Spotless water

[PeeBee]

Just an observation ...

Do you know you're in the UK's Beer/Ale Brewing Central in Derby? Going back to 17th Century (1600s) that is, before Burton "up-river" (Trent that is) stole the limelight (the Trent Navigation got extended). Though Burton probably used barley from Derby. Something I was unaware of all the time I lived there.

Look about you (though the fields might have all been harvested by now). Most fields in S. Derbyshire are still barley crops (and most, if not all, destined for Burton malthouses). The legacy still hangs on. When I moved from Derby, I found it odd the fields in the new areas were full of ... wheat!.



Here's a bit 'bout it (by a guy in Canada!). Links to lots more too:

https://abetterbeerblog427.com/2017/11/ ... he-son-of/

[PeeBee]

... you'd be better off driving a few (five or ten?) miles Ilkeston way to a mate's house where the water is piped direct from the High Peak Derwent Reservoirs ...

Ah! things might have changed! They removed all those metal bulbous things in the fields (to do with the water pipe) before I left. Perhaps my then water changed? You'll have to check; you might have a longer drive to get High Peak water? You can lookup my old postcode (DE72 3SL) on ST's website ... the water profile they publish should be different from yours?

[cc986]

Yes, I've settled on spotless because the local water was just too unpredictable. I was surprised to hear that Dancing Duck brewery (another Derby brewery) use tap water but they said that they test it regularly to adjust it and probably have better means of doing that than I do. I did consider buying from Buxton water company but they don't supply it in 5 litre bottles so it would have meant buying a lot of small plastic bottles.

I just noticed on the Malt Miller website that they also sell 500g packets of DWB (I only bought a 100g packet) and the information on the 500g provides a lot more detail and says its a formulated blend to adjust the calcium levels and add chloride. They also provide a link to this document: https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/wp-conte ... S-2018.pdf

That doc says that it adds sulphate and chloride. So that's calcium, sulphate and chloride, but no magnesium or anything else.

Anyway, I've decided not to use it anymore as it seems difficult to balance things out.

[cc986]

Just an observation ...

Do you know you're in the UK's Beer/Ale Brewing Central in Derby? Going back to 17th Century (1600s) that is, before Burton "up-river" (Trent that is) stole the limelight (the Trent Navigation got extended). Though Burton probably used barley from Derby. Something I was unaware of all the time I lived there.

Look about you (though the fields might have all been harvested by now). Most fields in S. Derbyshire are still barley crops (and most, if not all, destined for Burton malthouses). The legacy still hangs on. When I moved from Derby, I found it odd the fields in the new areas were full of ... wheat!.



Here's a bit 'bout it (by a guy in Canada!). Links to lots more too:

https://abetterbeerblog427.com/2017/11/ ... he-son-of/

Interesting - I haven't come across that blog before. Will have to sit down with a beer and have a read through. Fortunately, Derby is still a good place to get a proper pint (I'm not a fan of murky, citrussy beer), although since my local (The Rowditch) closed down I sometimes find myself getting on the x38 bus to Burton where you can still find some really great traditional boozers.

[WallyBrew]

They also provide a link to this document: https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/wp-conte ... S-2018.pdf

and it contains this

9g of DWB per hl of your brew-length increases calcium levels by 15.6 mg/litre (ppm) and
increases chloride levels by 15.4 mg/litre (ppm) and sulphate levels by 32.1 mg/litre
(ppm)

Without going through the calculations once again that is as unbalanced as in the document I alluded to in my previous post.

I live in hope that one day someone at Murphy and Son will go through this and sort it out.

[PeeBee]

Ah! things might have changed! ...

Yes, they have! Couldn't help having a look! Gowr, the Severn-Trent website ain't half bad ... eventually found water quality for that DE72 3SL postcode ... puts it in "Long Eaton". Described as "Moderately Hard" ... No Calcium analysis, values jump about all over shop, (sounds like yours?). Blimey, it might have been like that 40 year ago? We didn't pay water a lot of attention back then. Those "bulbous things" in the fields I knew were something to do with an underground aqueduct, probably hadn't been used for eons.

I suppose it is 40 years since I lived there. Things don't stand still. You won't be driving anywhere local for High Peak water (Dark Peak, whatever ... off the gritstone moors I mean).



If you go to Burton-on-Trent do drop-in at Fauld Crater (by Tutbury). Burton-on-Trent is famous for the gypsum in the beer, Fauld Crater is the result of digging out the gypsum for other uses, filling the resulting caverns with high explosives (for storage), then giving the maintenance guys steel hammers to whack things with. Interesting very loosely connected beer-brewing story.

[cc986]

If you go to Burton-on-Trent do drop-in at Fauld Crater (by Tutbury). Burton-on-Trent is famous for the gypsum in the beer, Fauld Crater is the result of digging out the gypsum for other uses, filling the resulting caverns with high explosives (for storage), then giving the maintenance guys steel hammers to whack things with. Interesting very loosely connected beer-brewing story.
[/quote]

Back in the late 70's I was an apprentice joiner at a builders firm based between Tutbury and Burton. I remember going to the crater once to do some work for a company or organisation based there. I can't remember who they were but I remember that one day they carried out an experiment by mixing gases together to produce an explosion. Thankfully, it was not on the scale of the big explosion during ww2!

[PeeBee]

Here's a link to "Eric's" water essay he started last year:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=84151

I barged in near the end concerning S. Derbyshire brewing and water. The entire thread can be interesting if you haven't seen it before. (And I manage to insert a bit about Fauld Crater!).

[cc986]

Just to close this off in case anyone was wondering what Brewfather's response would be to my question about how they determined the mineral content in DWB, they did eventually reply via their support email address with the simple comment "it is based on the official documents on their website". I asked them to be a bit more specific, but they obviously couldn't be bothered because they never replied.