Is water that big of a deal in all grain?

Hello guys! I am new to brewing and will be doing my first all grain batch shortly. I just want to get some input form you guys on how big of a difference water can make. Can I just use distilled water and go from there. I'm not sure what my tap water is like but I live in so cal.Can i use "Drinking water"? I have heard not to use reverse osmosis water but all the bottled water I have seen has been through an RO process. will it really make that big of a difference? What minerals would I need to add and how much if it will I need for a typical 5 gallon batch. I will be brewing a strawberry blonde. Also keep in mind I am brand new to brewing and this will only be my second batch ever! Thanks For and and all input!

There are a lot different views on water. If your tap water tastes good, it will probably be fine to brew with. You can always use bottled water or RO water. I am fortunate to have great tap water so I don't make any changes, use it straight from the tap. You could always try a test 1 gallon batch or something to see. I think the general consensus would be to keep it simple at first. Don't want to go and try to change your water profile if other brewing processes are not finely tuned.

There is a spreadsheet floating around with the desired ranges for mineral concentration in water. If you find that and contact your water distributor you should have a good idea if you water is good for brewing or not.

Things are 'stickyfied' for a reason.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

Check with your local water district, they are required to publish water quality reports.

For San Bernardino county check this page. Some of their reports are very detailed.

Then read these links:
All Grain Water Chemistry Brewing Information
Brewing Water Chemistry Calculator

He's wondering if water is a big deal...if it makes a big difference.

hiberntepaths said:

He's wondering if water is a big deal...if it makes a big difference.

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Yes it can. It can be the cause of many off flavors.

It can also be the difference between good beer and GREAT beer. It is worth your time to look into your water when brewing all grain.
Here is a great calculator that I use.
http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

This section from How to Brew by John Palmer explains how to read a water report and how each compound affects beer. 2 pages later is a Nomograph (there is a blank one at the bottom of the page). By finding the values, based on your water report, you can then plot them on the graph to find the ideal style of beer to brew using your tap water. I found that darker pales, ambers and browns are the best styles for my tap water.

Hermit said:

Things are 'stickyfied' for a reason.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

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+1, especially the first post in the thread. Use RO Water and do the simple adjustment AJ recommends. Start tweaking it on future brews if you feel the need and take notes on what has changed, assuming you brew the same beer for comparison.

Thanks for the input guys! What about using that 5.2 stabilizer? is that just the lazy way out of dealing with the water? or is that just for pH but you still need to deal with the minerals?

newguy07 said:

Thanks for the input guys! What about using that 5.2 stabilizer? is that just the lazy way out of dealing with the water? or is that just for pH but you still need to deal with the minerals?

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Well, I bought two jars of 5.2, and used a couple of tablespoons before realizing that it's junk. I gave one jar away, and still have the rest of the jar here.

It supposedly "locks in" the pH but water is more complex than that. I have been trying to absorb the water information ajdelange has posted here, and he's been kind enough to dumb it down a bit for me. That's when I stopped using the 5.2 stabilizer.

I think initially getting the AG process down is more important than understanding the water chemistry. If you can drink your tap water, then you can brew with it. Once you are comfortable with brewing, then you can start diving into the water

coypoo said:

I think initially getting the AG process down is more important than understanding the water chemistry. If you can drink your tap water, then you can brew with it. Once you are comfortable with brewing, then you can start diving into the water

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To a point. If you don't understand the water chemistry you don't really understand the results. You may, or may not, get satisfactory results. You could end up trying to correct something in your process when it is the water. That is what I like about AJ's sticky. It is a nice, easy starting point and not really much added effort to an all grain brew. I'm simply in the process of eliminating negatives in my beers. The water primer has helped immensely.

The Water Chemistry Primer is a really good and simple starting point. Just follow those guidelines for making your first brew, then read about the water chemistry and absorb what you can. You can tweak as needed, but AJ really has put together the most basic guidelines for starting with RO water that covers a wide variety of styles.

coypoo said:

I think initially getting the AG process down is more important than understanding the water chemistry. If you can drink your tap water, then you can brew with it. Once you are comfortable with brewing, then you can start diving into the water

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My water tastes good; but, due to it's very high alkalinity, it makes terrible beer. Thanks to ajdelange's water tips; I am finally making great beer.

Water is a big deal if it is far out of range for the type of beer you're trying to brew. The hard thing is knowing when that situation exists. An example would be trying to brew a 2 SRM lambic with highly alkaline water. How about a Munich Helles using water with 300ppm Sulfate? You might brew with your tap water and it's fine but it really is a regional thing. It would be best to find someone who has water data for your system but in the meantime, go ahead and give it a shot with the water you have (unless it runs through a water softener).

One of the biggest things you can do is filter out the chlorine or chloramine from your water if you can taste it.I went for the longest time thinking my water tasted "normal" until I got a charcoal filter installed....from that point forward, my coffee tasted better, my water tasted better, and my beer tasted better....I just didn`t realize I was tasting it until it was gone. As far as the mineral adjustments, I would look into what is in your water first to see where you stand (is your water soft? hard? or somewhere in between?)...then only adjust the water if you have your process down and you know you have a solid recipe , but something still is off a little about the beer. Water can be complicated to adjust properly and you don`t want to start messing with the water if you still don`t have your process down or if you may have a recipe issue. That being said I think a previous poster hit the nail on the head with water adjustments can mean the difference between a good beer and a great one.