Ki-ri-n

Recipes 

I'm going to be brewing a RIS tomorrow based on the recipe here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/russian-unorthodox-imperial-stout-21163/

I read somewhere on here to use 1/2 Distilled, 1/2 tap H2O to get a highly ferment able wort. I have good tap water (city, not softened or too hard) and I have enough distilled at home.

Should I do the 1/2 'n 1/2 or skip it?

ajdelange

Recipes 

From the recipe
Saccharification Rest Temp : 146

This is the key to highly fermentable wort. Do everything you can to keep from exceding it. As for the water your goal is to match the water chemistry to the grain bill in such a way that mash pH is neither too high or too low. If your water is not exceptionally low in alkalinity nor exceptionally high you should be able to brew the beer without problem. It would help to know something about your water though.

Ki-ri-n

Recipes 

I assume there might be something in Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District website, but it's got information overload. Not to mention it could be buried in the reports that are over 400+ pages.

So, they key is mostly the mash temp (I know H2O plays a part, but I'm not there yet). Mixing with distilled is just playing with your water chemistry if you say, have hard water?

I've always used straight tap H2O for all my beers and never noticed anything "off". Who said, if your water tastes fine, so will your beer?

ajdelange

Recipes 

Lot's of people but you can't expect to do all styles of beer without some water tweaking for certain ones. There are some styles for which, your water, whatever it may be, are best suited. Milwaukee enjoys some repute for its beers so you are probably OK with what you have.