Buxton spring water

[cheshirehomebrew]

has anyone used buxton spring water in any of their brews, if yes did it make a difference, if you wouldnt why wouldnt you use this water (cost aside).

The brews i tend to do are IPA's and P.A.'s, however i really want to get a crack on with a pilsner style lager ready for summer but its not been cold enough for that yet.

your thoughts and opinions please !

ta

 

[Motorhomebrew]

I dunno about Buxton but I use any bottled water from Asda or aldi for example but I get good results from bottled water

 

[Hops_and_Dreams]

I use Sainsbury's basics water as it saves me having to measure it out or treat my very hard tap water and get good results too. Never used tap water to compare it to though.

 

[MyQul]

If your going make a Pilsner unless your going to treat your water I'd definatley use bottled water as Pilsners need really soft water of 30ppm bicarbonate or less. I used bottled water ( Eden Falls from Asda) for the first time today to make a bitter and that has a bacorbonate of 30 ppm

 

[VillageBrew]

In my less mature brewing attempts (with kits) I have simply stuck in tap water ('corporation pop' as my gran used to say). First BIAB coming up so I've splashed out on Lidl's basic spring water. Our tap water is harder than granite!

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

Thanks all, My Quil, the buxton brewery makes a czech style lager which tastes really nice, a lot better than the local brews by another micro brewery sold in the same pub.

I might contact them to see if they treat their water, but as the water up there is world famous I cant see why they would bother.

Oh just re-read my original post, forgot to say buxton is about half an hour from me so am not averse to going over and filling up a 25 litre aquaroll with the spring water to use for a beer next time.

It comes out from a fountain in the middle of town...

 

[TartanSpecial]

Buxon water is actually quite hard...bicarbonate content 248ppm looking at the ocado site. Not saying the finished beer won;t taste good, but if I was doing a pilsner I might go for Waitrose essentials bottled water..it has the lowest carbonate content of any of the shop waters I've see at only 39ppm bicarbonate. It comes from the Stretton valley

 

[brumbrew]

I've looked into water chemistry and understand that some brews require additions of chemicals to get the desired water.

But I've always been told that my water here in brum is a.Ok so I admit I've used tap water in all my brews.

I did do a wine kit with bottled water and saw no difference.

I'm under the assumption that severn Trent get our water from local reservoirs and some from the Brecon beacons. (I'm surrounded by sandstone and quartz minerals.

Anyone know otherwise? As I'd like to test this?

 

[dad_of_jon]

I've looked into water chemistry and understand that some brews require additions of chemicals to get the desired water.

But I've always been told that my water here in brum is a.Ok so I admit I've used tap water in all my brews.

I did do a wine kit with bottled water and saw no difference.

I'm under the assumption that severn Trent get our water from local reservoirs and some from the Brecon beacons. (I'm surrounded by sandstone and quartz minerals.

Anyone know otherwise? As I'd like to test this?

our water comes from the crai reservoir apparently and was nice till they changed the treatment of it. I suspect chlorine was replaced with Chloramine

as boiling the water still leave a film on cups of tea. So no way am I brewing with that! - Alothough others use a campden tablet to sort it I use Tesco value bottled water. The only disadvantage? - having to visit tesco's :grin:

 

[terrym]

I've looked into water chemistry and understand that some brews require additions of chemicals to get the desired water.

But I've always been told that my water here in brum is a.Ok so I admit I've used tap water in all my brews.

I did do a wine kit with bottled water and saw no difference.

I'm under the assumption that severn Trent get our water from local reservoirs and some from the Brecon beacons. (I'm surrounded by sandstone and quartz minerals.

Anyone know otherwise? As I'd like to test this?

Most water companies provide an analysis of the water they supply to your property, and I'm sure ST is no exception. It will probably be post code driven.
So suggest you give it a try. :thumb:

 

[VillageBrew]

Just checked Lidl's still spring water - 31ppm bicarbonate. Not the lowest, but better than my previous tap water efforts.

 

[Sutty]

Most water companies provide an analysis of the water they supply to your property, and I'm sure ST is no exception. It will probably be post code driven.
So suggest you give it a try. :thumb:

United utilities certainly does, and its quite a detailed analysis though not always in the units you would want. Mine comes from Harrop Edge reservoir and is Very soft - so I have supplemented with gypsum and magnesium suphate, with some calculations of how much to add to get appropriate concentrations compared to well known brewing areas as per John Palmer's book.

 

[duncans]

As mentioned, you want pretty soft, mineral free water for pilsners. If you can't get the mash pH down to below 5.8 or better 5.5 with your chosen water then add citric acid to get the pH down.

If you don't measure pH just use the lowest hardness (calcium) and lowest alkalinity (carbonate) water you can find in the supermarket.

For the hoppier beers like pale ales then high sulphates are needed with low alkalinity, so hard as possible. If you can't measure pH, boil the water and decant away from the pile of salt that will form when the water cools, this will reduce alkalinity and give you a better mash. Your local water could be good for this.

Or of course just go for it with any old water. You'll just have a very slight harsher note from high hop bitterness or a touch of tannin from the grains, at worst if its wrong. Questionable if people would notice.

 

[W0nderW0man]

If your going make a Pilsner unless your going to treat your water I'd definatley use bottled water as Pilsners need really soft water of 30ppm bicarbonate or less. I used bottled water ( Eden Falls from Asda) for the first time today to make a bitter and that has a bacorbonate of 30 ppm

I get the bottled water from iceland but it has 303 bicarbonates!! So for my pilsner (first one and in the FV) I diluted it with RO-DI.

 

[W0nderW0man]

I have seen some pils recipes using acid malt, which I guess would help with the PH. How do you know how much of that you should use? And would it make up for bicarbonate and calcium levels?

 

[W0nderW0man]

As mentioned, you want pretty soft, mineral free water for pilsners. If you can't get the mash pH down to below 5.8 or better 5.5 with your chosen water then add citric acid to get the pH down.

If you don't measure pH just use the lowest hardness (calcium) and lowest alkalinity (carbonate) water you can find in the supermarket.

For the hoppier beers like pale ales then high sulphates are needed with low alkalinity, so hard as possible. If you can't measure pH, boil the water and decant away from the pile of salt that will form when the water cools, this will reduce alkalinity and give you a better mash. Your local water could be good for this.

Or of course just go for it with any old water. You'll just have a very slight harsher note from high hop bitterness or a touch of tannin from the grains, at worst if its wrong. Questionable if people would notice.

That's what I heard as well, that it may not even noticeable. For my last brew, the amber lager Märzen, which is quite malty, I just used the Iceland water with its high bicarbonates and it is a very fine beer, even my dad liked it. Hence, with the current light pilsner I decided to not worry too much and used the same water, however, as I had some RO-DI hanging about from the fish tank, I substituted about 50 % with that. I haven't measure my DI for a while so it may not be as clean as it ought to be, but like I said, I decided not to worry too much and just see what happens. hopefully it will be alright!

 

[MyQul]

I get the bottled water from iceland but it has 303 bicarbonates!! So for my pilsner (first one and in the FV) I diluted it with RO-DI.

Think you shouldn't have bothered buying the iceland water as 303ppm is hard as granite , in fact that's harder than my London tap water at 188ppm. If it was me I would have went elsewhere to buy my bottled water. That iceland stuff must taste aweful

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

Our tap water has a ppm of 31.2 i use a digital meter i have for my Koi pond to test it.Interesting link below.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge

 

[W0nderW0man]

Think you shouldn't have bothered buying the iceland water as 303ppm is hard as granite , in fact that's harder than my London tap water at 188ppm. If it was me I would have went elsewhere to buy my bottled water. That iceland stuff must taste aweful

Well I looked at our tap water and it states ANyTHIng else but Magnesium and bicarbonates. But the calcium is 103 and the iceland water has 55 calcium, so I thought it would be alright. The beer tastes fine either way...!

I might get other water in the future, but I am also waiting to get a proper water analysis from Southern Water, not sure it will include bicarbonates and magnesium though as the one I saw was 4 pages long.

 

[W0nderW0man]

Our tap water has a ppm of 31.2 i use a digital meter i have for my Koi pond to test it.Interesting link below.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge

Do you measure it with a normal tdi meter? I've got one of those and could check my water myself then. But that's not the bicarbonates, is it?