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

[Eves]

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.

 

[FEARDIZ]

Lake Michigan tap water

 

[bearymore]

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.

 

[Shaggy]

Lake Michigan tap water

mi2...straight through Chicago pipelines to my kitchen tap.
I've even used non-boiled tap for top off with no issues found.
However, I tend to boil all water for all batches these days....

 

[DeathBrewer]

oakland tap water. EBMud...pretty good stuff, actually.

 

[MX1]

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

 

[Chris Z]

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

 

[jspence1]

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

 

[AnonyBrew]

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.

 

[bearymore]

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://www.byo.com/mrwizard/1211.html

 

[kaj030201]

poland spring. the pH is near perfect and you can buy 2 cases (just over 6 gallons) for 8 or 9 bucks normally.

 

[noisy123]

Will chlorine add unpleasant flavors during the mash? The reason I ask is that you are going to boil all of the water anyway (if you are doing full boils), won't the nasties boil off then?

On the subject of campden, I have heard (on the internets) that campden will drive off chlorine but not chloramine (which I guess is more commonly used by water municipalities). Can someone enlighten me on this?

 

[CBBaron]

Will chlorine add unpleasant flavors during the mash? The reason I ask is that you are going to boil all of the water anyway (if you are doing full boils), won't the nasties boil off then?

On the subject of campden, I have heard (on the internets) that campden will drive off chlorine but not chloramine (which I guess is more commonly used by water municipalities). Can someone enlighten me on this?

Boiling will only drive off chlorine not campden, as well as leaving the water sit for a few days. However I believe that Campden tablets react with both.

Craig

 

[mmb]

I get my brew water from a 140 foot 5 inch well tapped into the Marshall aquifer of Central Michigan.

Harder than chewing tacks but it makes good beer and tastes great out of the tap.

 

[camiller]

Hope this helps....

Water next to Malt is what by course comes here under Consideration as a
Matter of great Importance in Brewing of wholsome fine Malt-liquors, and
is of such Consequence that it concerns every one to know the nature of
the water he Brews with, because it is the Vehicle by which the nutritious
and pleasant Particles of the Malt and Hop are conveyed into our Bodies,
and there becomes a diluter of our Food: Now the more simple and freer
every water is from foreign Particles, the better it will answer those
Ends and Purposes; for, as Dr_.Mead_ observes, some waters are so loaded
with stony Corpuscles, that even the Pipes thro' which they are carried,
in time are incrusted and stopt up by them, and is of that petrifying
nature as to breed the Stone in the Bladder, which many of the _Parisians_
have been instances of, by using this sort of water out of the River
_Seine_. And of this Nature is another at _Rowel_ in _Northamptonshire_,
which in no great distance of time so clogs the Wheel of an overshot Mill
there, that they are forced with, convenient Instruments to cut way for
its Motion; and what makes it still more evident, is the sight of those
incrusted Sides of the Tea-kettles, that the hard Well-waters are the
occasion of, by being often boiled in them: And it is further related by
the same Doctor, that a Gentlewoman afflicted with frequent returns of
violent Colick Pains was cured by the Advice of _Van Helmont_, only by
leaving off drinking Beer brewed with Well-water; It's true, such a fluid
has a greater force and aptness to extract the tincture out of Malt, than
is to be had in the more innocent and soft Liquor of Rivers: But for this
very reason it ought not, unless upon meer necessity, to be made use of;
this Quality being owing to the mineral Particles and alluminous Salts
with which it is impregnated. For these waters thus saturated, will by
their various gravities in circulation, deposit themselves in one part of
the animal Body or other, which has made some prove the goodness of Water
by the lightness of its body in the Water Scales, now sold in several of
the _London_ Shops, in order to avoid the Scorbutick, Colicky,
Hypochondriack, and other ill Effects of the Clayey and other gross
Particles of stagnating Well-waters, and the calculous Concretions of
others; and therefore such waters ought to be mistrusted more than any,
where they are not pure clear and soft or that don't arise from good
Chalks or stony Rocks, that are generally allowed to afford the best of
all the Well sorts.


THE

LONDON and COUNTRY

BREWER

1736

 

[pjj2ba]

And it is further related by
the same Doctor, that a Gentlewoman afflicted with frequent returns of
violent Colick Pains was cured by the Advice of _Van Helmont_, only by
leaving off drinking Beer brewed with Well-water;

No Sh*t. A number of years ago we moved from the Bay Area of California (relatively soft water) to southern Indiana (VERY hard water). Man, both my wife and I were stopped up for a couple of days! Same for eating a lot of antacids (tums), that will stop you up too. To compensate for the extra salts in the water, the colon will draw out more water to keep your salts balanced, resulting in some tough cr*p.

Darker beers were developed to deal with hard water so keep that in mind. Hard water makes hop bitterness harsher so one must adjust accordingly.

 

[comp]

No Sh*t. A number of years ago we moved from the Bay Area of California (relatively soft water) to southern Indiana (VERY hard water). Man, both my wife and I were stopped up for a couple of days! Same for eating a lot of antacids (tums), that will stop you up too. To compensate for the extra salts in the water, the colon will draw out more water to keep your salts balanced, resulting in some tough cr*p.

Darker beers were developed to deal with hard water so keep that in mind. Hard water makes hop bitterness harsher so one must adjust accordingly.

the city water here in Evansville isn't that hard

 

[Fingers]

I normally use my well water but I did brew a Pilsner on the weekend so I cut it 50/50 with RO water. I do have a flavor in my beer that is common to everthing I've brewed so I suspect my water. I know it's very hard water and tried to have a test done but the damn laboratory moved locations and didn't feel that I was important enough to call.

 

[ballbuster]

I usually hike up to a cold cool spring just above the waterfall outside of Golden Colorado. Carrying the 12 gallons back down the mountain can be hell on my back and knees but it seems to be worth the 30 mile hike. How much does 12 gallons of that pure cold mountain water weigh I wonder?

 

[bluefoxicy]

I usually hike up to a cold cool spring just above the waterfall outside of Golden Colorado. Carrying the 12 gallons back down the mountain can be hell on my back and knees but it seems to be worth the 30 mile hike. How much does 12 gallons of that pure cold mountain water weigh I wonder?

8 pounds a gallon I'd assume.

 

[pjj2ba]

the city water here in Evansville isn't that hard

In Bloomington it is! Limestone central!!!!

Compared to Indy, Bloomington is Southern. We saw our fair share of white no-name churches in rural areas outside of town. We were convinced there was snake handlin' and strychnine drinking going on inside.

 

[telemarc]

I use dirty toilet water. MMMm, my beer tastes like mixing a can of Utica Club with a can of Genny Cream!

 

[Saccharomyces]

I use a carbon filter (thanks to SoperBrew) and dilute the water with RO water to achieve the hardness appropriate for the style I'm brewing. For dark brews I'll dilute with a little RO water (my water is pretty hard). For light brews I use mostly RO water. I noticed a BIG improvement in my beers since I started doing this. Especially hoppy ones, high bicarbonates and hops are not a good mix.

 

[bad coffee]

just straight out of the tap for the boil, then 0 TDS De-Ionized water for top up.

Once I go all grain, it will probably be hose water through a 5micron sediment filter.

B

 

[patpend3]

My last two beers I used tap water in the wort and toped of the 5 Gal bucket with 2.5 Gal of distiled water:cross:.

 

[kaptk2]

Once I go all grain, it will probably be hose water through a 5micron sediment filter.

B

Be careful with hose water, make sure you run a ton through it before you start using it from brew water. The plastic hose taste can comes across in your finished brew.

I learned that the hard way.

I switched to white hose with a blue stripe (drinking water safe), the taste has since gone away. You can find it in next to RV stuff in Walmart

 

[eriktlupus]

rell ya the truth i've always used RO water. never had a problem with conversion of mash or taste of the beer. i do however use 5.2 religiously at dosage for all water used in brewing(mash and sparge). the only time i mess with chems is if i'm making a stout.

 

[Hagen]

I have a 300' deep well. My water profile is somewhere between Dublin and Edinburgh.

 

[gplutt]

Its pretty easy to find out the state of your city water supply, when I did my first all grain batch I downloaded the pdf of my local water supply's mineral content.

Seattle Public Utilities -- Water Quality & Treatment

Then I checked out what John Palmer had to say.

How to Brew - By John Palmer - Reading a Water Report

I also looked up a few famous cities water supply characteristics.

Water Treatment

I then decided to pull my water out of the tap, let it sit for 3 or so days with no lid, and then brew with it.

That being said, I think I'll come back and visit water chemistry again in the future but I'm fortunate to live in a place with a good supply.

 

[sigmund]

Old fashioned well water.