they will do a water analysis for free, I am just worried of getting a biased report back.

Some day I will play with mineral additions. Until then If it ain't broke don't fix it.

One more thing, my kettle is plumbed with copper.

[Thirsty Mallard]

I would say pick up a few gallons of drinking water (not RO) and make a batch and let us know the difference, if any.

I am also perplexed by this, and you have all the backing to say that you are doing everything right, and the results are just fine. I would be very interested for you to a side by side and report back.

[terdsbrew53]

I actually plan to do that experiment.I'm going to take brewing water from the brewpub and RO and brew 2 of the exact same beers,side by side in my fridge to ferment and do everything the same. Then maybe send some to the show for side by side blind evaluation hopefully with jamil present.I find it interesting that everyone knows not to use RO but no one has good proveable reasons for this except that they heard you shouldn't. I never would have used it if I didn't start doing so before I knew better but know I got to find out the details.