Tesco ashbeck alternative.

[chillipickle]

If you normally use ashbeck from tesco and can't find it from your usual store.Sainsburys have 5 ltrs of castle spring for £1.20 a bottle.

 

[foxbat]

Nope, we've had this before. This brand is deceptively quoting per 100ml instead of the standard per litre. This water is the same rebranded aqua-direct Staffordshire water that all the supermarkets resell under their own label. It is not the Cumbrian Ashbeck.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

No - per the label, it's from Cumbria. The 5l own-label in Sainsbury come from Cumbria, the 2l and 500ml bottles come from Lichfield (at least round here they do).

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Glad you’ve mentioned water cos you’ve reminded me about something.

I was in Morrisons a couple of weeks ago looking for some water. We normally use Tesco or Asda brand but we happened to be near a Morrisons so had a look at theirs. So glad I read the label!

I mostly do pale beers so this is no good for me - the bicarbonate level is quite high. I appreciate its good for darker beers perhaps but not great if you’re trying to make a lager etc. My own tap water has much less and that’s not the case with most of the other brands.

You can see the difference with my own tap water (top) and the Asda and Tesco ones, all below.

 

[foxbat]

No - per the label, it's from Cumbria. The 5l own-label in Sainsbury come from Cumbria, the 2l and 500ml bottles come from Lichfield (at least round here they do).

Yes that's right. I latched on to the 40ppm Ca / 160ppm alkalinity which matches Tesco Elmhurst from Staffordshire.

 

[foxbat]

Glad you’ve mentioned water cos you’ve reminded me about something.

I was in Morrisons a couple of weeks ago looking for some water. We normally use Tesco or Asda brand but we happened to be near a Morrisons so had a look at theirs. So glad I read the label!

I mostly do pale beers so this is no good for me - the bicarbonate level is quite high. I appreciate its good for darker beers perhaps but not great if you’re trying to make a lager etc. My own tap water has much less and that’s not the case with most of the other brands.

View attachment 59130
You can see the difference with my own tap water (top) and the Asda and Tesco ones, all below.

View attachment 59132

Your tap water's not bad actually. It would be quite easy to adjust those levels for any style.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Your tap water's not bad actually. It would be quite easy to adjust those levels for any style.

It makes me worried when I do a lager as the calcium and bicarbonate are so high. Wouldn't that affect it?

 

[foxbat]

It makes me worried when I do a lager as the calcium and bicarbonate are so high. Wouldn't that affect it?

I wouldn't be concerned about 100ppm calcium and I think you could bring down the 131ppm bicarbonate levels to get a reasonable predicted mash pH with lactic acid. I played around once with Brunwater to see if it was feasible for me to brew a pilsner with 160ppm bottled water plus lactic acid and came to the conclusion that I probably could and would not be able to taste the acid but I'd always pick Ashbeck in preference if I could get it (this was during a time when Ashbeck was sparse on the Tesco shelves).

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

I think you could bring down the 131ppm bicarbonate levels to get a reasonable predicted mash pH with lactic acid.

I haven't a clue how to do that, or how it works. Humph lol

 

[Braufather]

I haven't a clue how to do that, or how it works. Humph lol

acid malt in mash bill should do it. you wont need much with your water.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

acid malt in mash bill should do it. you wont need much with your water.

Thank you - going to look into this further.

 

[Braufather]

Yes that's right. I latched on to the 40ppm Ca / 160ppm alkalinity which matches Tesco Elmhurst from Staffordshire.

good spot. so thats 1600 ppm vs the 25 ppm of ashbec? different ball park.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

good spot. so thats 1600 ppm vs the 25 ppm of ashbec? different ball park.

No it's 160 versus 16. bicarbonate, not 1600. You've multiplied it by 100 instead of 10 lol

mg to ppm is pretty much a 1 to 1 conversion.

 

[Braufather]

sorry extra zero! meant 160 to 25 different ball park!

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

lol no worries - I'm still confused though. What's the 25 for? Sorry if I've missed something.

 

[Braufather]

25 is the level in ashbec- a lot lower so no need for bicarb adjustments for pale beers

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Ah I see! And I posted a picture of it - LMAO! I'll go back to bed