General supplies to start brewing with tap water

Hello all,

Been trying to educate myself with the "water" subject for brewing. I'm currently deployed, but stationed at Ramstein AB, Germany. I'm going back home soon and start up brewing again. I miss it!! Anyways, when I brew I usually buy 5 gallon Culligan jugs from the base at about 8-9 bucks a pop. Instead of spending that money on water I want to brew with the tap water. But have no idea about what supplies i would need to make the water good enough to brew with. Is there a general list of ingredients to have on hand that most brewers have? Do I need to get the water tested then buy what I need? Do I need water filters? It would be cool to use that money for other ingredients instead of water. Thanks in advance for the help!

IMHO- spend the money to get a water report, good water = good beer.

I found that an absolute 1u filter followed by a 1u carbon block water filter gave me the water profile I was looking for. All in all, less than $100 US was well worth the investment and everybody that has drank my beer has said it is 100% better now than it was without filtering. We have deep well water but it is from the city and I can get it pretty close without any chems being added back.

Yes - assuming you'll be all-grain brewing, a water report will help a lot. And you likely won't need a filter, depending on what the report tells you. Bru'n Water, a free spreadsheet, will help greatly with water adjustment. A pH meter is recommended, but lots of brewers don't use one - your choice.

If you're doing extract brewing, probably all you would need is campden tablets to get rid of chlorine/chloramine.

kaizen33 said:

But have no idea about what supplies i would need to make the water good enough to brew with. Is there a general list of ingredients to have on hand that most brewers have?

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Yes. Gypsum (calcium sulfate) and calcium chloride are the most common. Lactic and/or phosphoric acid(s) and/or sauermalz (acidified malt) are equally important but lots of brewers don't keep them on hand. If the water is chloraminated you will also want Campden tablets (sodium or potassium metabusufite).

kaizen33 said:

Do I need to get the water tested then buy what I need?

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Absolutely! You can't fix something if you don't know it is broken.

kaizen33 said:

Do I need water filters?

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Probably not unless there is a problem with the water such as earthy smells, lots of sediment etc.

What is the best way to get a water test done. I have read my city water report but it has ranges not exact measures.

In CONUS it is easy (Ward Labs). Over there it may be more difficult. There are test kits made in Germany for the aquarium hobby that, with the cities range results, may be enough to get you going. Even just the municipal report is a start. The kits are for total hardness and carbonate hardness (which is what they call alkalinity.Otherwise you'd have to get a lab to measure calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulfate and chloride levels for you and the mEq of acid it takes to get a liter of sample to pH 4.5.

Thanks a lot for the info! I'm gonna figure out about testing and then move forward from there.