tap water??

would it be worthy to buy water like spring water insted of using water from the tap...i finished my first brew last week wich i used tap water for and it tasted not bad,,i thought of boiling the water but it would take a long time as i only have a 1litre kettle and heard that boiled water does not taste as good,,
what ya rek'on
cheers'

You boil your wort right? Are you talking about the water added to the carboy to top it up? That should be boiled unless you have a very clean water source. Nothing wrong taste wise from boled water. Any weird flavors would be the result of your water composition or things like chlorine in the water. Boiling the water will also get rid of the chlorine in the water.

IMHO if you like the taste of your water and it does not have an over powering smell of chlorine use it.

I use mine straight out of our tap and have had no bad after taste.

I actually ridged up a water filtration system (the ones you can buy for your fridge) such that I can connect it to the garden hose. I'm using this filtered water for brewing purposes. The filtration takes out all the chlorine taste and certainly beats buying 6-7gal worth of spring water each time.

Kai

bluckydan said:

would it be worthy to buy water like spring water insted of using water from the tap.

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I use bottled spring water, just because that's one less thing to worry about. Unless your water is nasty tasting, I don't think it will have any effect on your beer one way or the other, but IMHO anything coming out of your tap should be boiled...either in the wort or separately if to be used to top off.

I have been using spring water all along. We got 5G bottles delivered to the house when we moved in, until I put the house filtration on. We still get it delivered, but only a couple every once in a while, and I just grab one to use as brew. pre measured and ready to go!

My next brew is going to use my well water though, to see if I can finally get rid of the deliveries.

All I use is tap water and I never boil it. When I am at home I do use a brita filter but when I brew at the firehouse it's straight from the tap, no filtration since the filtration plant when they sucked it outa Lake Michigan. If the water in your area sucks I would consider buying water, but if it tastes fine I wouldnt worry about it. One thing you MAY want to do is get a water report and find out the mineral content of your water, it would help ya figure out which styles will be best suited to your water without buying water or processing the water you have in your area.

IMHO the most important thing is (for me) brewing is a hobby. I do it because it's fun and I like to have beer that I enjoy and not the mass produced stuff out there. If you want to get into water chemstry and stuff and you enjoy it have at it, but the most important thing is to not get too stressed out and enjoy yourself. Everytime I start worrying about stuff I put it to the headache test . . . "Is it worth the headache?" . . . then crack a brew.

I use tap water also. Of course, it is filtered through a PUR water filter.

I usually boil 1.5 gals and add up to 4 gals of tap water (placed in a freezer for 3-5 hours prior to brewing) to my primary to top it off.

Never had any problems.

i use bottled drinking water for ease of measurement. easier to add mash/sparge water that way.

I've brewed in three different cities with three different water systems and never used anything except tap water, unfiltered. If I was still in Las Vegas though, I would be using filtered tap water; nasty stuff there.

Boiling tap water drives out the dissolved gases (mainly O2) and makes it taste flat. You can make boiled water taste better by adding malt, hops and yeast

i used to boil my tap-up water the night before i brewed, but what a pain in the neck that is! unnessecary too. the only good it does is boil off chlorine, but my water source has chloramine, which (according to Foster's 'pale ale' book)cannot be boiled off. i just use tap water and never had a problem. i use to brew in s.f. and i asked people at anchor brewery if they treated there water and they didnt so i stopped.

cgravier said:

i used to boil my tap-up water the night before i brewed, but what a pain in the neck that is! unnessecary too. the only good it does is boil off chlorine

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Well, some of us feel sterilization is a good thing.

i use the hot water out of the hot water tank, it is set to the highest setting... the cold tap water has too much of a chlorine smell for my liking and taste, but the hot water seems to have reduced or removed the cholorine, at least the smell.

in my old house, a turn of the century victorian home circa 1880, the water supply was horrid, mostly due to the old pipes from the main line in the house, as well as the corroded fittings that the previous owners had cheaped out on. i've noticed a big difference in the taste of my beer since we've moved to a newer house with more modern pipes, and better quality fittings.

the science of water chemistry in relation to brewing is something that i want to address in order to make really excellent beer. it doesn't have to be really complicated or involve alot of maths, but a good understanding can go a long way. this is what i'm focusing on now, understanding what is in my water, and what is required for the style i'm trying to brew. salt additions and ph control, is one of the things i've put off the longest, and understanding this and it's effect on the beer is a goal of mine now.

Well, some of us feel sterilization is a good thing

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from what I remember Miller doesnt treat it's water except with a filter . . . they are using the same crypto infested stuff I am using

BUT I may have to take another tour and drink some more free beer just to be certain. Yeah yeah yeah, it's miller but free beer is almost always good beer

Dont get me wrong I totally understand the clean and sanitary thing, BUT if the monks didnt even know about yeast back in the day I doubt they knew about the nasties out there.

Live on the wild side use tap water . . . unboiled . . .and stir the wort with your hand

Pumbaa said:

from what I remember Miller doesnt treat it's water except with a filter . . . they are using the same crypto infested stuff I am using

BUT I may have to take another tour and drink some more free beer just to be certain. Yeah yeah yeah, it's miller but free beer is almost always good beer

Dont get me wrong I totally understand the clean and sanitary thing, BUT if the monks didnt even know about yeast back in the day I doubt they knew about the nasties out there.

Live on the wild side use tap water . . . unboiled . . .and stir the wort with your hand

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I was with you until the stirring with the hand thing