Any Baltimoreans using Tap Water?

Just curious if anyone from Baltimore is using city tap water for brewing -- how does the water affect on the quality/taste of the beer?

I usually just buy several 1-gallon jugs of water from the supermarket but this adds to my costs and can be a pain in the butt to transport. I have a faucet-mounted PUR filter and a filtered water line in my refrigerator, but both are painfully slow and waiting for 5-6 gallons would be torturous.

Tap water would be excellent but I only brew a few times per year and I don't want to risk an entire batch experimenting with it.

Anybody tried using the water here? Yay or nay?

Thanks,
chris.

P.S. Has anyone ever tried hooking up some tubing to a refrigerator door water dispenser and using this as the primary water source in brewing?

Depends on where exactly you're brewing from. I've heard the city water is pretty decent, but I can't confirm.

I was in White Marsh and exclusively used tap water. Now I live up in Joppa (only 8 miles away) and my water sucks bad. Even using a Pur filter, I can't make light colored beers without them tasting funky. Dark beer = no problem.

Hey i use to brew a lot in the 80s and 90s using Baltimore tap water. I just returned to brewing and used Baltos tap water last week(haven't tasted). I think it is very good. Years ago it was rated as one of the best municipal drinking supplies. I have noticed that in periods of dought( a few years back) they had to add more chlorine. I wasn't brewing during this time so don't know how it affected the beer. My vote is to use it out of the tap. Charlie

I live in Baltimore and have only used bottle water so far, but my home brew store (MD homebrew, in Columbia) recomended using city water.

Depends on what the PPM of crack in the water is in your part of the city.

I always thought that the proper name for people from baltimore was baltimorons
heh. go fig

Now Evan! You should know that crack is the LEAST of Baltimore's problems.

We are more worried about what wierd sheite is floating in the harbor, or how we can up our murder rate. Personally, using city water, I'd be more afraid of gonorrhea than anything else.

Just keep chanting..."We're number 1!" - in violent crime, gonorrhea, and pregnant strippers.

Thanks to everyone for the, um, interesting input!

For those of you who use tap water -- do you boil it first or use it straight from the tap?

Obviously the water in the wort gets boiled, but I do small batches on my stove so I end up using 3-4 gallons of additional water to top off the fermenter. Is it ok to use this straight from the tap, or should I boil it first?

Also, should I re-sanitize my stockpot after a pregnant stripper drops her crackpipe in it, or will the gonorrhea come out in the boil?

chris.

Hell I use DC city water and it's been OK. It gets pumped out of the Potomac, load it up with cholarmine to kill the nasties and then jackup the pH so they don't rot out the 120 year old pipes.

Baltimore can't be any worse...unless they use water from Dundalk.

CallMeZoot said:

Thanks to everyone for the, um, interesting input!

For those of you who use tap water -- do you boil it first or use it straight from the tap?

Obviously the water in the wort gets boiled, but I do small batches on my stove so I end up using 3-4 gallons of additional water to top off the fermenter. Is it ok to use this straight from the tap, or should I boil it first?

Also, should I re-sanitize my stockpot after a pregnant stripper drops her crackpipe in it, or will the gonorrhea come out in the boil?

chris.

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Again, not sure if white marsh is city water or not, but I never bothered boiling first.

And yes, re-san the stockpot, however the gonorrhea will not come out in a boil or with san, you should really think about using direct torch heat directly to the infected surface area to remove it.

And by infected surface area, I don't mean the pot.


Dry hop the brew with your pot.

I top off with Philly tap water without boiling. Now I have a tail though

CallMeZoot said:

For those of you who use tap water -- do you boil it first or use it straight from the tap?
.......re-sanitize my stockpot after a pregnant stripper drops ....
chris.

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Out of the tap.
My strippers aren't pregnant so you're on your own there.

i live in pikesville and have used tap water a couple times in a pinch and never noticed a difference.

I have used exclusively Baltimore City Tap water. I usually do my top-off water through a filter, though. I think it can lend a uniqueness and consistency, i.e.: all of my beers taste like "my beers," for better or worse......

We use city tap water but filter it first. Baltimore uses chloramine, but I haven't noticed any off flavors from it. I know one of the more beloved Baltimore micros also uses city water.

which one is that? Brewer's? or Clipper City?

Saint Arnould said:

which one is that? Brewer's? or Clipper City?

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Brewer's Art, or so I hear.

I'd worry more about the chemicals added than any impurities in the water, except I usually remember to RDWHAHB.

Ironically, having just posted yesterday about how I don't worry about B-more water, I just read this today:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/lo...12,0,4757814.story?coll=bal_news_yahoo_head_1

Apparently my favorite Baltimore micro (rumor has it) DID have some trouble the last time Baltimore drew its drinking water from the Susquehanna, rather than its reservoir system. Don't know the specifics and I wasn't homebrewing then, just something that came up in a casual conversation.

I remember when they opened the pumps from the Susq. Water clarity was poor and definately an off flavor, plus they upped the chlorine. Filter time guys!

Yikes...I think I have some brewing to do before Tuesday......

Yous know dere sport, Natty BOH used to be brewed up dere in Bawlmer, and it was beers from da land of plesant living...its can't be dat bad dere now?

Here is a link to the Baltimore City DPW. You can find maps and information that will help you determine where your water is supplied from and where it is processed (needed to find info on water report). Note, that Baltimore provides water to some of the surrounding counties.

Here is a link to what appears to be the most current water report and one for Howard County. This link provides you with the information most relevant to brewing water chemistry, but is a bit dated.

that's cool dude

98EXL said:

Yous know dere sport, Natty BOH used to be brewed up dere in Bawlmer, and it was beers from da land of plesant living...its can't be dat bad dere now?

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Natty Boh? *cringe* (although, that was the cheap beer of choice at my college, lol!)

It's funny to see so many people from Baltimore with a sense of humor about the city- it's funny, because it's all true

For what it's worth, I live fairly close to Baltimore (Carroll County,) and I used bottled water for my first two batches. I have a batch in bottles now that I topped off with straight tap water, and one fermenting now that I made with PUR filtered water. We'll see how they go. My water is pretty good, but has a bit of sediment in it sometimes.

I love the BOH's...drink it as my cheap beer....goes great with brats too!

98EXL said:

I love the BOH's...drink it as my cheap beer....goes great with brats too!

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+1

I'm definitely on board with that. As far as cheap beers I'd drink Natty Boh over all the other commercialized suds out there.

chthonik said:

We use city tap water but filter it first. Baltimore uses chloramine, but I haven't noticed any off flavors from it. I know one of the more beloved Baltimore micros also uses city water.

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This may have been true in 2007, but as of February 2013, Baltimore City is using free chlorine as a water disinfectant. This information was provided to me by the drinking water department on the telephone, and it is also stated in the city's water quality report.

Baltimore City water is great for brewing. They do use chlorine/chloramine so you have to make sure you use camden tablets (potassium metabisulfate). I generally use half a tab crushed up in my 8-10 gallon collected volume of water for my typically all grain batch. I have noticed an improvement in my beer once I started using a filter, but I think that would be experienced from any water source.

The water is slightly soft, so it is great for IPA, Pale Ales, Blondes etc. I have noticed my stouts and malty beers are good but have a slightly 'watery' taste. But I wouldn't consider it an off flavor. My next malty beer I am going to experience with adjusting the water to make it a bit more hard.

Conclusions - 'eff all the naysayers' on balto water. It is consistently ranks as one of the best municipal water sources in the country and it is very good for brewing, slightly soft. And its not crack in the water its the HAIR'RON -- thats what keeps us baltimorians so laid back.

Meatball said:

+1

I'm definitely on board with that. As far as cheap beers I'd drink Natty Boh over all the other commercialized suds out there.

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Sorry to break your hearts but BOH hasn't been brewed in Baltimore in decades. I think its brewed in Milwaukee now. Although, because of the regional market I think there has been discussion of reopening a baltimore brewery for boh.

Smile everyone,
We make beer!
To input on Baltimore tap water, prior to prohibition, Baltimore had some of the best brewers in the USA. Baltimore tap water is delicious. This makes the beer even more special. As a Homebrewer since 1990 ,(began using cans for malt to now only grains and no sugar) water is maybe the most important ingredient to make a great brew. Direct from the tap I begin the soak of grains. An iconic brand every beer enthusiast knows Guinness beer. Well, they are in Maryland making beer. Why? The water is delicious. The grains, hops, yeast provide flavor, potency and color, but the water that's never talked about is so important.
So buying spring water costs more and does not have the original taste Baltimore tap water provides. Baltimore tap, not Frederick,MD or DC burbs,
Hope this helps. You will be fine with Baltimore tap water.
It's truly the secret ingredient overlooked but so important.

White Marsh is city water. Most of the Baltimore suburban counties use the same water except Caroll County. Someone mentioned DC, that is an entirely separate system that includes Montgomery County and Prince George's County. Baltimore has pretty good water for brewing. There is a change in late summer when they start to draw Susquehanna River water but I've made fine beer either way. You should to carbon filter it. For extra credit points use the published water chemistry stats to adjust with additives. I really don't think RO is necessary. Otherwise as is (filtered) it makes good ales. Cut it 50:50 with distilled water to make a good lager.