RO or tap or both

[Bixter1]

I am a complete n00b. I have a decent ro system and am considering using ro for my mlt and using tap for sparging. Anyone see any gotchas? Just moving into all grain and am looking for knowledge!

 

[Brew-boy]

All I use is RO water and build my minerals up from there depending on style I am brewing.

 

[944play]

Don't use "tap" water. At least remove chlorine/chloramine. I don't know what Philly water is like, but there are places in the world (PNW, for instance) where the TDS out of the tap is less than what you get from an RO machine in Texas...

 

[samc]

I used RO exclusively for my earlier brewing without adjust the mineral content and had very good beers. Now that I add in some minerals the beers are a lot better but starting off with just RO is not a problem with many beers. I'd skip the straight tap water as 944play recommends.

 

[ajdelange]

Philly water varies somewhat according to which plant supplies you but they are all pretty decent. They do chloraminate so if you are using the water straight from the tap be sure to use 1/4 Campden tablet for each 5 gallons treated. That said, it's hard to go wrong with RO water with 1 tsp calcium chloride added per 5 gallons. That will do most beers quite well. For "soft water" beers (Boh Pils), use half a tsp. For beers where you want assertive hops add a tsp gypsum as well. Adjust the gypsum to get you the qualities you want.Another approach is to blend some percentage of your tap water with RO water. As you advance you can make more sophisticated mineral adjustments. Just don't allow anyone to talk you into adding chalk to the water. Do that only in the mash tun and only if you have sound evidence (i.e. from a pH meter - not strips) that the mash pH is too low.

 

[Bixter1]

Awesome advice. Ill do all RO with some calcium chloride until I can get the hang of things. The best part is I get to drink 5 gallons of beer per test!