I just put my 4th brew into primary (amped up Hoegaarden clone ~6%abv), when I realized that it might be time to reevaluate using bottled vs. tap water.
I live in Berkeley CA where the water is, frankly, delicious. Beats the hell out of southern california water. I don't think it is hard water or chlorine-y.
Before brewing I've been heading over to Safeway to buy pre-bottled water and just purchasing the cheapest stuff they have ~$1/gal along with a 10lb bag of ice to quickly bring down the wort's temp. (the 10lb bag gets me a just about perfect 70 degree pitching temp within 1-2 mins)
So here's the question part-- should I keep buying the bottles of water, or save myself an extra $5/batch and use tap water? What are the risks associated with tap water? Naturally, I'll be sanitizing my holding bottles before putting it into the wort.
OR I guess I could just brew a clone of the last batch I made and do a side by side taste test.
Thanks y'all.
I live in Berkeley CA where the water is, frankly, delicious. Beats the hell out of southern california water. I don't think it is hard water or chlorine-y.
Before brewing I've been heading over to Safeway to buy pre-bottled water and just purchasing the cheapest stuff they have ~$1/gal along with a 10lb bag of ice to quickly bring down the wort's temp. (the 10lb bag gets me a just about perfect 70 degree pitching temp within 1-2 mins)
So here's the question part-- should I keep buying the bottles of water, or save myself an extra $5/batch and use tap water? What are the risks associated with tap water? Naturally, I'll be sanitizing my holding bottles before putting it into the wort.
OR I guess I could just brew a clone of the last batch I made and do a side by side taste test.
Thanks y'all.