Water advice needed

[luso-brewer]

Hello All,
I've tried looking online in the forums and not sure if I totally understood to get the answer to my question, so I apologize if it was already answered (probably was...).

I started using my tap water, horrible flavor, probably from chlorine and chloramine. Spend time looking for water to use bottled, saw that mash should be around 5.3 ish. Went and bought bottles at 5.3 (+or- .4). Then reading some more on mashes, saw that the grains themselves will bring an acidity to my water. My tap water is around 7.3 pH, I can post by mineral if that would help instead of just pH (or the average 2 tests they did in homes in my city...could be different in my home I suppose). Should I be using that instead with a campden tablet in before or these bottle waters? Tap water with a little bit acid to bring pH down? I've really struggled understanding the Brun water excel sheet and wondering if it is worth it when our municipal water is probably constantly changing anyway.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Manufacturedevolution]

The water primer in the Brew Science section on this forum is pretty straightforward and easy to follow. I recommend reading it. On another note I'm surprised that you found bottles of water that acidic. I'd hope that is rare.

 

[corax]

If the problem is chloramine, you should either use campden tablets or filter through charcoal (boiling should get rid of chlorine, but I think most places have switched to chloramine). Or get bottled water.

Proper mash pH is necessary for efficient starch conversion. You are correct that initial water pH has little to do with mash pH (and it has nothing do do with chloramine). pH needs to be checked during mashing. A water report is your best bet if you want to be proactive about it.