chemman14
Well-Known Member
The water in my area is terrible. It smells of chlorine and does not taste very good. I currently use kirkland brand drinking water that says it has minerals added for taste. Could I use this for brewing water?
The water in my area is terrible. It smells of chlorine and does not taste very good. I currently use kirkland brand drinking water that says it has minerals added for taste. Could I use this for brewing water?
What are you brewing? (and yes you should be fine)
all grain, and I am not yet sure what my first AG brew will be. Still have one last extract brew to get out of the way, a barleywine
Build yourself an inexpensive water filter. After 2-3 batches where you have to go and either buy or fill your water bottles you will seek easier methods. Since I built my filter, I have been pleased as punch. (I even fill bottles for drinking from my filter)
I would guess it is R/O water with added stuff. Without a water report it is hard to tell what is in it at which concentrations. There is an outside chance you might be able to find a report for it online.
You may want to consider bottled water that is labeled as "spring water." This has not gone through R/O and still has a decent amount of goodies in it. Certainly enough for a light to medium brew.
I use spring water that supposedly comes from Sierra Nevada springs. I'm practically half way there to Sierra Nevada pale ale.
I only use R.O. water from the machine at the grocery store (25 cents a gallon) + 1 Tbls. of 5.2 Buffer in the mash. The beer comes out great every time.
If it's just the chlorine you're concerned about, then just heat up enough water for the mash. You don't even need to boil it, but you can if you want. This will remove all of the chlorine.
If it's just the chlorine you're concerned about, then just heat up enough water for the mash. You don't even need to boil it, but you can if you want. This will remove all of the chlorine.
I use spring water that supposedly comes from Sierra Nevada springs. I'm practically half way there to Sierra Nevada pale ale.
Before going down the bottled water path (not exactly the best for the environment as it has to be shipped from where ever it comes from).. Have you tried boiling your tap water before-hand to drive of the chlorine, or maybe filtering to get rid of the "bad taste" and chlorine ?
As someone brewing almost exclusively IPA hop-bombs, I'm not sure you'd notice the difference if I used cat piss.
Build yourself an inexpensive water filter. After 2-3 batches where you have to go and either buy or fill your water bottles you will seek easier methods. Since I built my filter, I have been pleased as punch. (I even fill bottles for drinking from my filter)
My LHBS suggests boiling water then letting it cool to drop out all chlorine and hardness or whatever is in our water, or using bottled. The time factor was not worth it for me. My neigborhood grocery, literally, less than 2 blocks away has a water dispenser. It is $1.35 for 5 gallons. Since I did not have a 5 gallon container handy I bought one of the 5 gallon ones pre-packaged inside for about $13. I think a refill is $5-6, but now that I have the plastic bottle I can just refill when I need for $1.35. Another bonus is the H2O vending machine is outside so I can stock up at any hour. Since I am reusing the bottle it is cheap and environmentally responsible. Also the bottle looks very similar to Better Bottles wondering if they could be used for a carboy? Will have to look closer when I brew next. Just finished my MLT a few days ago, maybe first allgrain this weekend.
My LHBS suggests boiling water then letting it cool to drop out all chlorine and hardness or whatever is in our water, or using bottled. The time factor was not worth it for me. My neigborhood grocery, literally, less than 2 blocks away has a water dispenser. It is $1.35 for 5 gallons. Since I did not have a 5 gallon container handy I bought one of the 5 gallon ones pre-packaged inside for about $13. I think a refill is $5-6, but now that I have the plastic bottle I can just refill when I need for $1.35. Another bonus is the H2O vending machine is outside so I can stock up at any hour. Since I am reusing the bottle it is cheap and environmentally responsible. Also the bottle looks very similar to Better Bottles wondering if they could be used for a carboy? Will have to look closer when I brew next. Just finished my MLT a few days ago, maybe first allgrain this weekend.
The problem with buying any water besides distilled is that you don't know what's in it. The dispenser might be giving you RO water which is close to distilled. It might be local tap water run through a simple carbon filter which will not do much more than strip organics and undissolved solids (as well as chlorine/chloramine if it's run slowly enough). If I had to buy my water due to KNOWING that my tap water was off the charts too hard, I'd buy an RO system for $100 which would be paid back pretty quickly. The cheapest I've found distilled water is $.88 a gallon at walmart.
For our extremely hard water, a plain RO system won't work. Have to have a multi-stage system incorporating a resin unit to get out the minerals, which are dissolved, not particulates. A multi-stage aquarium "reef tank" system such as this:
http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1TYPHOONIII/TYPHOON_III_AQUARIUM_RO_DI_75_or_100_GPD.html
....should do the trick (with our water). I've got the plumbing skills, just not sure if I want the capital investment, maintenance and upkeep.
I use RO water for AG brewing and don't notice any thing "off" in my beer. It's possible that a beer judge might be able to find something wrong with it, but I can't. But then again, I don't brew Pilsners. <shrug>
As for long term water cost, the waste is something like 3-5 gallons per 1 gallon RO/DI. You can use the waste water for any non-drinking application like laundry or watering plants.
I think you have it backwards. RO water is perfect for pilsners with just a pinch of salts. However, if you're brewing porter/stout on 100% RO, no doubt your mash pH is in the 4's.
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