What the funk is going on with my Hefe?

[Nickbro]

I am trying to brew a German hefeweizen - it's my favorite kind of beer. I've been trying for about 2 years to get the brew I'm looking for. I love the banana clove bubble gum flavor in a good Hefe but can't seem to get anywhere close to it.

So I am stumped. Every time it gets a weird flavor to it (think bitter sour sulphury band aid.) EVERY SINGLE TIME... UNLESS (wait for it) - I use straight wheat DME. Same basic recipe, water, OG, and hops and yeast.

I have scoured the internet for clues and brewed at least 10 test batches, been over the common off flavors a hundred times. Here's my rundown and what I've tried

I BIAB.
I've modified the water. Usually straight RO but also tried adding Calcium chloride.
I've tried using different ratios and brands of wheat to pilsner (50/50 to about 70/30)
Mash Temp is around usually 152-154 (have tried decoction mashes as well).
Boiled from around an 60 to about 90 minutes (hops @ 60 minutes typically).
Almost always Hallertau hops but I've even left those out.
OG is usually around 1.050.
Fermentation temp has been anywhere from the mid 60s to upper 70s.
I've triple checked my sanitation and switched between glass and plastic fermentors.
I've used the 3068 and also harvested yeast from Urban Chestnut Schnickelfritz, and have tried under pitching.
Bottle conditioning has helped somewhat but it turns into more of a band aidy american wheat than a hefe.

Using the DME it turns out one of the best beers I've ever drank. Doing all grain - it's a drain pour.

HELP - I've almost given up.

 

[homebrewer_99]

The first time I was stationed Bavaria was Feb 1975. I've been drinking and brewing them (1994) HW's ever since. I lived in Bavaria for a total of 9 years. I'm a big fan of the banana flavor.

Here's my variation of a recipe I've been brewing for years. You can tweak it as you want/need to.

PINKUS HEFE WEIZEN (MY VERSION)
(Variation of Brew Classic European Beers At Home, p 164)
OG: 1.050 / FG: 1.011
4.2% ABW / 5.2% ABV

WLP300 Hefe Weizen Ale yeast.
Make starter 1-2 days prior.

Ingredients:
5#, 12 oz Wheat malt
8 oz Rice Hulls
3#, 12 oz Pale malt
2 AAU Hallertau (German Traditional) hops (60 mins)

(NOTE: You might notice that my hop AAUs are less than half of most HW recipes. I prefer mine on the sweet banana side).

Temperature Stepped Infusion Mash. (First water temp needs to be 10-11F higher than target).

Mash Schedule: (ACTUAL MASH T
122F for 30 mins. ________F
151F for 60 mins. ________F

Second water addition AND Batch Sparge with NEAR BOILING water to raise mash temp. Collect 6.5 - 7 gals.

Total Boil Time: 90 mins.
Boil 30 mins.
Add hops.
Boil 45 mins.
Add Wort Chiller.
Boil 15 mins.
Chill to fermentation temp and aerate.

Temp: ____F / Gravity: 1.0____
Pitch yeast.

Ferment between 68-70F to completion.
(Kristall Weizen: Rack to a carboy until clear).
Prime with 5-6 oz Corn Sugar if bottling.
Store around 70F for 4-7 days before sampling.
When the desired carbonation level is reached place the bottles in a cold place/fridge.
MINIMUM: 48 hours, 1 week is better.

 

[Bassman2003]

Sorry to hear about your issues with the nectar of the gods beer...! My guess is some kind of infection/sanitation issue. I say this because I went through this myself when I did BIAB for a few years.

Any beer with IBUs under 20 is very susceptible to a lacto infection. What happened to me is when I switched to BIAB, the ball valve on my Sanke keg was not getting sanitized. I used to run Star San through while the mash was going on but with BIAB the keg is always filled. The answer was to circulate some hot wort through the outlet during the boil and let the heat kill any bacteria. After a lot of head scratching I figured this out and the beers were fine going forward. Now I am back to a non-BIAB setup so I can run Star San but I still draw three pitchers full of boiling wort out of the ball valve just make sure.

So, take a look at your system and see where anything that the mash wort touches might touch the post boil wort. Also, I would shoot for the low to mid 60's for fermentation temps as going towards 70 increases the chance of off flavors. Slight underpitching will increase the banana. Hope this helps!

 

[Jayjay1976]

I know what you mean, in my 5 years living in southern Germany, hefeweizen was by far my favorite beer. It's deceptively difficult to brew a good example, in fact I still haven't managed to produce one. If you can manage a decoction, that seems to be an element missing from most recipes. Also, I've read that bavarian wheat yeast produces more of the esters than the weihenstephan strain, speaking of wyeast offerings.

 

[Nickbro]

Any beer with IBUs under 20 is very susceptible to a lacto infection.

That's interesting I definitely run on the low IBUs side of things but had never heard that before! The last batch should have been around 10 IBUs. I tried to minimize the "moving parts" and I brewed just 1 gallon chilled it in an ice bath and went into a glass fermentor that had been sanitized with star-san. Maybe I will try sanitizing with boiling water instead next time.

Any idea why the DME one would turn out using basically the same equipment and procedures though?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Every time it gets a weird flavor to it (think bitter sour sulphury band aid.) EVERY SINGLE TIME... UNLESS (wait for it) - I use straight wheat DME. Same basic recipe, water, OG, and hops and yeast....

I've modified the water. Usually straight RO but also tried adding Calcium chloride.

Using the DME it turns out one of the best beers I've ever drank. Doing all grain - it's a drain pour.

I'll first make the point that since we can't taste the beer over the internet, it would be good to get a second opinion on the off-flavours from someone with more experience in these things - a local homebrew club or LHBS or commercial brewery. The following is based purely on the clues you've given us.

First split up "bitter sour sulphury band aid" :
"Sour" implies too much acidity, "bitter sour" could be too much magnesium. Or it could be your interpretation of astringency from tannins.
"sulphury" can be just business as usual for some yeast, or it could mean they're a bit stressed and need feeding, or it's just typical of yeast coming into contact with very high sulphate levels
"band aid" is phenols coming into contact with chlorine in the water, or can be wild yeast

The fact that all-grain fails but extract appears to work would suggest strongly that the problem lies in either your ingredients or your mash prototcol rather than an infection (although sanitation is always good!).

The thing that stands out is your use of unmodified RO water. You need salts for mash enzymes to work properly and for general yeast health. So at the very least you should be putting a slightly heaped teaspoon of both gypsum and calcium chloride in 5 gal. Or, depending on your mains water you could cut the RO with some mains water?

But I wonder if there's a deeper problem with your water - that bandaid is a strong hint that there's chlorine from somewhere. You're not doing something like mashing in RO water and then sparging with mains water? I'd be tempted to throw in half a Camden tablet to your mash water - it won't do any harm and it should mop up any stray chlorine. Where is the RO coming from, is it possible that the machine has been poorly maintained and is letting mains water through?

Wheat is a bit of a problem when it comes to mashing - 70% is too much, and many German ones only use 40%. I'd be tempted to go down to 30% wheat just whilst you're troubleshooting and then build up from there.

A question that has to be asked - you are using wheat malt, and not unmalted wheat?

Do you have any problems making all-grain non-wheat beers?

 

[Nickbro]

I'll first make the point that since we can't taste the beer over the internet, it would be good to get a second opinion on the off-flavours from someone with more experience in these things - a local homebrew club or LHBS or commercial brewery.

I took it by my LHBS and their take on it was that it tasted "wheaty" but they didn't think it was infected. The ones that weren't terrible had more of an American wheat flavor than a hefe flavor.

The fact that all-grain fails but extract appears to work would suggest strongly that the problem lies in either your ingredients or your mash prototcol rather than an infection (although sanitation is always good!).

The water is bottled water and I used it exclusively throughout. I have tried the calcium chloride but not gypsum. I did not use a Camden tablet since it was bottled water.

Wheat is a bit of a problem when it comes to mashing - 70% is too much, and many German ones only use 40%. I'd be tempted to go down to 30% wheat just whilst you're troubleshooting and then build up from there.

A question that has to be asked - you are using wheat malt, and not unmalted wheat?

Yes it's wheat malt - the last attempt was white wheat. I had used some flaked wheat before but removed it to eliminate it as a possible factor. As far as ratios I've considered removing the wheat altogether.

Do you have any problems making all-grain non-wheat beers?

Nope - they turn out ok. Maybe I should try a batch with only Pilsner malt and see what happens.

 

[Smellyglove]

If you use straight RO I'm guessing you're mashing at 5.7 / 5.8. That's imo way high for a hefe. I did one where I mashed at a theoretical 5.7 and it was pretty bad. The malts didn't pop and went dull and somewhat astringent-grain-y.

Which yeast do you use? If you use wb-06 for some reason then that yeast drops the pH quite often to the lower range giving it a tarty twang. If you carbonate it with table sugar I can def see where the sulfur is coming from. Table sugar also gives a sort of acidic twang to my taste while at the same time dulls the beer.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Try a ferulic acid rest at 110 degrees to drive the heffe phenols (clove) your after. You can under pitch slightly to drive the banana. 50%-70% wheat malt and 30-50% pilsner malt is a good grain bill to start.

Here is a good article for you to review. Gotta love Matt Brynildson
https://byo.com/article/german-hefeweizen-style-profile/

 

[Nickbro]

If you use straight RO I'm guessing you're mashing at 5.7 / 5.8. That's imo way high for a hefe. I did one where I mashed at a theoretical 5.7 and it was pretty bad. The malts didn't pop and went dull and somewhat astringent-grain-y.

Which yeast do you use? If you use wb-06 for some reason then that yeast drops the pH quite often to the lower range giving it a tarty twang. If you carbonate it with table sugar I can def see where the sulfur is coming from. Table sugar also gives a sort of acidic twang to my taste while at the same time dulls the beer.

I did try adding calcium chloride to adjust the PH. I used the proportions from Gordon Strong's recipe here.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/el-hefe-3/

I have used Wyeast 3068 and harvested yeast from Urban Chestnut Schnickelfritz (one of my favorites).

The flavor is there before carbonation, but I use corn sugar

 

[Nickbro]

Try a ferulic acid rest at 110 degrees to drive the heffe phenols (clove) your after. You can under pitch slightly to drive the banana. 50%-70% wheat malt and 30-50% pilsner malt is a good grain bill to start.

Here is a good article for you to review. Gotta love Matt Brynildson
https://byo.com/article/german-hefeweizen-style-profile/

I've come across this article and it's definitely a good read. I have tried the step and decoction mashes without luck

 

[Oneiroi]

In your position the stubborn part of me would keep testing variables till I got it right, and it might make a better brewer, but the rational voice in my head would be asking why I’m not just making ‘one of the best I’ve ever drunk’ out of DME instead, whatever works right?

Edit: More constructively, you say it’s bottled RO, is it from a store that bottles it themselves? Might be worth trying a different brand or from a different store in case your source is bad.

Apologies if you said you tried that already

 

[homebrewer_99]

Back in

In your position the stubborn part of me would keep testing variables till I got it right, and it might make a better brewer, but the rational voice in my head would be asking why I’m not just making ‘one of the best I’ve ever drunk’ out of DME instead, whatever works right?

It can be done. Back in '97 I won Best of Style and Best of Show with an all DME Hefe Weizen. All I've ever used was (still do) is Pur filtered tap water.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I took it by my LHBS and their take on it was that it tasted "wheaty" but they didn't think it was infected. The ones that weren't terrible had more of an American wheat flavor than a hefe flavor.

Hmm - so they didn't think there were off-flavours? And this was a batch that you thought had a problem? It could well be that they're just not that into wheat beers, it might be worth getting a second opinion because at the moment we have one person saying "dumper" and one saying "wheaty".

The water is bottled water and I used it exclusively throughout. I have tried the calcium chloride but not gypsum. I did not use a Camden tablet since it was bottled water.

I agree with @Oneiroi, I would try another source of water if possible, since so much seems to be pointing to a problem with the water. I'd give Camden a go - the main source of band-aid is chlorine reacting with phenols, if you start messing around with ferulic rests and the like in order to increase the phenolics, then potentially you're just going to give the chlorine more to react with. You need to nail the off-flavours before trying to improve the good flavours.

Also - are you sparging? Did you add salts to your sparge water?

Have you checked that your thermometer is reading correctly?

Is there another source of chlorine, are you sanitising with bleach or similar?

As far as ratios I've considered removing the wheat altogether... Maybe I should try a batch with only Pilsner malt and see what happens.

Well, it seems to be either your water, your pilsner or your wheat that's the problem. I'm pretty sure it's your water so I'd probably do 30% wheat with Camden, gypsum and CaCl2, but I wouldn't argue if you wanted to do just pilsner with Camden, gypsum and CaCl2 - you could perhaps do a split batch and put some boiled wheat extract in one side, at least you should get some decent beer out of it.

 

[Nickbro]

In your position the stubborn part of me would keep testing variables till I got it right, and it might make a better brewer, but the rational voice in my head would be asking why I’m not just making ‘one of the best I’ve ever drunk’ out of DME instead, whatever works right?

LOL The struggle is real... I did just brew another DME batch because I needed a win. I guess like you said I'm too stubborn to know when to quit.

Hmm - so they didn't think there were off-flavours? And this was a batch that you thought had a problem? It could well be that they're just not that into wheat beers, it might be worth getting a second opinion because at the moment we have one person saying "dumper" and one saying "wheaty".

I had my brewing buddy and a few of my friends try it and they agreed that something wasn't right with it.

I agree with @Oneiroi, I would try another source of water if possible, since so much seems to be pointing to a problem with the water. I'd give Camden a go - the main source of band-aid is chlorine reacting with phenols, if you start messing around with ferulic rests and the like in order to increase the phenolics, then potentially you're just going to give the chlorine more to react with. You need to nail the off-flavours before trying to improve the good flavours.

Also - are you sparging? Did you add salts to your sparge water?

Have you checked that your thermometer is reading correctly?

Is there another source of chlorine, are you sanitising with bleach or similar?

Well, it seems to be either your water, your pilsner or your wheat that's the problem. I'm pretty sure it's your water so I'd probably do 30% wheat with Camden, gypsum and CaCl2, but I wouldn't argue if you wanted to do just pilsner with Camden, gypsum and CaCl2 - you could perhaps do a split batch and put some boiled wheat extract in one side, at least you should get some decent beer out of it.

The bottled water isn't a store filled bottle kind. Just off the shelf. I do sparge but no salts in the sparge water. Haven't check the thermometer but it was pretty new and I have checked it before. I'm using Star San to sanitize.

Thanks everyone! I've got enough clues to brew at least a few more test batches to try to nail it down.

 

[Bassman2003]

Odd. This reminds me of another guy a while back that about had the entire forum board trying to solve his problem. I do not know if he ever figured it out but you are in the right place!

Since you used filtered water I can not see how the issue would be related to your brewing water. I guessed a slight infection because you do not conduct a mash when using DME. The under 20 IBU infection risk is from the lacto bacteria present on the grain husks. Hops above ~20 IBU will counter act the bacteria in the wort throughout the process. So the sanitization is not so much from the fermenter but from the start of the brew day onward. I do not know your process so I might be off base but anything that touches the mash/grain could have the lacto bacteria on it.

In these scenarios, you pretty much have to look at everything and see where there might be an issue. Maybe tell us your mash procedure and equipment setup?

 

[bustyraker]

I have brewed 3 hefes so far this year and my last one was the best I've ever had. I ordered a Hanks hefeweizen kit from midwest supplies. I use 50% ro water and 50% tap, both treated with Camden tablets. I did a decoction mash which is now the only way I will ever do a hefe. My previous batch came out very sulfury so this time I let my wort chiller sit in the boil for the last 15 minutes to sanitize it and also to get some copper in the wort. Low fermentation temp is key to the clove flavor. I fermented at 62 degrees for 10 days and then kegged. Came out perfect.

 

[Home_alone1]

My Hef is my only great beer so far that I’ve made , I do 10 gallon batches and use 22lbs of grain 70/30 wheat to 2 row ratio. I use 2 packs of WLP 300 per 5 gallons and mash at 154. I use hallertau hops and aim for about 10IBU’s . Ferment at 66 degrees.

I’m happy with this , good luck and happy brewing !

 

[booth74]

Nick, there is some great input above. Sounds like you are not getting the phenols out of the yeast and you are getting a strong wheat flavor that is hard to identify. I too think bringing it to your local HB shop would be a great start. Some other things that I personally would focus on would be the Feurlic Acid rest at around 112 for 15-20 minutes, his brings out the precursor 4vg for that clove flavor. Then to a protein rest at 126 for about 15-20 min, for a Hef this will help bring out the amino acids to keep the yeast happy. Starting at a low temp then ramping up say from 62 to 71 over the course of 5 days. I personally used distilled and the munich boiled profile from bru n water.
If you do the acid rest keep your PH high during this time, then adjust.


One question I have is, have you tasted this flavor at all in commercial examples, just a small amount of the flavor?


I'd say start there, but other things you can experiment with would be open fermentation and skimming the top (branhefe), using a shallow wide ferment or, and yeast strains.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I had my brewing buddy and a few of my friends try it and they agreed that something wasn't right with it.

Hmm. You really need to get it in front of someone with enough experience to pick out the actual problem rather than just "not quite right", it's hard to troubleshoot without a better handle on the problem.

The bottled water isn't a store filled bottle kind. Just off the shelf. I do sparge but no salts in the sparge water. Haven't check the thermometer but it was pretty new and I have checked it before. I'm using Star San to sanitize.

It's possible that there's something wrong with "shelf" water, but unlikely. Still, it's something to try in order to eliminate it. Salts in the sparge water won't make a big difference but it's one less thing to worry about. Are you making up the Starsan with the right ratio, not leaving too much lying around? Again it shouldn't make a huge difference, but buckets of Starsan will mean more acid in your beer than you intend.

Talking of which, are you adding anything to adjust the pH at all? Shouldn't need too much either way, but again it's one of those marginal gains.

 

[danbrough]

Love the hefes and still haven't made one that I'm completely happy with but my last batch took a big step closer.

I've never in the past achieved the right yeast character I want (not enough banana) and sometimes off flavours have cropped up.
In particular: a fatty/phenolic/rubbery aroma and taste.

I think my biggest issue in the past has been trub carry over into the fermenter.
I would cool my wort and then strain it through a brew-bag into the fermenter under the logic that the trub is good for yeast
and any negative impact would only affect the beer in the long term.

With my last batch: I cooled the wort to 20c and then put the lid on the kettle and left it for half an hour and carefully racked off the clear wort into the fermenter and gave it a shake for a few minutes before pitching the yeast.
I also recirculate a lot at the end of the mash to get the clearest wort I can into the kettle.
Noticed a big difference with that batch. More banana, more clove, more positive yeast character and no perceptible negative traits.

The other biggest improvements to my hefe's have come from:

Decoction mashing: (Similar to Gordon Strong's single decoction method in "Brewing Better Beer")

Bottle conditioning using Speiss: (wort set aside for use as a priming sugar).
I reserve about 10% of what I expect my total bottling volume to be. (I usually bottle 17L so I put 1.7L of that in the freezer).
See: https://www.brewersfriend.com/gyle-and-krausen-priming-calculator/
If you use corn sugar to achieve 3.5 Vols of CO2 in what is supposed to be a 5% ABV beer then you will end up with a 6% beer
thats noticeably drier and less malty.
I do use corn sugar to prime my weizenbocks as I like them a bit drier.

I've experimented with water adjustments and have haven't noticed any difference in flavour.
Evidently Bavarian wheat beer is made with a wide range of water hardness.
I use unfiltered chlorinated tap water which is quite soft. (Wellington, NZ).

Recipe formulation I think is of much less importance than getting the wort production and fermentation right.
I like the classic 50/50% wheat and pilsner recipe.
I also liked the 70/30% wheat/pilsner recipe too.
The 60/40% wheat/vienna was a good one.
Using 3% crystal malt doesn't hurt and gives you some colour.

Looking forward to trying some of the "Low Oxygen Brewing" techniques for future improvements.

Making the "perfect" hefe at home could become a lifelong challenge but I've finally managed a step forward for the first time in a long while.
Rather than get completely frustrated I recommend making a saison occasionally using a reliable saison yeast like any French Saison strain
or white labs Belgian Saison II. Doesn't matter what you do when making a saison, even if you get an infection you will end up with a fine example of a saison.

 

[brumasterj]

Back in


It can be done. Back in '97 I won Best of Style and Best of Show with an all DME Hefe Weizen. All I've ever used was (still do) is Pur filtered tap water.

I have won several awards with just pure tap water no additives at all.

 

[brumasterj]

I am trying to brew a German hefeweizen - it's my favorite kind of beer. I've been trying for about 2 years to get the brew I'm looking for. I love the banana clove bubble gum flavor in a good Hefe but can't seem to get anywhere close to it.

So I am stumped. Every time it gets a weird flavor to it (think bitter sour sulphury band aid.) EVERY SINGLE TIME... UNLESS (wait for it) - I use straight wheat DME. Same basic recipe, water, OG, and hops and yeast.

I have scoured the internet for clues and brewed at least 10 test batches, been over the common off flavors a hundred times. Here's my rundown and what I've tried

I BIAB.
I've modified the water. Usually straight RO but also tried adding Calcium chloride.
I've tried using different ratios and brands of wheat to pilsner (50/50 to about 70/30)
Mash Temp is around usually 152-154 (have tried decoction mashes as well).
Boiled from around an 60 to about 90 minutes (hops @ 60 minutes typically).
Almost always Hallertau hops but I've even left those out.
OG is usually around 1.050.
Fermentation temp has been anywhere from the mid 60s to upper 70s.
I've triple checked my sanitation and switched between glass and plastic fermentors.
I've used the 3068 and also harvested yeast from Urban Chestnut Schnickelfritz, and have tried under pitching.
Bottle conditioning has helped somewhat but it turns into more of a band aidy american wheat than a hefe.

Using the DME it turns out one of the best beers I've ever drank. Doing all grain - it's a drain pour.

HELP - I've almost given up.

not sure if you got your problem figured out but I have won several awards with just pure tap water, no additives! Before I made any recipe changes I would look at fermentation temps, odd thing is I get more banana notes in the 72-74 degree range.
I ferment in a closet in the middle of my house for more stable temps!
try that if that doesn’t help then maybe looking at changing yeast! Do you start with a yeast starter?
Most of my hefe’s have always been in the 22-26 ibu and I get great banana flavors

 

[enganeer]

Try different yeasts

In the past, I bought the kits (Hanks Hefewiezen) and had good results until the last kits. I can't recall the yeasts used but for the last two kits, I know it was the same yeast as I only ordered one (I think they were out of 6068 and I used a sub) and then reused the yeast on the other batch. I would call it as 'off' in flavor (not quite band aid smell but off putting to me), some people liked it but I just could not stand it and dumped them.

Now that I have been diving deeper into all grain brewing, Hefe are pretty cheap to brew and soon to bottle version 5.0. I have been limiting myself to only two different yeasts strains - WPL300 and WPL380

Batch 1
Distilled water, ph adjusted to 5.5
50% 2 row rahr malt
50% White wheat
mash temp about 157
2 tsp yeast nutrients
Tettenager hops (hop spider)
1/3 oz burton salts
WPL300 yeast
Conical fermenter - temp about 65
Tasted - very light on the banana, easy beer

Batch 2
City water + 1/2 campben tablet, ph adjusted to 5.3
50% 2 row rahr malt
50% White wheat
mash temp about 153
3 tsp yeast nutrients
Tettenager hops (hop spider)
1/3 oz burton salts
1/2 tablet whirl flock
est 8oz of WPL300 yeast from prior batch
Conical fermenter - temp about 65
Tasted - mild banana taste, good body, wife loves it.


Batch 3
Carbon filtered city water, ph adjusted to 5.4
50% 2 row Breiss malt
50% White wheat
multi step mash, final temp about 153
Tettenager hops (hop spider)
1 gram NaCl salt (finally had water report from Wards lab - adjust for chloride to sulfur ratio)
WPL380 yeast
Conical fermenter - temp about 65
Tasted - that same off flavor I encountered with my last two Hanks Hefewiezen kits, no real banana flavor detected - blah.

Batch 4 - tried to hold near to batch 3 for comparison but did some tweaks (bolded)
Carbon filtered city water, ph adjusted to 5.5 (need to pull these down to 5.2- 5.3)
50% 2 row Breiss malt
50% White wheat
multi step mash, final temp about 153
Tettenager hops (hop spider)
1 gram NaCl salt
skimmed hot break off
Est 8oz of WPL300 yeast from prior batch
bucket fermenter - temp about 65
Tasted - has a much stronger banana flavor presence than batch 2 - almost too much, good body, wife still like batch 2 the best.

 

[RPh_Guy]

not sure if you got your problem figured out but I have won several awards with just pure tap water, no additives!

The thing is... Tap water varies widely in different locations, so your experience with tap water doesn't necessarily apply to anyone not in your immediate area.
Lots of people have tap water that's really bad for brewing without treatment.