Type of water for boil

[comicsandbeer83]

I am doing my first full boil beer after doing 4 previous partial boils in the past. Previously I just boiled my city tap and topped it off with store bought spring water but I want to try it a new way and make sure I get the most from the best type of water to use. Any suggestions? I'm doing an Irish red ale from a recipe I adjusted quite a bit to make it more high gravity and to give it just a tad more hop character without being overbearing. I know I want to just go buy jugs of water, as I know that even though I've used my city water in previous boils, I still feel like it gave the beers a distinct taste sometimes that I could do without. I've been really happy with most of my beers so far, but like I said I want to try something new.

 

[flars]

Go with all distilled, spring, or RO water. Municipal water is treated with chloramine or chlorine which would account for the off flavor.

Using a recipe calculator like this one may help when you tweak a recipe.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator

 

[unionrdr]

I use spring water all the way. Whether from Giant Eagle, or White House Artesian Springs @ 25c per gallon. I even rehydrate dry yeast with it. The lil yeasties seem to like the trace elements.

 

[Bk2X]

Ive moved to spring water from tap / distilled and really enjoy the results.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Any interest in getting yourself a water report? That's what answered a lot of mysteries for me. I now do half tap water and half RO for anything lighter than a porter and usually add a few salts.

 

[Paradingbull]

I used to get off tastes from tap water, but several batches ago started using campden tablets, which kill chlorine, and have not had one issue since. Bottled water works well too.

 

[thekraken]

Are you doing extract or all grain?

According to a podcast I recently listened to with John Palmer, if you are doing extract you probably want to use RO or DI water. The minerals you want are already in the extract. The mineral content of the spring water + the mineral content of the extract could have a negative flavor impact. You (probably) don't know what the mineral content of that spring water is.

That said, the cheapest option for me is to use tap water and some campden tablet to drive off the chlorine and chloramine.

 

[unionrdr]

President Obama came out with stricter guidelines for spring water a year or two ago. They were supposedly concerned with safety of the water. More treatment was instituted, & the 10c a gallon water went up to 25c per gallon. I never get any off flavors from it, as when I say trace I mean few PPM's. not like well (ground) water which can be nasty with minerals. Spring water wells are drilled into bedrock where pockets of this water are trapped.