Switched from Tap to Bottled... WOW

[scottyyyc]

The general consensus on here seems to be that if your tap water smells and tastes fine, you're generally OK to use it for brewing. Being a new brewer, I thought I'd provide a bit of feedback on that front. I followed this advice, and used tap water for my first 5 or 6 batches. All of my brews turned out OK, but all seemed to have a very subtle taste to them - the best way I could describe the taste is a very slight, dry bitterness to them. Slight, but similar across all my brews.

So my last 2 kits I used bottled (reverse osmosis), and WOW. The taste is gone, and my first sample of the 3-week bottled Brewhouse Octoberfest and Cooper's IPA tasted fantastic and truly authentic.

Moral of the story - even if you have good tap water, it might not be providing optimal results. I live in Calgary, which is known to have fairly hard water, but also good quality and clean tasting. I live in a satellite community 10 min outside Calgary, in fact, and a bit of research reveals that satellite communities and suburbs often have much higher chlorine levels to keep the water cleaner throughout its much longer journeys through pipes.

 

[RugerRedhawk]

Interesting. I use my well water for the boil, then distilled bottled water for the stuff I add to the cooled wort since I'm not doing full boils yet. Haven't got a batch ready to taste yet though!

 

[brew2enjoy]

I have used nothing but bottled spring water thus far for my brews with good results.

 

[Golddiggie]

I use water from my filter system for all my brews. I won't drink the water out of the tap, so I won't brew with it. It's not an RO system, just shy of it though. With the cost of filters, it runs me about 4 cents per gallon of water. It's as good, if not better than, the bottled water I could buy. Better since it's a lot cheaper (the gallon bottles run about $1 here)...

I would hate to need to buy water to brew with.

 

[bruin_ale]

you don't have to use bottled water - but it's a good idea to know the chemical/mineral composition of the water you're using. If you think that it was the chlorine in your water, you just need to pull the water from your tap the day before and let it sit uncovered overnight. The chlorine will evaporate out on it's own. If they're using Chloramine, you'll need to add campden (potassium metabisulfite) to remove that, it won't evaporate out.

 

[unionrdr]

I used tap water in the boil on my last batch, Then topped off with natural spring water from here in Ohio. Next week Friday I get to sample it in the beautiful German crystal & pewter beer steins my wife & I bought each other for our b'days. It was in primary for a month,the 4th week being dry hopped with 1 oz.
I have to say,when I bottled it,it had a different quality of flavor. Cleaner,maltiness with the hops on the back with amber color. It'll be interesting to see how it tastes carbed & aged.

 

[Rev2010]

Lucky for me all my brews so far have come out great using my local tap water, no filtering or anything. Mine does taste clean and natural so it's never been like the water would've been an issue. And honestly, since about 60-70% of my beer is boiled (rest is top off water) I figure any chlorine would be brought down to unnoticeable amounts since the majority was boiled off.

I couldn't imagine having to buy water for brewing either. Bottled water in this metropolitan area is expensive.


Rev.

 

[beergolf]

My tap water has some slightlyy off flavors so I buy bottled water from the grocery store for 79 cents a gallon. Brews all taste good.

 

[PolishStout]

Next week Friday I get to sample it in the beautiful German crystal & pewter beer steins my wife & I bought each other for our b'days.

I hope it's just the handle or something of that nature that's pewter, otherwise DO NOT drink from it. Pewter contains lead, antimony, and bismuth; all of which are highly toxic.

 

[BenjaminBier]

My tap water tastes great, but beers I brew with it have the same slightly dry character you describe. My local co-op has a jumbo water filter thing where I get bottled water, and it really makes a difference. The finished beer feels "rounder" if that makes any sense, and the grain flavors come through more.

 

[Brak23]

My Tap water tastes great, and granted ive only had a couple brews, I dont really taste any off flavors or dry taste. One of these days ill try the bottled water and see what difference it makes. I feel lucky to live in a place that has very good tap.

 

[VegasBrew]

If you are doing extract then use at least bottled, I would use RO water. The reason being, when they make the LME/DME they do the water adjustments then boil the wort, then condense or dry it. That sets the PH of the wort in the range it needs to be for the style of beer you are making. You take that extract and mix it with a water that is acidic or alkaline it will throw off the PH and the final flavor of the beer. It won't taste BAD, just off. It can also be the Chloromine in the water. Chloromine works like Chlorine only it stays in solution alot longer, that is why most cities use it instead of Chlorine. There is as much to learn about water as there is to brewing. Some city water makes great beer, I live in Las Vegas and in my part of town the well the city uses is great and makes great beer with a little tweeking, my buddy lives 5 miles from me and you can`t drink his water. Go with what works! BEER ON!

VB

 

[Rev2010]

I hope it's just the handle or something of that nature that's pewter, otherwise DO NOT drink from it. Pewter contains lead, antimony, and bismuth; all of which are highly toxic.

He said they are pewter and crystal - being that it must be the handles and lid are pewter and the drinking vessel crystal. Never seen it the other way around


Rev.

 

[Rev2010]

If you are doing extract then use at least bottled, I would use RO water. The reason being, when they make the LME/DME they do the water adjustments then boil the wort, then condense or dry it. That sets the PH of the wort in the range it needs to be for the style of beer you are making. You take that extract and mix it with a water that is acidic or alkaline it will throw off the PH and the final flavor of the beer. It won't taste BAD, just off.

That's preposterous. The PH matters for the mash. The extract was obtained by a mashing process with proper PH and the sugars are already extracted. I can't see how PH matters later for extract. If it did matter than it would be mentioned all over the place and I've never seen this till your post. BTW, for the record there is NO guarantee bottled water such as spring water will be in a perfect PH for beer brewing. Bottled water can be all over the PH map and also be worse in contaminates than tap water.


Rev.

 

[cfonnes]

I like to use water from the spring fed creek that come from the mountain behind my house. Carrying 12 gallons of water is a pain, but at least it is down hill.

 

[PolishStout]

He said they are pewter and crystal - being that it must be the handles and lid are pewter and the drinking vessel crystal. Never seen it the other way around


Rev.

I was thinking of some sort of pewter rimming, possibly. I'm not the most familiar with biersteins

 

[dantheman13]

I've heard about a product called PH stabilizer. From what I heard, you add a little bit of this to your water, and it will give it a 5.2 PH. Anyone have any luck using this stuff? Is it really that effective against wide ranges of PH's?

 

[o4_srt]

I've heard about a product called PH stabilizer. From what I heard, you add a little bit of this to your water, and it will give it a 5.2 PH. Anyone have any luck using this stuff? Is it really that effective against wide ranges of PH's?

Don't bother, there are more effective buffers you can use. First you need to et a water analysis to determine where you stand.

There is no magic product that will work for everyone, water quality is different everywhere.

 

[jbsg02]

I noticed the same thing, my first 3 batches were all bad and the common denominator was the water. I switched to the gallon jugs of water from the store (78 cents a gallon at wal-mart) and my 4th brew was awesome! We have lots of chlorine and chloromine in the tap water here

 

[NorthRiverS]

The water I use is very good straight out of the tap, however I am sure it is chlorinated. So, I use a Brita filter to clean it up. So far no bad flavors.

NRS

 

[cfonnes]

I have heard that only about 1/4 of people can taste the off flavor that is generated by using chlorinated water.

 

[boo boo]

Pewter is what the lid is made of. I have several I bought off E-Bay a while back. Great for keeping light and bugs out of your brew when drinking outside.

I use my municipal water and treat it with campton to rid the chloramines they stuff in it. My water is really soft, and sometimes, depending on the recipe, I have to acidify my mash. I have used bought water and spring water and to me the municipal water is tops.

 

[TipsyDragon]

i use Arrowhead spring water myself. beer tastes good to me.

 

[theonetrueruss]

not all tap water is equal... I have my first tap water batch fermenting now on the advice of local homebrewers that the tap water will be fine for my brew... in the past I have only used spring water and been happy with the results.. though I have to admit the idea of using my tap appeals... still skeptical but I'll see.. hoping my tap water works out ok.

 

[jonmohno]

Anyone ever tried using rain water? There is suppose to be a chemical reaction during a thunderstorm that produces Co2o weather it is lost in botteling,i dont know. Thinking about trying it sometime,but you definatly dont want to get it in a polluted area.

 

[JuanKenobi]

I wouldn't use rain water. It's got all kinds of nasty stuff in it.

A couple years ago I thought that my tap water was causing me problems even though I filtered it. I switched to Poland Spring and was able to find an report for it online, and all was well. Except that I was spending $10+ per batch on bottled water. Well I decided at the beginning of this year to give the tap water a shot again. We are not even filtering it anymore because it tastes fine and it seemed like a waste of money to re-filter perfectly good water. Long story short, whatever was causing my problems was not my tap water.

 

[Petho]

I can get a good quality bottled water for around a dollar a gallon. Its not worth risking a brewday over 6 dollars so I always buy the bottled water.

 

[jonmohno]

I wouldn't use rain water. It's got all kinds of nasty stuff in it.

A couple years ago I thought that my tap water was causing me problems even though I filtered it. I switched to Poland Spring and was able to find an report for it online, and all was well. Except that I was spending $10+ per batch on bottled water. Well I decided at the beginning of this year to give the tap water a shot again. We are not even filtering it anymore because it tastes fine and it seemed like a waste of money to re-filter perfectly good water. Long story short, whatever was causing my problems was not my tap water.

Hmm.nasty stuff in rainwater,well for the love of god i hope all the food i eat doesnt come from that nasty rainwater, . Thats why their are filters before brewing, and i hope you dont consider chlorine unnastier than rainwater.

 

[shutupjojo]

I use water from my filter system for all my brews. I won't drink the water out of the tap, so I won't brew with it. It's not an RO system, just shy of it though. With the cost of filters, it runs me about 4 cents per gallon of water. It's as good, if not better than, the bottled water I could buy. Better since it's a lot cheaper (the gallon bottles run about $1 here)...

I would hate to need to buy water to brew with.

Just wondering what filtering system you use being just shy of RO.
I would be interested in something like this. I remember somewhere it being a 2 stage am I correct? If so , what is it.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I use straight tap water for a lot of my beers. I do use some distilled water blended with tap water and mineral additions for very light beers because my tap water produces dark beers. I probably should add campden to the tap water but I am lazy and still produce good beer without it.