Question? (What kind of water does everyone use?)

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Don't get people started on this one, but general rule of thumb: if its ok drink, its ok to brew beer with.
 
I use port huron tap water! But +1 on what Parker said....on both counts...

*ducks outta here before the water debate begins.*

Parker...uh...you actually name your fermenters???? :D
 
Don't use distilled water (especially for AG).

Don't use JUST RO water (especially for AG).

If it tastes like crap, don't use it.

If it's got crap floating it it, don't use it.

Otherwise, it's probably OK.
 
Lots of different theories on this one, but I agree with what's been posted so far. I use tap water and am able to make some pretty good beer.
 
I use tap water for my 2 gal. boils and bottled spring water for the remaining 3 gallons. That being said, I have used unboiled, unfiltered tap water exclusively and it worked just fine.
 
depending on your water quality. If you use a carbon filter, run it as slow as you do your sparge. carbon is not a filter but an absorber. the slower the flow the more it absorbs. I set my flow to a trickle and leave it overnight before brewing, this assures a purer more consistent water for brewing. If I don't have time to filter correctly then I use drinking water from the water store( it has some sodium and other minerals that RO does not.)
 
All of our water in this little town is softened. I always complained that it taste like CRAP.

Then my wife said = let's do a blind taste testing. She put filtered water and tap wated into the refrig for 1 hour. I scoffed and laughed under my breath.

Time came and I tasted both.

OH OH - no chlorine smell - both tasted the same! DAMN!!!

I was forced to buy her a 6 pack of Point Amber.

If you can drink it and it's not RO or distilled - go for it.
 
i only ask cause my first brew day is thursday and around here with have stuff floating in the water...thanks for all the help
 
I filter a few gallons of tap water for my boil, then top off with gallon jugs of "spring water" from the grocery store, whatever's on sale.
 
There's a theory that RO and distilled water are actually BETTER for extract brewing than spring water or other less "pure" water. Since most of the mineral content from the original mash persists in the extract, it adds back whatever chemistry is missing from the RO/distilled water. I've never done a side-by-side comparison, but the logic seems sound. I do know that it's very possible to brew some great extract beers using RO water. That's how I brewed most of my extract batches a few years ago.

If you're going to accomplish a mash of ANY kind, avoid RO and distilled water unless you're prepared to get into water chemistry, brewing salts, and pH adjustments.
 
Should I not use RO/DI water for an extract/specialty grain recipe? I'm about to brew a Hefe this weekend and was going to use RO/DI.
 
I just go to Wal Mart or the local grocery store and get five 1 gallon jugs of spring water and its about 3.50 for all five, they work just fine.
 
These may be dumb questions, but that never stopped me before:
1) Does RO stand for "Regular Old"?
2) And it seems every recommends against using RO and Distilled water for mashing. Does that mean I should use Spring Water?
3) Sorry for opening Pandora's Box with this one - How do I know that the Spring Water is of a better quality than my tap water (i.e. how do I know that it isn't tap water from another town?)

Thanks and cheers
 
1) Does RO stand for "Regular Old"?
2) And it seems every recommends against using RO and Distilled water for mashing. Does that mean I should use Spring Water?
3) Sorry for opening Pandora's Box with this one - How do I know that the Spring Water is of a better quality than my tap water

1. Reverse Osmosis

2. Maybe. Tap water works if it tastes good. It helps to have a water report for any source. RO/distilled can be used, but you need to tinker with the profile by adding salts and adjusting the pH.

3. Taste it.
 
For a while, the town I live in had to send out mailers every so often stating that while the water was safe to drink, It didn't meet some EPA standard of some sort. I brewed with it anyway and had no problems.

I did use store bought water for my first batch or two, but decided there was no point.
 
Use my inyard well here in NM. Unfiltered it tastes really crisp, fresh and clean and is harder than a steel hammer. I haven't had it tested so I don't know any numbers but from my reading it should be great water for stouts. I went out to my outdoor spigot to bypass as much plumbing as possible and to bypass my softener easily for my Ode to Arthur stout. My other pure extract brews(Muntons Irish and Coopers Cerveza) used softened water. Also have an RO but I was told not to use it.
 
I use filtered tap water and store-bought spring water. I usually use the first for mashing/boiling and the latter for topping off.
 
spring water, drinking water, and tap water usually come from the same source(read the label on on the bottles, "drawn from a municipal water source". only artisan wells break the ground by themselves. Most muni water supplies use well water to allow the first part of filtering to be done by the ground(which can make it worse). Some cities pull the water from lakes and rivers which usually cause them to go through additional processes. The quantity and type of minerals and the amount of filtration determine the name on the bottle. Drinking water has sodium levels adjusted most accurately to achieve good tasting consistent water.
 
I grew up on well water, so I'm extremely sensitive (taste and smell) to the chlorine in tap water. So I get cheap bottled water at the grocery store for my brews. The boiling would probably remove the chlorine, but I figure the bottled stuff is pretty cheap anyway plus I don't have to wait for the faucet to fill up the container. In the end, it's not that big a deal to me either way.
 
I grew up on well water, so I'm extremely sensitive (taste and smell) to the chlorine in tap water. So I get cheap bottled water at the grocery store for my brews. The boiling would probably remove the chlorine, but I figure the bottled stuff is pretty cheap anyway plus I don't have to wait for the faucet to fill up the container. In the end, it's not that big a deal to me either way.

Fill up a fermenter the night before and crush a single Campden tablet into it. This will remove the chlorine from the water and make it ready to brew. This is what i do for all my brewing water. It comes from Cleveland water supply which comes from Lake Erie.

Craig
 
My house has the nastiest well water. 2 whole house filters, water softener, plus drinking line filter strictly for the kitchen. We have an RO unit for our normal drinking water but the RO tank is only 1.2 gallons so it would take a day to get enough water for a batch of beer. So I just go with cheap purified water from Target ($.67 a gal). So far I haven't had a problem with any batches. But then again I've only extract brewed.
 
Tap water with 1/4 crushed Campden tablet per 5 gallon. It only needs to sit a few minutes and the chlorine/chloramine is taken care of.
 
well crap!!!

all I can get here in my neck of the woods is 5 gallon jugs of culligan water, and I think it is RO'd.

I used it today for my first PM, heck I even used a gallon with floride added by mistake. I am pretty sure it will still make beer.

Tim
 
By tap water most of you are refering to city tap water correct? For me tap water is well water. My well water is very hard and tastes allright to me. I was raised on well water. I was reading through John Palmer's How to Brew and my understanding is that so long as I'm not trying to make a Pilsner I'll be fine. So I think I'm gonna risk an OctoberFast.

cz
 
My Water has chlorine and chloramine and smells like a bucket of bleach. I was going to use cheep RO water but I guess I'll have to pay double for spring water. Unless I can sucker my father in law in to driving some of his well water down. Thanks for the heads up on the RO water
 
The water issue confuses me. So far I have made good beer with filtered tap water. So until my beer sucks, I'll stay with the same method.

However, I did use 75/25 distilled/filtered tap mix on my 1st lager (pilsner). Taste test is yet to come.

Edit: The pilsner turned out great! I should do one with just tap to see the difference.
 
My Water has chlorine and chloramine and smells like a bucket of bleach. I was going to use cheep RO water but I guess I'll have to pay double for spring water. Unless I can sucker my father in law in to driving some of his well water down. Thanks for the heads up on the RO water

Campden tablets should solve that problem. BYO had an article about it. See http://***********/mrwizard/1211.html
 
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