Am I better off with spring water or Brita Filtered Tap Water for AG?

[Contradiction]

Hi everyone,

Attempting my first AG batch on Wed. and I'm wondering how much I should worry about the water I'm using. I am most definitely NOT educated enough on this to figure out the exact water chemistry nor have I had my water tested.

I will say that it is municipal tap water with a water softener in the basement and I have a PUR faucet filter on it as well. The water tastes fine, no smell, etc.

1) However I'm wondering, is using the PUR faucet filter going to remove minerals that I want in my wort?

2) Is it going to really help with removing Flouride or Chlorine?

If the answer is Yes to 1 and No to 2, then I'm fine with buying spring (bottled) water from the store.

Just wondering if the PUR water filter would really help or harm me here.

 

[milldoggy]

Pur are 1 micron I believe. So you were probably OK. I use .5 before and made decent beer. I switched to 5 micron. Water softener water is full of salt, so maybe not the best. To be safe, get some spring water maybe?

 

[241]

I use RO for consistency sake. My tapwater, filtered or not, is all over the place. I vote store bought water.

 

[SippinSudz]

5gal for 2$ here in BC, Canada.
What's your prices/regions

 

[Gavin C]

Water from a softener will often have unacceptably high levels of sodium ions rendering it unsuited to brewing. Impossible to say for sure though without a water report.

RO water is better allowing you to build your water from a blank canvas

A PUR filter will not remove chlorine or chloramines. This are easily removed with Campden tablets however.

Fluoride in the water is of no concern from a flavor standpoint being added by most municipalities to target a level of about 0.7ppm. This has been well shown to be safe while providing maximal caries prevention. This will not affect your brewing.

I would pass on the softened water for brewing due to the likely high Na+ content.

Spring water is as specific a term as tap water. Some bottled spring waters are good for brewing some spring water most definitely is not. The term is meaningless from a mineral content standpoint.

If your going to invest in buying water get RO or distilled and build from there. Use spring water and you still have no idea what the mineral content is. Units and ions on labels are not always useful to brewers.

Check out the water chemistry primer. It should answer a lot more questions.

Another really useful thread covers some of the more common errors folks make in attempting to tackle water chemistry.

 

[kh54s10]

I think it all depends on your city water. The water in my town is reported to be the best in the area. I have used a Brita filter and an inline canister with a charcoal filter. I have not done any alterations to the water. I have not even been using Campden tablets for the chlorine or chloramines. Which reminds me, I should look at my water statement and see what the town uses.

Just today I sent off a sample of my water to Ward labs. I didn't really feel the need to do it but I want to see what is in it and see if I can make my already great beer even greater.

 

[Contradiction]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the quick replies!

To your point Gavin I totally get what you are saying about the quality of "Spring Water" for all I know that could be tap water from some shady bottling plant.

Based on what you guys are saying about the salt content from my water softener I think it's a better alternative at this point though.

Until I know enough about water chemistry to use RO water I'll give that a shot.

 

[Jim311]

There are certain types of carbon filters that do in fact reduce chloramines. Breweries use them. You need a specific type of carbon filter though, and if you're relying on them to reduce chloramines you must replace them on a shorter interval than if you're just filtering for chlorine content. I bought a GAC/KDF filter.

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water

 

[AnthonyUK]

One is no better than the other if you don't know what the content is of either
Also there is no universal water type for every beer so your grain bill will have the biggest impact on what type of water you require.

 

[nickatnite26]

I have used city water and softened water on my brews. The softened water will give a little more salt content, but I haven't noticed a difference in taste and hasn't effected the fermentation. You will however get better head retention with softened water and a slicker mouth feel to my brews.

Try a batch of both and see which you prefer. On my wheat beers I use straight city water and on my stouts I use the softened water.