David, I have been homebrewing for a while now, and have gradually transitioned from beer kits to all grain brewing on the GF. All your videos are a great help to me (I have watched the most of them) and I thank you for your commitment to providing valuable advice, tips and recommendations to the homebrewing world. I used a GH/KH Aquarium Test Kit myself and it done the business. It give me the answers that I needed and only for a few Euros. Much appreciated. Thank you, keep up the good work, and Sláinte from Ireland.
Hi Ian, great that you are finding my content useful and helpful :) Yes this method works well and for sure is very economic, especially compared to many other crazy priced solutions!
Thanks David, Amazon had the same test kit for $10.25. I promptly ordered. Here in the USA the only other option, than you have mentioned, is to send a water sample to a lab, It is $50.00 for each test. This saves a ton of money. Thanks for sharing, Cheers, Joe
Thanks David, The Class of David Heath are slowly turning Pro with all the information you give out. Really enjoying your videos - looking forward to the next one.
Thanks David - on the 80/20 principle that 80% of benefit will come from 20% of effort, I think this will get brewers 80% there! I've used the kits for total alkalinity before so will try the combined one. As for the negative feedback...1% of people are mean. If negative feedback has no message to give context I think you can safely ignore it.
All good points Gary. On the negative feedback, I am just keen to know what its about! I seldom get anything but praise but it would be nice to know why some are giving a thumbs down, no matter how small they are :)
Thank you David for posting this method of water testing. Although I wish there also was a budget way to determine sulfate to chloride ratio as this has a great impact on beer flavour as well.
I'm not sure why I wouldn't like this, the only thing I'd say was that this feels like I'm sitting through a presentation when I don't see a typical vlog style video that everyone else seems to be doing. Regardless, this was awesome! I've been meaning to start looking into my water for the beer and this would be a great way to start.
Thanks Karan. I prefer this type of style compared to a video of someone talking on camera. It's not only easier to teach people from but It's also good to break the mold!
A timely release David. I have had little success in establishing a profile of my local water and was seriously considering sending a sample off for professional analysis. Might take a trip down to my local aquarium shop instead. Thanks for another very informative video.
A quick question if I could David. I have purchased the kit and completed the tests. I have an old (2012) water report which I consider inaccurate. With regards inputting the figures into the "detailed water test and blending" section of the calculator, would I be better off leaving the values for Na, SO4, Cl and HCO3 blank and just use the values generated from the test kit?
Thanks David, just moving into water treatment, and have got my self a good pH meter. Like the tip for the kits in this video, and spreadsheet. Thanks again.
Thanks. Funny thing is I have aquariums (and test GH, KH, pH, etc every month or so) but would have never tough about using my fish things for brewing!
Don't listen to the idiots. Your videos are fantastic! New brewer here with an interest in planted fish tanks, I can't believe someone's punting a water test kit at 100 euros! API's kits are fantastic value for regular testing, NT labs produces a comprehensive kit currently going for £23 on ebay (wee bottles though, also API have a better rep for accuracy)
This is a brilliant tip, I am looking at getting into water chemistry and was considering getting a water report but think I will do what you have suggested, thank you. Water chemistry is quite hard for me to get my head around.
very interesting David thanks, on the subject of water treatment have you ever used RO water for brewing adding what you need? I would like to try this but it's a little over my head.
Very much enjoyed this ... I have been putting off buying the mentioned commercial kit for some time now and am excited to go buy a GH/KH kit tomorrow instead. Now, anyone know a cheap way to complete the water picture - Sodium, Chloride and Sulphate levels?
Good video as always. I must confess it put me right to sleep 😴. Water is important and is not more complex than grains. BeerSmith can also assist with water adjustments.
Some of the down votes might be due to the length of the intro. RUclips isn't television and is recommended to get to contextual content as quick as possible and to keep intros under 4 seconds. I've not long started into water chemistry so thanks for this. It's a very nice way to get introduced to it.
Thanks for the feedback. Its a hard thing to decide on because I get so many people say they love the intro. In many ways I think if people enjoy the video but not the 20 second intro that should not mean they give it a thumbs down. Whenever I get a reason for a thumbs down (not often) I get reasons that are often strange. For example, one guy loved the video content but thought the title was “clickbait” so he gave it a thumbs down. I have a 99% plus like rate, you cannot please all but I will continue to try!
@@DavidHeathHomebrew Yes, I agree. I also like the intro, but as I watch most of your videos I skip it now. Probably not the thing most negative likes are about though. Keep it, I'm a fan :-)
I used to be in the aquarium hobby, as a result I know a lot about water parameters in general, because I liked to breed difficult fish which also helped fund my hobby. I only ever used these types of kits, believe me you don't need to spend an arm and leg for testing beer water, aquariums are far more demanding than brewing in this regard. That said I'm new to brewing and have only started to look at water chemistry for brewing, I am surprised at the cost of some of these water testing units for brewing.
Hi David - as always great informative video - I live in Vietnam and water is an issue I have been trying to get my head around so this is a great starter for me, one question though I cannot seem to get the link for Braukaiser to work and googling dead ends as well. Is there an updated link per chance? Cheers Jim
Thanks Jim, glad you found it useful. I just checked the link and it worked for me. It simply downloads a speadsheet for you to use, not a webpage. So check your downloads folder :)
I thank you for taking the time to put together an interesting and money saving method for a dry and trying topic...Well Done! After all, some of us are OK with "better than we're doing now...." Do you think there might be some other inexpensive water test kits that would contribute to a better "ballpark" water chemistry baseline (in addition to the one you mentioned)?
I'm just about to push the button and buy a 3 stage reverse osmosis system for £35. Takes the mineral content down to virtually zero and you then add the various additions to get to the beer style you need. No more testing water etc
Hi David . I live in Scotland which has soft water which seems to produce off flavors in my beer. I would be interested to know how soft water effects the taste. lots of posts go on about hard water.
Hi Norman. It is not really about hard or soft water it is about the chemical balance of the water. These are the areas to look at to balance things out for the beer style.
Hi David, can you please clarify, because I see conflicting descriptions on this and much discussion, is the 5.2-5.4 pH range that you quote the pH of the hot mash or the mash at 20oC?
This ph will vary from style to style but this is pre prediction for the mash at the start. You will need to plan it in advance using brun water or similar.
Hi David. Any idea why there is such a big difference between BeerSmith 3 water models and Brunwater. They are both pretty similar in BeerSmith until you do the acid additions. BeerSmith doesn’t drop nearly as much as BnW. This is in the BeerSmith app. Any idea which is more accurate? Have a pH meter on back order but don’t have one yet so rely on the app. Live in Africa so they are hard to come by. Thanks
Hi Dale, all these calculators use different formulations for estimation. I found Beersmith to be a little hit and miss. I now use Brewfather for all calculations and find it to be the best overall solution.
Please can you explain at what point in the mash process you do this testing. Yesterday after watching your video I bought one of these kits and then tried to test the mash water 30 mins in to making an imperial stout but the liquid was so dark I could not see any colour change ! when do you usually test your water I'm guessing should have been earlier !
Hi, yes thats right :) This method when followed fully, is to be used before you get started with the mash. You can do it the day before even. The use of the calculator linked allows you to calculate your mash ph before the brew. Perhaps rewatch that part of the video :)
There are different brands in different markets. I will say avoid the cheap stuff and go for something from a brand that you can trust, it will serve you longer and more accurately than buying something cheap.
Great video, David! I know this is probably a long shot, but «who dares, wins», right? I was wondering if you would be willing to sell me some kveik on short notice as I’ve finally received my Grainfather conical and really want to try this type of yeast with my new temperature controlled baby! We have a friend in common who can vouch for me, John Arne, if that helps. As I understand it, we live in the same area. I will of course understand if you don’t wish to grant such a forward request,. I’ll come back for more of your excellent brewing content either way. Kind regards, Tommy
Tyvm for the video, will be testing my water in my next batch. I bought a kit online and im wondering. Do I count the drops from colourless to last colour or from the ‘stable’ first colour to the last ‘colour’? It says on my kit, for instance, that the KH will go from violet to yellow, but it becomes violet after let’s say, 4 drops. Do I count the 4 or do I start counting at violet and how many drops to get to yellow? 🤓 Is it the number of drops from transparent-yellow or violet-yellow?
Brilliant vid, thank you. Could you just confirm (or not) that the KH ppm result I get with this test is the same as Total alkalinity as CaCO3 please? I've been looking all over at water treatment and got myself completely confused in the process.
would anyone have the brew water Excel spreadsheet available to download? when I click on the link it doesn't open, same when I search for it on google. Thanks in advance
David, I have been homebrewing for a while now, and have gradually transitioned from beer kits to all grain brewing on the GF. All your videos are a great help to me (I have watched the most of them) and I thank you for your commitment to providing valuable advice, tips and recommendations to the homebrewing world. I used a GH/KH Aquarium Test Kit myself and it done the business. It give me the answers that I needed and only for a few Euros. Much appreciated. Thank you, keep up the good work, and Sláinte from Ireland.
Also, thanks for the link to the Water Profile Calculator spread sheet. It's a great tool.
Hi Ian, great that you are finding my content useful and helpful :) Yes this method works well and for sure is very economic, especially compared to many other crazy priced solutions!
Still catching up with all your brilliant vids David. Keep them rolling Sir!
Many thanks Phil, yes there are a large number of them out there, that is for sure.
Thanks David, Amazon had the same test kit for $10.25. I promptly ordered. Here in the USA the only other option, than you have mentioned, is to send a water sample to a lab, It is $50.00 for each test. This saves a ton of money. Thanks for sharing, Cheers, Joe
Great, cheers Joe.
My local pool supply store does free water testing. They printed out everything that was measured on this video for me, cheers.
Thanks David, The Class of David Heath are slowly turning Pro with all the information you give out. Really enjoying your videos - looking forward to the next one.
Thanks Lee, much appreciated :)
Thanks David - on the 80/20 principle that 80% of benefit will come from 20% of effort, I think this will get brewers 80% there! I've used the kits for total alkalinity before so will try the combined one. As for the negative feedback...1% of people are mean. If negative feedback has no message to give context I think you can safely ignore it.
All good points Gary. On the negative feedback, I am just keen to know what its about! I seldom get anything but praise but it would be nice to know why some are giving a thumbs down, no matter how small they are :)
Thank you David for posting this method of water testing. Although I wish there also was a budget way to determine sulfate to chloride ratio as this has a great impact on beer flavour as well.
Yes indeed. Its not a full perfect method but its pretty good all the same.
@@DavidHeathHomebrew have you found anything similar to assess the sulfate and chloride levels?
Hi Blake, no sadly not
I'm not sure why I wouldn't like this, the only thing I'd say was that this feels like I'm sitting through a presentation when I don't see a typical vlog style video that everyone else seems to be doing.
Regardless, this was awesome! I've been meaning to start looking into my water for the beer and this would be a great way to start.
Thanks Karan. I prefer this type of style compared to a video of someone talking on camera. It's not only easier to teach people from but It's also good to break the mold!
Cool! Water quality and adjustment is the next thing on my list about understanding beer brewing.
Thanks!
Great, thank you :)
Great vid thanks, would ‘nt worry about the 1 percenters, keep doing what you are doing
Thanks Darren, much appreciated.
A timely release David. I have had little success in establishing a profile of my local water and was seriously considering sending a sample off for professional analysis. Might take a trip down to my local aquarium shop instead. Thanks for another very informative video.
Thanks Peter. I would advise against these reports for the reasons mentioned in my video. Hope you get better results using the budget method :)
A quick question if I could David. I have purchased the kit and completed the tests. I have an old (2012) water report which I consider inaccurate. With regards inputting the figures into the "detailed water test and blending" section of the calculator, would I be better off leaving the values for Na, SO4, Cl and HCO3 blank and just use the values generated from the test kit?
Yes, I would blank those. For many these water reports are inaccurate on day one.
Damn this is a great resource and video, I appreciate your videos
Cheers, great to hear 🍻🍻🍻
Thanks David, just moving into water treatment, and have got my self a good pH meter. Like the tip for the kits in this video, and spreadsheet.
Thanks again.
Great :)
Thanks. Funny thing is I have aquariums (and test GH, KH, pH, etc every month or so) but would have never tough about using my fish things for brewing!
Glad that you found it useful :)
I stand my fermenter in a tub of water and heat with a fish tank heater.
Yes, this works nicely.
Great content as always David. Water treatment is the least sexy aspect of brewing but one which ultimately I'd like to master. Cheers!
Thanks Colin, yes it certainly is!!
Excellent video David. I really appreciate the information that you provide.
Great, thank you Greg :)
Thank you David. I've just started adjusting my brewing water and this video will help greatly.
Thanks Andy, thats great to hear :)
Don't listen to the idiots. Your videos are fantastic! New brewer here with an interest in planted fish tanks, I can't believe someone's punting a water test kit at 100 euros! API's kits are fantastic value for regular testing, NT labs produces a comprehensive kit currently going for £23 on ebay (wee bottles though, also API have a better rep for accuracy)
Many thank for the support :) Yes I please the 99%. There is always the odd toxic keyboard warrior, thats the internet for you :p
This is a brilliant tip, I am looking at getting into water chemistry and was considering getting a water report but think I will do what you have suggested, thank you. Water chemistry is quite hard for me to get my head around.
Thanks Matt. Its the most boring topic that exists in homebrew, thats for sure :)
Hi David, I saw a link to this video in a recent video of you. Very good tip, thanks a lot !
Great, glad you found it useful Chris.
Been wondering how to test my water without sending it to a lab:) Very useful video and I will try this out.
Great, hope you enjoy the end resullts :)
very interesting David thanks, on the subject of water treatment have you ever used RO water for brewing adding what you need? I would like to try this but it's a little over my head.
Personally no but you will find guides online I am sure for this method.
Very much enjoyed this ... I have been putting off buying the mentioned commercial kit for some time now and am excited to go buy a GH/KH kit tomorrow instead. Now, anyone know a cheap way to complete the water picture - Sodium, Chloride and Sulphate levels?
Great to hear. I wish I could help with the others but sadly not.
Excellent video, thanks David.
Thanks Eve. I am glad you found it useful :)
Thanks David. Just ordered a kit of Amazon - under £10.
Great, yes the price is good on these :)
Very useful. Thank you
Great to hear, much appreciated 🍻🍻😎
Good video as always. I must confess it put me right to sleep 😴. Water is important and is not more complex than grains. BeerSmith can also assist with water adjustments.
Yes, it really is a boring topic for sure that is usually over wrapped in science.
did buy a kit to test the water.
Great, hope you find this budget method useful Michael.
Thanks for sharing this method for watter analisys.
Great, glad you found it useful :)
Some of the down votes might be due to the length of the intro. RUclips isn't television and is recommended to get to contextual content as quick as possible and to keep intros under 4 seconds.
I've not long started into water chemistry so thanks for this. It's a very nice way to get introduced to it.
Thanks for the feedback there, much appreciated :)
I agree, I always skip the first 20 sec to get to the content. But I love your stuff David
Thanks for the feedback. Its a hard thing to decide on because I get so many people say they love the intro. In many ways I think if people enjoy the video but not the 20 second intro that should not mean they give it a thumbs down. Whenever I get a reason for a thumbs down (not often) I get reasons that are often strange. For example, one guy loved the video content but thought the title was “clickbait” so he gave it a thumbs down. I have a 99% plus like rate, you cannot please all but I will continue to try!
@@DavidHeathHomebrew Yes, I agree. I also like the intro, but as I watch most of your videos I skip it now. Probably not the thing most negative likes are about though. Keep it, I'm a fan :-)
Thanks Stefan, much appreciated :)
Thanks as always David, useful video
Great to hear, thanks for the feedback.
I used to be in the aquarium hobby, as a result I know a lot about water parameters in general, because I liked to breed difficult fish which also helped fund my hobby. I only ever used these types of kits, believe me you don't need to spend an arm and leg for testing beer water, aquariums are far more demanding than brewing in this regard. That said I'm new to brewing and have only started to look at water chemistry for brewing, I am surprised at the cost of some of these water testing units for brewing.
Yes it is crazy Leaf, for sure. Hopefully this more realistically priced method will serve you well.
quite helpful videos ... thanks David
Great to hear, thank you :)
Awesome video David very interesting
Many thanks :)
great video water is important for brewing
Sure is :)
Hey David, any update on how to use this information? Are there newer online sites on which we can use dKH and dGH values?
Hi Louis, This video is some years old but it still works. Ive not looked further personally.
Hi David - as always great informative video - I live in Vietnam and water is an issue I have been trying to get my head around so this is a great starter for me, one question though I cannot seem to get the link for Braukaiser to work and googling dead ends as well. Is there an updated link per chance?
Cheers Jim
Thanks Jim, glad you found it useful. I just checked the link and it worked for me. It simply downloads a speadsheet for you to use, not a webpage. So check your downloads folder :)
@@DavidHeathHomebrew OMG I am so retarded lol its there thanks mate.... :-)
James Bouffier No problem :) I guess you were expecting a webpage, understandable.
Great video David, thank you!
Glad you found it useful, many thanks for the feedback.
This is great ...love your videos. Just to make sure I'm doing this right it seems this doesn't test for sodium, sulfate, or chloride correct?
Thank you. Yes it is not testing for everything but it should be sufficient unless you have extreme water.
Terrific David thank you. Planning this weekend to brew your Belgian Dubbel - what mash ph should I aim for please? I'm thinking 5.4 cheers
Yes from 5.4-5.5 max would work very well.
A great tip! I actually have these kits as I have an aquarium
Thank you , glad you found it useful. Very handy that you have the kit already :)
Again a great video. Thank you 👍🏻
Great to hear, thank you.
I thank you for taking the time to put together an interesting and money saving method for a dry and trying topic...Well Done! After all, some of us are OK with "better than we're doing now...." Do you think there might be some other inexpensive water test kits that would contribute to a better "ballpark" water chemistry baseline (in addition to the one you mentioned)?
Hi, thank you :) I wish there was. Brewing water testing is not a competative market and is very overpriced.
I'm just about to push the button and buy a 3 stage reverse osmosis system for £35. Takes the mineral content down to virtually zero and you then add the various additions to get to the beer style you need. No more testing water etc
Yep - Well done - starting from zero. That makes it very repeatable.
Yes, this is a common method used by breweries to allow them to build the water for any beer style.
Hi David . I live in Scotland which has soft water which seems to produce off flavors in my beer. I would be interested to know how soft water effects the taste. lots of posts go on about hard water.
Hi Norman. It is not really about hard or soft water it is about the chemical balance of the water. These are the areas to look at to balance things out for the beer style.
Hi David, can you please clarify, because I see conflicting descriptions on this and much discussion, is the 5.2-5.4 pH range that you quote the pH of the hot mash or the mash at 20oC?
This ph will vary from style to style but this is pre prediction for the mash at the start. You will need to plan it in advance using brun water or similar.
Hi David. Any idea why there is such a big difference between BeerSmith 3 water models and Brunwater. They are both pretty similar in BeerSmith until you do the acid additions. BeerSmith doesn’t drop nearly as much as BnW. This is in the BeerSmith app. Any idea which is more accurate? Have a pH meter on back order but don’t have one yet so rely on the app. Live in Africa so they are hard to come by. Thanks
Hi Dale, all these calculators use different formulations for estimation. I found Beersmith to be a little hit and miss. I now use Brewfather for all calculations and find it to be the best overall solution.
Hello. What about chlorides and sulfates? How do I check the chlorides and sulfates content of my tap water?
Your water company might be able to help there.
Thanks - interesting. Where did you get those in Norway?
Nevermind heard it again and looked it up on ebay :-)
.
Please can you explain at what point in the mash process you do this testing. Yesterday after watching your video I bought one of these kits and then tried to test the mash water 30 mins in to making an imperial stout but the liquid was so dark I could not see any colour change ! when do you usually test your water I'm guessing should have been earlier !
Hi, yes thats right :) This method when followed fully, is to be used before you get started with the mash. You can do it the day before even. The use of the calculator linked allows you to calculate your mash ph before the brew. Perhaps rewatch that part of the video :)
I brew my beer with ro water, i pay 25 cents a gallon, and i use 5.2 Stabilizer
So do i have to all of this testing
Good question. Nobody has to do this but if you do then you can adjust to your water to suit what you are looking for from different beer styles.
The link no longer works, any suggestion?
I just checked it and it works for me. Here it is:-
braukaiser.com/documents/Kaiser_water_calculator.xls
@@DavidHeathHomebrew Got it! My browser was blocking it. Thank you!
Hey David. Is there a pH meter you would recommend please?
There are different brands in different markets. I will say avoid the cheap stuff and go for something from a brand that you can trust, it will serve you longer and more accurately than buying something cheap.
Great video, David! I know this is probably a long shot, but «who dares, wins», right? I was wondering if you would be willing to sell me some kveik on short notice as I’ve finally received my Grainfather conical and really want to try this type of yeast with my new temperature controlled baby! We have a friend in common who can vouch for me, John Arne, if that helps. As I understand it, we live in the same area. I will of course understand if you don’t wish to grant such a forward request,. I’ll come back for more of your excellent brewing content either way. Kind regards, Tommy
Hi, I live in Godvik near Bergen. What about you?
David Heath I live in Nipedalen, so we live pretty close to one another :)
Ok, perhaps remind me next week?
David Heath Will do! Thank you very much!
:)
Tyvm for the video, will be testing my water in my next batch. I bought a kit online and im wondering. Do I count the drops from colourless to last colour or from the ‘stable’ first colour to the last ‘colour’? It says on my kit, for instance, that the KH will go from violet to yellow, but it becomes violet after let’s say, 4 drops. Do I count the 4 or do I start counting at violet and how many drops to get to yellow? 🤓
Is it the number of drops from transparent-yellow or violet-yellow?
I showed how the one I usually use reacts but I guess the kits can vary. Best to follow the kit you use directions on this.
Brilliant vid, thank you. Could you just confirm (or not) that the KH ppm result I get with this test is the same as Total alkalinity as CaCO3 please? I've been looking all over at water treatment and got myself completely confused in the process.
Thank you. Yes they are all the same thing just expressed differently, for the fun of it :p
@@DavidHeathHomebrew Thanks for the reply, that makes things a lot clearer for me :)
@@Jim-nh6go Great to hear Jim :)
is there a way to work out the chloride, sulfate and sodium too?
Check out testing kits designed for swimming pools.
Hi🙏 sir this information is good and learning and gaining something from you 🙏 Thanks and Regards.,🙏
Many thanks Suri :)
Thanks for the vid. If you have a link in your video, can you please put it in your comments for us to click on. Thanks again.
Ops I had a feeling that I had forgotten something! Sorry about that, its added to the description now. Thanks for letting me know.:)
would anyone have the brew water Excel spreadsheet available to download? when I click on the link it doesn't open, same when I search for it on google. Thanks in advance
Have you tried another browser?
@@DavidHeathHomebrew all good thanks
Cheers