Water

Something that I didn't put too much thought into was the water I used.  I had been using spring water in casks from the supermarket.  I figured it was controlled, the chemical amounts were around the mark and there was no Chlorine in it.  However this was another cost to my brewday (only $10) and it was a pain in the arse having another thing to worry about organizing.

A friend of mine who lives in my area had been using his tap water however filtering it with a carbon filter to remove the chlorine with good success.  His beers were always on point and I figured it was time to try out filtering my own water.

I had a look on the net at our water profile provided from SA Water and punched it into Bru'n Water spread sheet.  It turned out that if I was just going to be brewing basic pales then I didn't really need to do too much.  It seems we are pretty lucky at least where I live in Adelaide and I only need to add a tiny bit of Gypsum (around 3g) to get my Ph on the mark.

For the carbon filter I had a look around and did some reading and with the low chlorine levels in our water I ended up just using one of these from Bunnings.  I know its cheap and shit and surely that means it won't work very well, but its similar to what my friend had been using so I thought fuck it.  It is also super easy to use, just connect it to the hose.  I make sure I run the water through nice and slow as it isn't rated for high flow.

So how has it turned out, well I think it has definitely made a difference.  I think my beers taste much cleaner and crisper, especially my Session IPA's which turned out amazing.

Once I move my tap around to the side of the house I will probably install a proper wall mounted filter where I can push the water through a bit quicker.  But for now it's doing the job!