What kind of water do you guys use

im still pretty new to brewing only around 6 batches under my belt. and from what ive read water is a very important part of the process. Right now im currently using Spring water from Florida (naturally cause thats all you get when you are from Florida lol) anyways from what ive read on the various water reports the PH is around 7-7.8. the tap water is straight out of the aquafer so the PH on that is around the same as all the spring water minus the cholrine and what ever else they put in it.

Now would it be best to use distilled water and add my own calcium etc etc or keep using spring water and use a buffer like 5.2 and could some one please explain water hardness in relation to PH etc. ive done alot of reading about it but most of it confuses me

For my partial boil extract brews I bought bottled water. For my full boil AG brews I have been using tap water. So far I haven't noticed any difference.

I just use tap water. It's drinkable and moderately hard. I don't need any brewing salt additions.

I use bottled water. The water here is REALLY hard, and I have a water softener, so I just skip the tap and use something with more knowns.

could some one explain water hardness to me? i have no idea if my water is hard or soft.

"Hardness" is a term used to essentially describe the amount of dissolved minerals in water. Very generally, the more minerals in the water, the harder it is.

www.howtobrew.com by John Palmer has a pretty good discussion of basic water chemistry.

Ask your local city hall for a copy of the water report if you have city water. That will give you an idea of where you're starting if you decide to use tap water.

my tap water and the spring water i use both come from an aquafer ive looked at the reports on both and various other springs in Florida and they for the most part seem to all have around the same PH never paid much attention to the rest of the stuff on them. I did read all the way threw the city water report and its kinda scary the stuff thats in tap water !! arsnic,lead, chronium etc mostly all from water run off.

so basically the more dissolved minerals in the water the harder it is.

Here is a more specific link on the "How to Brew" website.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html

thanks im going to read threw that here is the water profile of Zyhper Hills Spring water I normally use.

Inorganic Minerals and Metals MRL MCL Level Found
Calcium 0.10 NR 65
Sodium 0.20 NR 5.8
Potassium 0.10 NR ND
Fluoride 0.100 2.0 (1.4-2.4) 0.10
Magnesium 0.10 NR 4.3
Bicarbonate 1.0 NR 140
Nitrate 0.010 10.00 2.5
Chloride 0.10 250 11
Copper 0.050 1.0 ND
pH (units) NA NR 7.51
Sulfate 0.10 250 10
Arsenic 0.0014 0.010 ND
Lead 0.005 0.005 ND
Total Dissolved Solids 1.0 NR 200
All units in (mg/l) or Part per Million (PPM)
Report date: September 2004
Testing period: 1st quarter 2004 - 2nd quarter 2004

here is the link if its hard to read
http://www.zephyrhillswater.com/KnowH2O/OurSources.aspx

If your tap is good, just use that. Are you doing extract or all-grain? According to Palmer the extract pretty much has everything the yeast are going to need to grow happy, including minerals. I use RO because my tap tastes kinda bad...

i just started AG our tap water here tastes/smells kinda bad im not a huge fan of it really i mostly drink the water out of the fridge door

So does your water taste/smell good or bad?
If it tastes/smells bad, don't use it for brewing without treatment. (A water filter may be adequate to correct taste/small deficiencies). If not - you need to buy good tasting odorless water.
Are you doing extract brews, partial mash, or all grain?
For extract, and small partial mash, if the water tastes good, use it. For all grain, and partial mashes with a large percentage of grain, water treatment may be necessary.
The following only applies to all grain or partial mashes with a large percentage of grain.
I notice from your signature, you have two Pilsners, one Apfelwein and one American Pale Ale.
Your water profile looks pretty good for a Pilsner with no treatment.
I don't have a clue about Apfelwein
I don't know about American pale ales, but for English ones, I'd add 2-3 tsp of gypsum per 5g water and possibly 1/2 tsp Epsom Salts.

-a.
Edit
This latest IPA tastes awsome, but it sure interferes with my ability to answer questions in a timely fashion

well first my water smells and it tastes bad lol second, i just started AG one pilsner was an extract kit and the other was an AG batch. and the Apfelwein doesnt use any water so im not real concerned about that lol.

after reading the How to brew link, i noticed the water im using is pretty similar to the water in Pilsin. The local guru at the HBS recommended the Zehyperhills water im just trying to get a better understanding of water, the PH, hardness etc. Maybe ill just stick to brewing pilsners! ill try to find my local water profile again and check it out now that i know what im looking for.

I just use tap water. Before I was doing full-boils I used bottled water for topping off.

My tap water looks kind of wierd some times, but tastes ok, seems to be fine after a 60-90 minute boil. And, the beer tastes good, that's what matters, right?

Arrowhead was proven to be tap water. Unless it smells or tastes icky save your money and use it

My tap water is no good either. I have down extract and AG batches with it, but now that I have switched over to using a filter I feel like I am getting a "cleaner" beer.

My filter system includes an $10 refrigerator filter from Lowes and 10 ft of quarter inch tubing. I attach one end to the sink and the other I stick in my bottling bucket. Takes a little while to get 10 gallons, but it is not like you have to sit there and watch it every second. This has been much more cost effective than buying 10 gallons of water at 99 cents a gallon (...ya that was the cheap stuff!). Whole setup was less than 15 bucks. Make two batches and you get your money's worth.

I've always used tap and it's been fine though the last two batches I've done I used spring water. $5 for 6 gallons I figure if there is a noticeable improvement then great, otherwise back to the hose for me.

Beersmith has a section to enter info using your local water report. My report gives me total Alkalinity and total hardness but does not give me the bicarbonate level in HCO3. All the other variables like magnesium and calcium are on the report.

I'm trying to understand the report so I can determine if I need to add anything to the water.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Jim