question about boiling water

[blowmax10]

i'm using store bought distilled water because i don't trust my tap water

my question is - Do i need to boil the water that i'm going to use to top off the primary to 5 gallons?

or is it ok because it is bottled water???

 

[wildwest450]

From what i've been told, you don't want to brew with distilled water, you want bottled spring water or ro water, and yes you would need to boil topoff water.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I do not boil my top off water, haven't in 14+ years.

I do use a PUR filter on my tap though.

Distilled water is fine for only certain type brews, but usually not recommended.

Plain old bottled spring water is best, unless your tap water tastes good then use it.

 

[blowmax10]

the book says distilled water is ok because it is neutral and the yeast will make the environment however they like it as far as minerals and ph

is that correct

 

[Yooper]

Well, I've read in BYO that distilled water is fine for extract brewing because the minerals that are needed are already "in" there. It's not good for AG and PM brewing, though. That said, I would still use spring water if I was using bottled water.

Yeast don't make the environment they way they choose it- but they can survive in many different environments. They don't add to the ph or the minerals. They ferment sugars and produce ethanol and co2 as by products. Generally speaking, the healthier the yeast, the better the beer. I like to give my yeast a "leg up" by giving them plenty of oxygen, plenty of good (reasonable sg) wort, and the correct temperature to start off with and I think the beer is much better for it.

 

[blowmax10]

thanks guys - next time i will just use the spring water

i live in a really old house (85 to 100 years) that has some old galvanized pipe that i'm in the process of removing and i've seen how much rust in on the inside

i just don't trust my tap water

 

[Yooper]

Oh, I know what you mean! Bottled water is fairly cheap, and easy to deal with, so many brewers use it. I wouldn't boil bottled water, probably, but you can decide that for yourself.

 

[mot]

distilled is fine for EXTRACT brewing all your minerals are already in the extract. Using spring may give you a little bit more flavor good or bad depends on your style.

I used distilled on my extract and turned out great

 

[riored4v]

what type of water is dispensed out of the self-service units at grocery stores?


i've been using that, but if its distilled, maybe i'll give spring water a shot. i think the machines i get the water from are Glacier machines.

 

[Yooper]

I think someone told me they are reverse osmosis (RO) water. That would be very good for brewing, I would think.

 

[riored4v]

what about for PM? I eventually want to do AG as well, so i'll figure out something for water for that as well.

I'll be doing my first PM this weekend. Our tap water is horrible here, so i've just been using the Glacier self-serve stations.

RO sounds like that would be right.