Water - I didnt realize HOW important is really is

Well, my past couple of brews have been less than satisfactory. I attribute it partially to the fact that I brewed a couple of beers that I wouldnt drink on a regular basis.

But today as I drank a glass of Kool-Aid from the pitcher in the fridge, it hit me.

My water tastes like total ass. I cant really explain what sort of 'ass' the water tastes of, but I can distinctly identify the **** flavor that has been imparted into my brew. The water from the tap here is very mineral/metallic flavor laden. I guess my pallette has become sensitized to this as I only drink bottled/filtered water (and a hell of a lot of it)
I really dont know what I was thinking when I decided to just get lax and stop taking the extra effort to use bottled/filtered water for my brews. I mean, the first ones that I produced were tasty as all getout. (Even though some were what I would consider the not gonna brew agains as this latest batch is) But they were delicious nonetheless - cause I used the bottled/filtered water.

The water makes all of the difference in the world... Something so simple, that has totally affected my end product.

Forget about ferm temps, and not properly conditioning etc - GIGO.
Garbage in = Garbage out.
Unfortunately I dont think that any amount of time will heal a boo boo of this magnitude.
Oh well, VALUABLE lesson learned
-Me

I didn't brew when I lived in Las Vegas, but some days the water was fantastic & other days taking a shower was a trial because of the smell! You might want to look into a whole-house water filter. Even Kool-Aid deserves good water.

i usually will buy spring water to brew with, makes it a bit more expensive (not much), but worth it.

yeah our water here in Milwaukee is treated pretty heavily and you can taste it. It tastes horrible. I can't even drink a glass of water out of the tap. I only brew with bottled water. It usually adds an extra $7-8 per 5 gallon batch but for me it's totally worth it.

Wow. That sounds really tough... we have one of the best water in the world here and that must really contribute to good beer

Bolti said:

Wow. That sounds really tough... we have one of the best water in the world here and that must really contribute to good beer

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I would hope the water in Iceland is good...its Iceland for gods sake.

I have yet to try my tap water for brewing. It's tastes like its too chlorinated. The water in my house isn't as bad as it was in the apartment, but it still doesn't taste good. My first three brews I used spring water from the store. For my next brew I'm going to run all my water through the brita filter first and see how that works.

I get spring water for $35 cents a gallon near me. I go to the bottling plant and they have a place to fill your own bottles. I bring two fermenting buckets and put them under the fawsett.

You guys may have a place near you thats similer.

TexasSpartan said:

I have yet to try my tap water for brewing. It's tastes like its too chlorinated. The water in my house isn't as bad as it was in the apartment, but it still doesn't taste good. My first three brews I used spring water from the store. For my next brew I'm going to run all my water through the brita filter first and see how that works.

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Please post and let us know how the brita filter works. I've thought about doing that but have resorted to just buying water from the store.

I have the PUR filter and I would like to try using the filtered water for beer. Filtering 10 gallons of water will take a wile i'm sure. I'M an all grain guy.

https://morebeer.com/view_product/16762/102362/Water_Filter_Kit_-_10_inch

this is an alternative. for 40 bucks, and it hooks up to a hose. the cost at $.35/gallon, and the hassle of carrying has me lookin real close at this setup for the garage...

Colorado water is delicious. If its good enough for coors its good enough for me.

Rhymenoceros said:

Colorado water is delicious. If its good enough for coors its good enough for me.

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I second that! The water here is great right out of the tap.

PatMac said:

Please post and let us know how the brita filter works. I've thought about doing that but have resorted to just buying water from the store.

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I used a Brita pitcher-style filter for my first batch. Didn't notice a significant difference on my second+ batches after I stopped caring and used water from the tap. My disclaimer for this is that where I am, we have pretty darn good tap water to begin with.

I will probably make the switch to bottled spring water here soon, even if it's only a slight improvement. The goal here is to make the best beer possible, not the cheapest, right?

i have brewed with my tap water and it tasted excellent. I dont know how great the water is in Delaware but it seems to be pretty fresh....for a suburb of Philly and a neighbor to....ughh....New Jersey.

nosmatt said:

https://morebeer.com/view_product/16762/102362/Water_Filter_Kit_-_10_inch

this is an alternative. for 40 bucks, and it hooks up to a hose. the cost at $.35/gallon, and the hassle of carrying has me lookin real close at this setup for the garage...

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You can build the same for about $22 from Lowes or Home Depot. When using a filter run the water as slowly as posibble. It is contact time with the carbon filter that purifies the water.

:cross: I'm sorry, am I the only one who thinks it's hilarious that you actually have a pitcher of Kool-Aid in your fridge? And you said it so non-chalantly. It's like saying, "so, I was eating my Count Chocula the other morning and..."

And yes, I believe it was Greg Noonan who wrote that if your water tastes like a swamp, your beer will taste like a swamp.

orangeandblue302 said:

I would hope the water in Iceland is good...its Iceland for gods sake.

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...but everyone knows Iceland is green and Greenland is, well, icy...

haha yes true, but would I be wrong in assuming that such an unpopulated country would have yummy water?

Unfiltered tap water here is so funky that most folks who can afford it have an RO system. I use bottled water for extract brewing. Also seems like adding a smidge of gypsum to the Ozarka has helped my beer.

The water around here supposedly is very similar to Munich water in mineral content, but I've never seen a report. I certainly drink enough of the stuff out of the tap, though, so it tastes fine.

I hate the water from our tap...but my wife says its fine. I've used bottled spring water when I make coffee and can taste the bad water in coffees in particular restaurants. got to the point where I avaid buying coffee when I go to certain places for breakfast.

So I've been experiementing with water for brewing. My first batch was tap water...it was okay but the water was not the biggest problem. Second batch was much better...used bottled spring water and my technique was better.

Third batch was racked a few days ago and fourth batch just went into primary. I think the biggest problem is chlorine...so yesterday I filled the kettle and let the water sit for eight hours before brewing. Hope some breathing allowed the chlorine to escape...

I cinsidered using some the chlorine reduction stuff they use for aquariums...but passed on that idea as my brain started working again!

Interesting thread. I am experimenting with water right now. My first 3 batches were with off-brand (Kroger) bottled spring water and batch 5 was with Ozarka spring water. Batches 4 and 6 were with water I took from a 400 foot well I have at the old family farm. I want to do a batch with my tap water but I know it will need some work. That filter might be a good idea but the description said that it removed “chlorine flavor”. What does that mean? Does it just remove flavor or all the chlorine?

I want to try my tap water because I think it has good basic qualities. For instance, we have a 5-gallon water cooler at home for drinking but I use tap water to make my coffee because the coffee tastes better with tap water than bottled. This tells that there is good water in there somewhere. Also, my tap water has a lot of calcium, lime, whatever. If you boil it up, you can see the stuff floating on the top.

So what I want to do is boil it to remove the chlorine and separate the calcium and then filter it, maybe through a Brita or something and then brew with it. I might do this on the next batch.

Here is a question though, what about fluoride? I know it’s in there and I know it is hard to remove. If it is flavorless and doesn’t bother my yeast, then so what I guess. But I really would rather it not be there. Or maybe, I can claim that drinking my beer is good for your teeth.

Also, Dotneck, check it out on the web but I think that if in addition to letting the water sit, you put an aerator in it, this will remove all the chlorine. I wouldn’t take the one out of the fish tank though, maybe get a new one. My understanding is that an hour or so of good aerating will dissipate all the chlorine. May be a bit quicker for you.

Dennis

Dennis1979 said:

Also, Dotneck, check it out on the web but I think that if in addition to letting the water sit, you put an aerator in it, this will remove all the chlorine. I wouldn’t take the one out of the fish tank though, maybe get a new one. My understanding is that an hour or so of good aerating will dissipate all the chlorine. May be a bit quicker for you.

Dennis

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yup...I thought of that but didn't have one handy...so I just filled the bucket in the morning, went to church and did all our Sunday stuff....and by the time I was ready to brew it was eight hours later...I'll be more deliberate for the next batch.

BTW...the IPA smells GREAT and the air lick is bubbling like CRAZY...something is happening in there!

I'm fermenting a batch right now. I used 2 gallons of tap water for the initial boil and then added 3 gallons of cool filtered water from the store in the fermenter. I suspect it will turn out tasting slightly better than using all tap water and is a little bit more cost efficient because you'd re buying 2 gallons less filtered water every time. By a little bit more cost efficient I mean a LITTLE bit more cost efficient. Obviously buying two extra gallons of water isn't going to break your wallet, but over time and cost accumulation it may help out a tad.

I also feel better about having the majority of the water being filtered water, the tap water here isn't grand. We'll see how it turns out though.

menschmaschine said:

: It's like saying, "so, I was eating my Count Chocula the other morning and...".

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Funny this came up, guess what I had for breakfast this morning?