ethangray19
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I have brewed all my beers so far with bottled drinking water but want to get cheap and use tap water, What do you think??
Thanks
Thanks
homebrewer_99 said:I use tap water through a PUR filter.
That's the one...kb9vzh said:I have read a ton of books and online forums on brewing water. What I have learned is if you like the taste of your tap water, you can brew with it. I do however suggest the PUR filter or similar. You may want to use a PUR filter with the carbon filter. They make a three stage filter with the carbon added. This will remove most unwanted chemicals such as chlorine.
kb9vzh said:What I have learned is if you like the taste of your tap water, you can brew with it.
Yes, this is a very good point. You definitely need to pay attention to more than just taste when brewing AG. Water chemistry (namely mineral content) also becomes important. However, you can still brew with tap water, provided that you are aware of any adjustments that need to be made. Alternatively 5.2 stabilizer will allow one to make almost any brew (except only the lightest and darkest of beers) with most good tap water.johnsma22 said:This is absolutely true if you're brewing extract beers. However, the same cannot be said when brewing all grain beers, where the waters' ion concentrations and grain choice will determine mash pH.
Well said -- if you have low quality tap water, you couldn't be more correct!Mutilated1 said:It doesn't make sense to me to spend $$ on premium hops and grains and whatnot and then get cheap on the main ingredient.
Coke and Pepsi are going to change their water labels.johnsma22 said:Before we get all warm and fuzzy about "spring water" take a look at this.
FlyGuy said:If your tap water is really good, then using bottled water might make no difference. Why don't you try an experiment sometime -- brew back to back versions of the same recipe -- one with bottled water, one with tap water. Then do a blind taste test to see if you can tell the difference. If you can, then it confirms your belief that you should spend the extra for bottled water. If you can't, then you can feel comfortable using your tap water.
Who knows -- maybe you will actually like your tap water BETTER! It is possible.
Not if it is the one made by your spring water! LOLMutilated1 said:Well you never can tell, the worst that could happen is that you'd have an extra 5 gallons of beer to drink that you don't like quite as much as the other. Wouldn't that be shame ?
FlyGuy said:Not if it is the one made by your spring water! LOL
LOL -- Actually, I would be really curious to hear how that turns out! Regardless, at the end of the day if both methods make good beer, definitely go with the one that you feel most comfortable with!Mutilated1 said:LOL - good point - ha ha ha
Ok you convinced me - next time I have 2 fermenters empty at the same time I'll give it a try and we'll see. I don't expect I'll be able to tell the difference in all honesty, but I don't think I'll switch to tap water either.
Not to nitpick (well, OK, I *am* nitpicking), but I think the person administering the test needs to know which beer is which. Otherwise, who will judge the outcome?raceskier said:The true test would be a duplication of the same beer with both types of water. Actually a double blind test, where neither the person administering the test, nor the test "subject" knows which beer contained which water, is the technique considered to be the "Gold Standard" in the scientific/medical fields.
Dang!! Now you're broke again...raceskier said:...Just my two cents.
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