Wal*Mart Water?

Getting filtered water from the fridge for brewing is a pain and takes FOREVER to get 5 gallons.

Eventually, I am going to rig a filter to the sink or water hose for chlorine removal.

For now, I am thinking about just getting 5 gallon jugs of water at Wal*Mart. They have distilled and "drinking" water. I am brewing a extract kit with specialty grains, so which kind should I get?

You should use spring water, but I have used RO water from the grocery store with good results.

"drinking water" would be best

The distilled might be ok if you were using yeast nutrient or brewing a very very light beer like a pilsner or something.

Meh. Just get the spring water and don't worry, brew happy.

Wally also offers Culligan Reverse Osmosis in 5 Gallon carboys but, the problem with RO and distilled is they are nearly devoid of mineral ions.

So, if you are extract brewing I say RO (the extract contains the minerals from the original mash) but for AG you'll do better with the spring at least until you tackle some basic understanding of water chemistry.

And if you decide to tackle that, clue me in too

GilaMinumBeer said:

Meh. Just get the spring water and don't worry, brew happy.

Wally also offers Culligan Reverse Osmosis in 5 Gallon carboys but, the problem with RO and distilled is they are nearly devoid of mineral ions.

So, if you are extract brewing I say RO (the extract contains the minerals from the original mash) but for AG you'll do better with the spring at least until you tackle some basic understanding of water chemistry.

And if you decide to tackle that, clue me in too

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I'm not up for AG yet, maybe by winter or spring, once I buy or build the gear.

I just picked up "Brew Chem 101" and some other books from the library and am boning up on AG tech.

I dont know what Wal-Mart uses for drinking water in Tennessee, but if you buy it in Illinois, it is usually marked "Champaign Municipal Source"- meaning that its just tap water from the city of Champaign, Illinois

Cpt_Kirks said:

I'm not up for AG yet, maybe by winter or spring, once I buy or build the gear.

I just picked up "Brew Chem 101" and some other books from the library and am boning up on AG tech.

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Then I would suggest the RO. At .33 cent a gallon it's cheap and pert' near dismisses the need for in home filtration specifically for beer. As a plus, if you collect a couple of the carboys then you will also have a handy bulk tank for StarSan if you use it. I strongly suggest the RO for that as well.

Whisler85 said:

I dont know what Wal-Mart uses for drinking water in Tennessee, but if you buy it in Illinois, it is usually marked "Champaign Municipal Source"- meaning that its just tap water from the city of Champaign, Illinois

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In the one gallon jugs or the dispenser? The Culligan dispenser here do start with municipal but employ tri stage reverse osmosis filtration to strip the minerals out.

I use the Culligan RO water and mix it with my hard, filtered tap water to get moderately hard brewing water.

I built my carbon filter using the whole house filter kit and an RV hose from, you guessed it.

Saccharomyces said:

I use the Culligan RO water and mix it with my hard, filtered tap water to get moderately hard brewing water.

I built my carbon filter using the whole house filter kit and an RV hose from, you guessed it.

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Same here. Only I always add Calcium to compensate for my low levels in municipal supply. And I haven't sprung for the RV hose.

GilaMinumBeer said:

In the one gallon jugs or the dispenser? The Culligan dispenser here do start with municipal but employ tri stage reverse osmosis filtration to strip the minerals out.

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I agree just going to walmart is a much quicker solution

I use Deer Park with great results. It's pretty soft, I have the numbers if you want. I buy it at the Supermarket they had a sale the other day 8 gallons for $10, plenty for mash and sparge water. The best thing about spring water is that it's pre-measured which makes things really easy.

Cpt_Kirks said:

Getting filtered water from the fridge for brewing is a pain and takes FOREVER to get 5 gallons.

Eventually, I am going to rig a filter to the sink or water hose for chlorine removal.

For now, I am thinking about just getting 5 gallon jugs of water at Wal*Mart. They have distilled and "drinking" water. I am brewing a extract kit with specialty grains, so which kind should I get?

Click to expand...

I can vouch for that, for my last batch I got 10 litres of filtered water from the fridge over the course of 2 days and then I boiled it. My fridge if you use it to get a lot of water it starts putting out warm / hot water after a while. I am ordering 6 gallons of water (6 x 1 gallon jugs) and getting it delivered to me (nice to have delivery service) and plan to get a filter for the sink and filling up those jugs for future use.

Cpt_Kirks said:

Getting filtered water from the fridge for brewing is a pain and takes FOREVER to get 5 gallons.

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Not if you get your 12 year old to do it for ya while you get everything else ready.

GroovePuppy said:

Not if you get your 12 year old to do it for ya while you get everything else ready.

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wouldnt that be illegal to have underage kids doing work

Pivzavod said:

wouldnt that be illegal to have underage kids doing work

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It's not "beer" until the yeast hits the wort!

Just keep in mind that you can buy the same brand water in different areas and it can come from different sources (and have different profiles).

walmart fills those jugs out of the drain ditches near the road. don't use it.

Pivzavod said:

wouldnt that be illegal to have underage kids doing work

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Only if I paid him! :fro:

I've used RO with a bit of gypsum and unmodified tapwater with great results. This is something I think people sweat a little too much over. I have never tasted a chloramine taste from any of my beers with tap water, and I don't have a problem with my RO gypsum combo. I might throw some Burton salts in RO for my Pales and IPAs, but that's about it. I've also worked in a homebrew shop for closing in on 5 years as well as homebrewed all-grain for 4, so I think I have a good idea of what I'm talking about.
If you're really worried check out the water profile tool in ProMash or online to see what has been used before depending on style. (Burton on Trent, Dortmund, Plzen etc.) I am of the school of thought that water is not essential for a style, just that styles have been tied to water profiles because that is where they originated. I've made plenty of Pales with just a gypsum addition for acidification that have turned out splendid, with plenty of hop profile, although that is not historically the water profile used. And I am also sure that an excellent light Pilsner-like beer could be made with very hard water, a la Burton-on-Trent, although I don't brew lagers very often.

Pivzavod said:

wouldnt that be illegal to have underage kids doing work

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Ask Wal-Mart that question.

this is the reason I brew @ my GF's house. She lives up in NH and her water is PERFECT. I test it weekly for her fish, and there is ZERO clorine and floride, ph and hardness levels are near perfect. Live free or die

Cpt_Kirks said:

It's not "beer" until the yeast hits the wort!

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wort up!#@&!@

In the news recently was a report about several of the top bottled drinking water brands that were found to contain really high levels of toxins and bacteria. I think we have all heard this before but the jist of it is that most "drinking water" is simply water from some municiple source that has been filtered, maybe. One of the brands specifically mentioned in the recent article is Wal Mart's Sams Choice.

My personal opinion is that it is best to stick with Spring Water from one of the top brand companies. For instance, I don't know but would suspect that Ozarka would likely be of higher quality. Buying water from the name brands will only add a little more in the cost of the brew and is more likely to give a better end product. Why risk all that time and effort by buying cheap water. As for Wal Mart, I stay away from that place as much as I can.

I have wanted to do some research and try to find some specific info on the quality of bottle water by brand but haven't made any progress. The hope would be to definitively identify the best store bought water for brewing beer.

Also, my family has a place in the country supplied with spring water from 400 feet down. Usually referred to as a "well", it is precisely where most "spring" water comes from. The water is delicious. We have had it tested and it is free of any man made chemicals. I have not tried this for beer brewing but I plan to fill some bottles next time I'm there and bring home enough to do a batch or 2 of beer.

Dennis

I used tap water for both my batch's, and my first beer came out good. (havent opened my second batch bottles yet).

BEER_4_BREAKFAST said:

I used tap water for both my batch's, and my first beer came out good. (havent opened my second batch bottles yet).

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The tap water here is some of the best in any city in the US.

However, they chlorinate the crap out of it.

I dont think you have to worry about the chlorine if you do a full boil. Boiling tap water will evaporate the chlorine out of it. Thats what I do for my fish tanks. Of course i cool the water before it goes in the tanks. LOL