Does anyone else ignore their water?

[corycorycory09]

My first few batches I purchased gallons of drinking water at the store and brewed with that. However, my last 8 or so batches, to save money, I've used tap water (without any additives) and had great results.


Does anyone else just ignore the water chemistry part? Maybe I'm just lucky and my city has decent water?

 

[BroomVikin]

+1! I just get RO water from the "fill-your-own-container" dispenser at the local grocery store. It costs $.39/gallon. I figure it's worth the 3 bucks to not invest in a ph meter, water filter, various and sundry chemicals. And most importantly the chemistry degree it seems you need to understand some of the water threads on here.

 

[m00ps]

except that you actually WANT minerals in your brewing water...

Brewers that use RO water build back their desired water profile from scratch.

I only barely scratch the surface on water chemistry with brewing, but then again, i havent encountered any issues which I can attribute to water chemistry. I would only look into it if you run into problems with your water or want to get very serious

 

[Raven1469]

I used to do the same thing (buy water from the grocery store). Then I bought a PH test kit to see where my water sat, and it looks good PH wise. The flavor of it is good too. Now I just run it through a RV water filter (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006IX87S/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20) just to be sure, and I've had no issues at all.

 

[Psylocide]

I am a huge proponent of KISS brewing, but once I got my water report and started playing with different water profiles for different styles of beers, my beers have greatly improved.

The only time I really don't mess with it much is when I'm doing hoppy beers, which my existing water is pretty good for.

 

[Foosier]

As a beginning brewer, especially if you are doing extract brewing, water does not play as big a part as long as your water tastes good. This is not to say it plays no role. There are certain minerals which will improve the taste perception of hops and malt. To the extent you want to play those up or not, water is important.

However, with beginning brewing there are really areas you need to pay SO much more attention to that water is NOT where you need to start worrying. Focus on controlling the temperature of your fermentation before almost anything else to improve the quality of your beer.

All that being said, once you get the basics down, including fermetation temp control, you will be ready to start delving into the more complicated, technical aspects of brewing to take your beer to the next level. Water is definitely an area you need to understand. Especially when you get into All-grain brewing (through BIAB, 3 vessel, cooler mash tun, whatever) water becomes critically important. You can do everything else well and your water can really hurt your beer.

So, know you can get away with doing very little to start, but that as you get deeper into the hobby there is more to know and it will make a difference. There are great stickies in the Brew Science forum which will give you the basics. Read them and profit.

Also, know that I have done what you are saying and have learned from experience just how much water can make a difference. I do minimal adjusting today to remove Chloramines and neutralize alkalinity in my tap water based on the recipe I am brewing. It is pretty basic and can be for you too.

 

[Kharnynb]

I live in a country with some of the best drinking water in the world, i checked it for chlorine, but otherwise i decided it tastes good, the beer tastes good, so why bother?

 

[corycorycory09]

As a beginning brewer, especially if you are doing extract brewing, water does not play as big a part as long as your water tastes good. This is not to say it plays no role. There are certain minerals which will improve the taste perception of hops and malt. To the extent you want to play those up or not, water is important.

However, with beginning brewing there are really areas you need to pay SO much more attention to that water is NOT where you need to start worrying. Focus on controlling the temperature of your fermentation before almost anything else to improve the quality of your beer.

All that being said, once you get the basics down, including fermetation temp control, you will be ready to start delving into the more complicated, technical aspects of brewing to take your beer to the next level. Water is definitely an area you need to understand. Especially when you get into All-grain brewing (through BIAB, 3 vessel, cooler mash tun, whatever) water becomes critically important. You can do everything else well and your water can really hurt your beer.

So, know you can get away with doing very little to start, but that as you get deeper into the hobby there is more to know and it will make a difference. There are great stickies in the Brew Science forum which will give you the basics. Read them and profit.

Also, know that I have done what you are saying and have learned from experience just how much water can make a difference. I do minimal adjusting today to remove Chloramines and neutralize alkalinity in my tap water based on the recipe I am brewing. It is pretty basic and can be for you too.

Do you make your adjustments based on your city water report, or did you lab test your specific tap water?

 

[Jwin]

I run my slowly through a $15 filter from lowes, add campden and ph buffer. Other than that, yes. I just used the buffer for the first time and only started as an attempt to figure out my efficiency issue. Seemed to help but will need another brew to decide. Im thinking its the lhbs mill may be the bigger issue. Getting amill in a couple of days and will test that theory next.
My tap water tastes ok.
My filtered water tastes good. My beer tastes good. But my efficiency is 63% at best.

 

[IslandLizard]

Ignorance can be bliss... Or you could be just fortunate that your tap water works for your styles of beer. But I doubt you get optimum results brewing without knowing its mineral composition and making adjustments.

Most municipal water is chlorinated so in that case the least you should do is give it a Campden treatment. It doesn't hurt to contact your water company and ask them for a mineral analysis. They have the data, just may not publish it, and insights on seasonal fluctuations, depending on their sources.

The water we get here is very decent, fairly consistent since it's sourced from deep wells and soft, but it needs Campden and a (small) acid addition. Then some extra Chloride and/or Sulfate to accentuate style or flavor.

So no, I don't ignore my water.

 

[andy6026]

I took me about a year of brewing to get consistently good enough at it that I was satisfied that I considered myself to 'know what I'm doing.' In that time I went over various aspects of my process in order to try and improve. For a short period of that I started adding small amounts of lactic acid to adjust my mash pH, but I found the results to be highly inconsistent with a few significant over-shoots. Since then I've gone back to tap water and campden tablets. I agree that the water science can be very tricky to understand. I've tried on a number of occasions to read water-chemistry articles supposedly designed for the layman and came away rather unconfident.

I don't think we should write off the potential to include an understanding and adjustment of water chemistry to our brewing knowledge. If you find that your beers aren't turning out as well as you'd expect, it may or may not be something to do with your water profile. Some of the people here are excellent at reading water reports. If you live in an urban area, there's a good chance that you have access to download one. If it concerns you then post it on here and many members will be able to help. Otherwise, if you're happy so far with the results of your local unadjusted tap water (as I am), then just keep water chemistry in the back of your mind as something to incorporate eventually. We don't need to tackle every aspect of brewing at once, but nor should we forever write off any aspect as unimportant or not worth learning.

 

[Yooper]

If you make great beer, and are totally happy with it, then of course you can ignore water.

You can also ignore other things, like fermentation temperature control as an example, if you love the beer you make.

That's the great thing about homebrewing- if YOU love your results, you are doing everything right.

 

[DrummoRC]

I agree with the approach that if the water tastes good use it! BUTT (and that is a big BUTT) water can make the beer - especially with certain styles! So as you become a better brewer you start watching more aspects of the process - fermentation temps - Water Chem - PH...

So learn as you go and hopefully your beer just gets better and better.

 

[GardenElf]

I have my own well, never tested the water but it tastes good so I believe its okay. I brew my beer with it and they too taste good . I'm actually quite proud to have my own water source because that makes the beer a bit special too.

 

[Psylocide]

I live in a country with some of the best drinking water in the world, i checked it for chlorine, but otherwise i decided it tastes good, the beer tastes good, so why bother?

Let's not get hung up on taste being the only thing affected by water chemistry.

http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/08/24/brewing-water-hard-or-soft/

 

[Remmy]

I don't mess with the water. Beers turn out great and my well water obviously doesn't contain any chlorine (no additives, either). I've had the water company test my water in the past and a few of the more important things I was worried about were the iron content and was curious about the pH - both of which were normal.

 

[chudsonvt]

My tap water is already pretty good for brewing so I do nothing to it. I have only briefly read about water quality. But I took a look at the city water report and didn't see anything worth correcting. But I am planning on buying a house this summer and will most likely have well water. I will have it tested because I know the water differs a lot around here, depending on how close to the mountains it is. If I am too close to Lake Champlain and too far from the Green Mountains, my water will likely be terrible. If this is the case, I will get an RO system so I can even drink the water. In which case, I would have to start building my water profile. If I am closer to the mountains, the water may actually be quite nice for brewing.

So long story short, some are lucky enough to not need to care too much. Others, it is a necessity to care in order to produce a drinkable beer, period.

 

[IslandLizard]

I run my slowly through a $15 filter from lowes, add campden and ph buffer. Other than that, yes. I just used the buffer for the first time and only started as an attempt to figure out my efficiency issue. Seemed to help but will need another brew to decide. Im thinking its the lhbs mill may be the bigger issue. Getting amill in a couple of days and will test that theory next.
My tap water tastes ok.
My filtered water tastes good. My beer tastes good. But my efficiency is 63% at best.

99% sure your efficiency is related to your crush. You'll love having your own mill. Buy sacks of grain through a group buy, saving $$.

Skip the pH buffer, it only adds phosphates, but doesn't tackle your alkalinity, which needs acid to compensate. pH buffer only works when your water is great already, in which case you won't need it and shouldn't use it.

As I wrote above, contact your water company and get the nitty gritty on your tap water's mineral composition. The report they drop in the mail each year deals with EPA/CDC requirements and toxins, and omits the more useful data.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I'm just some idiot who brews in my basement, but I've never worried about it. I'm on city water, and it tastes fantastic. And the beer turns out well, so I don't sweat it!

 

[Dixon9717]

Here in the NW was have pretty good water so I've never concerned myself with getting it tested. This spring I'm going up to Mt. Hood and getting some mountain spring water and see if I can taste a difference.

 

[popgunandy]

Both Gekkeikan and Kikkoman chose to locate plants in my city because of the water...that's all I need to know,

 

[Gavin C]

My first few batches I purchased gallons of drinking water at the store and brewed with that. However, my last 8 or so batches, to save money, I've used tap water (without any additives) and had great results.


Does anyone else just ignore the water chemistry part? Maybe I'm just lucky and my city has decent water?

I'd guess and say you're part of the vast majority of homebrewers who do nothing to their tap water and use it for brewing.

If the results are to your liking, who could argue with that.

 

[Sailingeric]

Here in the NW was have pretty good water so I've never concerned myself with getting it tested. This spring I'm going up to Mt. Hood and getting some mountain spring water and see if I can taste a difference.

Same here across the River. I run it through a RV filter but that is about it. The only thing that could really affect the water is the occasional drunk peeing in the water reservoir but the extra salt will bring out the hop flavor.

 

[Jwin]

99% sure your efficiency is related to your crush. You'll love having your own mill. Buy sacks of grain through a group buy, saving $$.

Skip the pH buffer, it only adds phosphates, but doesn't tackle your alkalinity, which needs acid to compensate. pH buffer only works when your water is great already, in which case you won't need it and shouldn't use it.

As I wrote above, contact your water company and get the nitty gritty on your tap water's mineral composition. The report they drop in the mail each year deals with FDA requirements and toxins, and omits the more useful data.

Thanks. Im thinking the same at this point. Ive yet to see any midTN group buys, but Rebel Brewer has decent bag prices. Heres the local report:
https://www.whud.org/waterquality.pdf

 

[Jwin]

Same here across the River. I run it through a RV filter but that is about it. The only thing that could really affect the water is the occasional drunk peeing in the water reservoir but the extra salt will bring out the hop flavor.

Perfect profile for Gose!

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks. Im thinking the same at this point. Ive yet to see any midTN group buys, but Rebel Brewer has decent bag prices. Heres the local report:
https://www.whud.org/waterquality.pdf

Beware, shipping usually kills good deals on sacks of grain. Some brew shops may sell whole bags for competitive prices too or have a decent patron grain subscription program. Shop around, ask brew clubs.

That's the EPA/CDC required report. The minerals we brewers are interested in are not mentioned, except for Sodium (7.1 ppm), which is low and fine.

 

[Jwin]

Beware, shipping usually kills good deals on sacks of grain. Some brew shops may sell whole bags for competitive prices too or have a decent patron grain subscription program. Shop around, ask brew clubs.

That's the EPA/CDC required report. The minerals we brewers are interested in are not mentioned, except for Sodium (7.1 ppm), which is low and fine.

Rebel Brewer is 10 minutes from me. RAHR 2 row is $47
Ill get into the chemistry more at some point. Going to test the crush theory next and see if that solves it.

 

[Zekk]

I use RO and add some minerals back. I think it makes a difference and found my beers that I have done this with have turned out better. I did spend several years where I used spring water and liked those beers just fine.

 

[Barley_Bob]

I used to not worry about it, and I made some really great beer. And then a funny thing happened. My beer stopped being so good. I was on a small municipal water system, so I called them to see what was going on. It turns out, especially on small wells, the mineral content of your water can change seasonally as the ground expands and contracts. Which was a huge bummer. Now I typically just buy RO from the store and add salts with Bru'n water as my guide. Which is surprisingly simple.

The moral of the story is that control guarantees consistency. Some few people are lucky enough to live in places where the water is perfect for brewing straight out of the tap 100% of the time. But most of the world is not so fortunate. Anyway, that's my cautionary tale.

 

[Rhumbline]

I use tap water as is except for when I brew stouts. I can't say there's any noticeable difference but the adjuncts are cheap and easy to add.

 

[IslandLizard]

Rebel Brewer is 10 minutes from me. RAHR 2 row is $47
Ill get into the chemistry more at some point. Going to test the crush theory next and see if that solves it.

Now that's convenient! Rahr is very good malt, I use a lot of it, and love their Red Wheat. Sometimes I do need Maris Otter or some other British style malt.

Until a few years ago we used to get Rahr at $28 a sack in our group buy. Plus $7 shipping.

 

[slym2none]

I ignore my tap water - totally. It's got too much chlorine (or chloramines) in it. I buy spring water in a 2.5G container, and it's only $2. It works great for most every style of beer, although it's not optimal for hoppy beers. It comes from one of those sources that sells their water out to many brands and one can look up the water report online.

I guess I should get some Campden tabs and actually try using my treated tap water once. It might save a little money & an extra trip to the store come brew-days.

 

[GHBWNY]

I "ignore" my water in that I checked it at my very first brew nearly 2 years ago, and I haven't checked it since. And how did I check it? I tasted it. We have notoriously good tap water here. It's one of the reasons people around here like to buy real estate on the pipeline. Furthermore, we have an under-sink AquaSana filter system that I run all of my brew water through. Just call me fortunate. And ignorant.

 

[z-bob]

If your water tastes good, it's probably good for mashing *some* style of beer or another, and it's probably good for making extract brews.

The water here is a challenge. I've been using RO water plus a little CaCl2 and CaSO4. My last batch, I used dechlorinated tapwater for the mash (that had a lot of roasted malt) and sparged with RO water.

I'm about to start playing with water chemistry. See if I can use treated tapwater for the whole thing.

 

[Kent88]

I run my tap water through a brita and hope that gets the chlorine out. I do occasionally buy a gallon of spring water from the gas station for brew days, but that is because using the brita is something of a bottleneck. I have mostly remedied the bottleneck by collecting strike water the night before, though, along with some infusion water.

I was recently involved in a thread here where we debated how useful yeast nutrient is to beer, and as a result I looked back into the mineral section of Charlie P's book and figured I'd get some Wyeast beer yeast nutrient and start using about half the amount it calls for in my brews. I think my beer tastes fine without it, but I occasionally have slow fermentations so I figured I'd give it a shot. I don't need it, but it isn't breaking the bank and I'm curious to see if it helps.

Edit: And I use a little gypsum in my mash and sparge water, but again, I'm shooting for less than half of what it calls for. I think I read in Charlie P's book that using a little improves efficiency.

 

[seefish]

Water Chemistry is literally the last of the beer making processes you should worry about. So many homebrewers freak out about water and the beer is bad because they haven't nailed down fermentation or sanitization. No doubt water can make a good beer great, but there are other things way more important to get right first. Likely if your water tastes good then it isn't going to ruin the beer.

 

[glick]

I used to ignore my water. Then I started to wonder why my light (Helles, blondes, etc.) and hoppy (pale ales and Ipa) were not so tasty. Started using RO water with a calcium addition and lactic acid and haven't looked back. If you are ignoring your water chances are that your beer is suffering for it.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I use de-chlorinate tap water (one of two methods) for everything and like most who do, find it makes beer I like to drink. I have never said to myself "boy this would have been so much better with a bit of (insert chemical here)".

Either ignorance is bliss or my water fits my brewing/beer (lack of) style. I am the lounge pants of brewing.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Ignored my water up to now. Its pretty good quality I think, but it is hard water apparently. Reading one of the recent issues of BYO I saw Firestone Walker uses RO water then adds back some minerals. Think I'll do that from now on. Something seems off with my roastier beers. Although I get good feedback on them I swear I could do better - changing up the water will be a nice experiment.

 

[jonny24]

What kind of effect does water softening salt have? I'm on a well with a water softener, been thinking about using my water instead of buying jugs.