Las Vegas Water Suitable for All Grain Brewing?

[Mike123]

Just started all grain brewing. 1st batch was a Ranger IPA clone. Not bad. I understand I might consider treating the tap water. Charcoal filter for the Chlorine and PH balancer due to the tap water hardness. Anybody out there have experience with this, and recommendations?

 

[PlainJay]

Treating water is somewhat complicated and often yields mixed results or is unnecessary. Many do it very well, others don't understand it well. I recommend that you continue to brew all grain, refer to the post below, and read John Palmer's book regarding water treatment or other sources (He and Jamil did like 4 brew strong episodes / podcasts on the subject) before starting to worry too much about it. If you are worried about mash pH, use some 5.2 pH stabilizer from 5 star.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/my-water-report-any-suggestions-64531/

Now, if you really want to take a deep dive into this complicated subject, forge ahead, I think that is what this hobby is all about. Start first with sending a sample of your water to Ward's lab.

Good luck!

 

[Mike123]

Anyone out there from Las Vegas actually treating their tap water for all grain brewing? If so, what did you do and why? Were you successful? My plan is to charcoal filter for Chlorine (and other junk) versus simply boiling, and to use the pH stabilizer for mashing as PlainJay recommends. I'm brewing mostly Brown Ales and IPAs.

 

[BOBrob]

I'm not from Vegas, but I have read on HBT forum that the tap water is no good for brewing in the Vegas area. Seems it had to be filtered as you describe. Use the search at the top of the page , search "how to treat water in the Vegas area" or something similar and you will find lots of threads from other forums. Ask in the "all grain" forum for a fast answer if you can not find what you need. Welcome aboard & hope this helps. Cheers

 

[PlainJay]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/water-profile-how-fix-88393/index6.html

This thread has a vegas water analysis from Ward's lab.

 

[BOBrob]

If you have not found the answer in Plainjay's link, also look in the "brew science" forum and check the sticky "Brew water chemistry primer" . Lots of info on what to look for and how to fix it. Cheers