water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink..

WATER QUALITY

thought i might put a little info on my experience on the basics.... water.

i have tried various techniques over the years to improve beers main ingredient and recently have got the method sussed. so here's a little information to all you brewers out there that might still be in the dark on the art of water treatment. To those who already know, sorry, I'm teaching you to suck eggs.

WHAT MAKES GOOD LIQUOR?

pH, if its too alkaline, the yeast doesn't like it.

by adding certain chemicals(salts) you can improve the acidity of the liquor and thereby get a better reaction when you add the yeast.

STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR WATER

1. cleanliness. make sure all the equipment is properly cleaned. Anything that will come into contact with the water during your treatment should be clean.
2. get a big pan,( 5 gallons) preferably stainless steel. Failing that an aluminium one( although this does transfer some aluminium chloride into the water during boiling. if you don't have either of those, then a big plastic bucket that you could convert into a "big kettle" by stripping an old kettle to bits and using the element in the bucket.
3. heat the water...
4. once boiling add some magnesium sulphate (Gypsum CaSO4), roughly 2 teaspoons full per 5 gallons.(optional, you can add 1 teaspoon of common salt to improve the flavour)
5. let it boil for 15 mins.
6. on the last 5 mins of the boil add 1 teaspoon of Epsom Salt (Magnesium sulphate,MgSO4). you do this once most of the calcium chloride has boiled out of the water( it's limescale) , otherwise the addition of Epsom Salts isn't as effective.
7. cool and store ready for the brew.

Start here...

so, here i am trying to figure out where to start.
history...
i've been an enthusiast of making crafted beer, wine and cider for many years. my father had a knack of making wine that kept the etheridge family well stocked and stupified for many a year. I looked upon the art of making wine a laborious process, collecting the flowers/fruit/vegetables! Many a time  the family were called into collecting in tubs dandylions, blackberries and all manor of fruit. he then performed his magic of transforming what looked to the uninformed eye to be flowers of the field into am inspired drop of plonk.

So here I am looking into taking an idea into something that may one day pay for a  tank of fuel or another mash tun.

Suffice to say, i enjoy beer. traditional ale, bitter, stout and when all else fails..... larger. I have 2 young children, i don't get out as much as i used to and beer in the pubs seems to suck my wallet dry evertime I do go out. So brewing my own beer seemed like the way to go.

I started with the kit beers many moons ago, when it seemed all you had to do was follow the instructions exactly, right? Well after many attempts at making the perfect brew I concluded that it was more effort than it was worth. So after a few years of trying to live with canned ale I have picked up the batton again and tried something new.
I tried partial mash, with a few good results. I always felt that i was nearly in control of what I was doing, a bit like an automatic car, I was driving, but not in the right gear. so a few months ago i risked all and pursuid a full mash brew.  The results were surprisingly good. So it has slowly started me off on a path that I hope one day may bring in a  few coppers. time will tell....