Filtered water?

Ok, I am sure someone here can direct me to thread about this, I did a search and could not find anything.

I have been using bottles water, but was wondering if anyone if filtering their own water and if so what are you using? Also, is there anything I should watching for in our local water that will give me problems?

TIA, Noid

Many people filter there own water. Most use a home water filter(HD or Lowes) with a carbon filter. These filters do a pretty good job on taste, odor and chlorine, but not on chloramine. To use the filter properly the flow must be slow. The carbon absorbs the chlorine and doesn't actually filter it. There are some carbon filters that remove chloramine but they can cost 3 times as much as the standard 10" carbon cartridge. After use you should remove the cartridge and dry it out to get maximum life and prevent mold or bacteria growth.

A Brita or Pur on-tap filter can get you some benefit as well. I only use water that heads through my brita, and then I've started using campden tablets (or sodium metabisulfate) to my water before I mash. The campden tablet/metabisulfate actually removes chloramine, so that puts it as close to pure as I can get without going Reverse Osmosis.

Remember, many studies show that bottled water is sometimes just the local tap water that has been filtered a little bit. Unless it says "Reverse Osmosis" or "Distilled", you're not necessarily getting any benefit over running your own tap water. Assuming you're not on a well, that is. If you are on a well, have you had a chemical analysis done of your well to see what your numbers look like? You could be sitting on a Burton-on-Trent-style gold mine!

I had the same questions so I visited my local brew store. I was told that our water straight from the tap is perfect (Salt Lake City, Utah) for brewing with the exception of the chlorine. To solve the chlorine problem let your water sit for 24 hours before brewing. I did try bottled water as a test and my tap water that sat over night did give me a better tasting beer.

On deck IPA
Primary: APA
Secondary:
Drinking: Pale Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Orange Honey Wheat, IPA

De`ja`-Brew
We have all been beer before.

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I use an Omni fgilter that I bought at Wal-Mart and so far so good.

Also, keep in mind a simple carbon filter doesn't change water chemistry with regards to hardness & alkalinity, nor mportant, "water profile target" ions like Ca, SO4, Cl, Mg, etc., if that's the route you're going to go down.

I second the use of a carbon filter. I use one of the filters that attaches to your kitchen sink and my beer has tasted better since then. I was under the impression that activated carbon filters will remove chlorine and chloramine.

Filtering is a good idea but you really have to run the water through at almost a faint trickle for them to get chlorine and/or chloramine out. Adding a crushed campden tablet to the collected water (up to 20 gallons) is cheap insurance.

Bobby_M said:

Filtering is a good idea but you really have to run the water through at almost a faint trickle for them to get chlorine and/or chloramine out. Adding a crushed campden tablet to the collected water (up to 20 gallons) is cheap insurance.

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i think heard somewhere around 3/4g per minute or less would pretty much remove the chloramine and chlorine. not sure if thats true or not, but i have mine setup so it flows just a tad less than 3/4g per minute.

Here is a link to my Water Filter Thread Everything you need to know to make a portable water filter setup. This will remove sediment, iron and chlorine flavors from your tap water, but as already stated, it will not change your water chemistry or remove chloramine.

Here is a link to a cartridge that supposedly remove choramine. ChlorPlus 10 Advanced Carbon Block Filter Only $17.65
Before worrying about choramine, see if it is used in your water. Some areas don't use it.

I've always used a PUR filter on my tap.

i have just been using straight tap water with campden when i do a full wort boil, but when i do partial boils and i need to use some "top-off" water to the fermenter could i just use a brita or should i use bottled spring water?

I have an RO/DI filter that I use to prepare water for my salt water aquarium. That brings my water down to 0 tds. I think that would be too clean unless I wanted to add minerals, which is way over the top for what I want to do. So I got a PUR filter.