Water source?

[OpenSights]

Probably been discussed here before, but I was wondering what everyone does for water. The water in my town sucks! Very hard! I am a plumber and have yet to work on my own house. My ppm is almost 500... bad! Do you guys head to the store and grab gallons of filter water, filter your own water or straight from the tap?

I picked up a AquaCera today, the plastic one. One filter should be good for about 1500 gallons, mine has holes for 5 filters. Takes about ten hours to filter 3 gallons for one filter. So I have 4 on order.

Not sure if links are ok here, if not, please remove. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001LIHVH0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Would post a screenshot, but couldn’t figure it out.

 

[Lefou]

My local water is low alkalinity soft water treated with chloramines. It's run through a refrigerator filter and makes very good drinking water when cold, but I won't use it for brewing. Instead, I use store-bought water containing minimal salts which makes the water a great base for light-colored beer. The pH is slightly lower than home tap water so when using the right combination of grains, mash pH for conversion takes little to no adjustment.
A bit of chlorine or chloramines in drinking water is ok, but isn't recommended for brew water. Residual chlorine will affect your yeast and taint the beer.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

I use tap water ran thru an rv chlorine filter as well as gallon jugs of distilled. BruNWater to build the profile for the beer I'm brewing.

 

[Lefou]

If your filter leaves residual chlorine or chlorine compounds adding Campden tablets will help neutralize the problem. Use about one crushed tablet per liquid gallon. Campden has a few other uses, too.

 

[Dcpcooks]

RO is the way to go! It’s a game changer for beer quality. I’m in Chicago and we have good water but I still noticed a big jump in my beers after adding an RO set up.

I’ll be real honest I had no desire to figure out mineral additions based on my local water. Those additions are fast and easy with RO water.

 

[Yooper]

I used to go to the store and fill jugs of RO water, then I bought my own RO filter from a reef supply store for about $119. Our water tastes great, but is high in alkalinity so it's not well suited for brewing without treatment. RO was the easiest way for me to do it without too much effort.

 

[dmtaylor]

My tap water is hard, but not as hard as yours. For most styles, my water works fine. For others I buy distilled water then build my own water profile. You can do the same probably, but consider a 50/50 blend with distilled water for most styles, and pure distilled water for those where hard water is not desirable such as Bohemian pilsner.

 

[Upthewazzu]

I use tap water ran thru an rv chlorine filter as well as gallon jugs of distilled. BruNWater to build the profile for the beer I'm brewing.

This is exactly what I do. My water is not very good, but with the the use of store-bought distilled, a Camco RV water filter, and the Bru'N Water spreadsheet it is usable.

 

[OpenSights]

I hate working on RO systems! Takes forever to get repair parts when they fail.

The filter is working good so far. I drink water all day long due to my type of work, and it tasted better than any other bottled water around here.

I plan on installing a softener in my house (eventually). I assume I should leave my to be filtered water hard? When I run hose bibs I always make sure they’re hard water as softened water can be hazardous to plant life.

 

[beermanpete]

Correct, you don't want to use the ion exchange softened water for brewing. Take the water ahead of that treatment.
I have been using Arrowhead Mountain Spring bottled water with some distilled to dilute it with good results in blonde ales. I tried the municipal water treated with Campden tablets for the first time on my last brew (brown ale). It is still fermenting but the mash went well and the wort tasted ok. Our water (San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles) is very low in sulfates so it might need some adjustment for hop-forward beer styles.

 

[LBKsam]

The water in my town is fine, but I had learned from some experience brewers that most of them use Reverse Osmosis filtered water so that’s the way I always go.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

RO then rebuild with bru'n water calculations. Super easy to do, you may want to pick up a really sensitive gram measuring tool for the mineral additions. My local tap water ruined an oktoberfest this year; now I tailor make each batch exactly how I want! Water is what, 90-95% of beer; it deserves as much or more attention than any other ingredident in our brews.

 

[Shwagger]

I use the machine in front of the supermarket, but 2 batches with a strong plastic /vinyl flavor make me think it's not serviced properly.

 

[OpenSights]

Last summer we installed an RO system for a coffee shop downtown in the capital. Talking to the owner that rig cost more than all trades combined. It turned out to be a battle with the health department. We protected the RO with an rpz which feeds three coffee makers, which aren’t really coffee makers, just instahot heaters. Health department, not understanding backwater protection made us protect each fixture even when the entire RO system was protected.

But hey, an extra three permits brought in extra cash for the city.

We still haven’t been paid by the shop owner.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

RO then rebuild with bru'n water calculations. Super easy to do, you may want to pick up a really sensitive gram measuring tool for the mineral additions. My local tap water ruined an oktoberfest this year; now I tailor make each batch exactly how I want! Water is what, 90-95% of beer; it deserves as much or more attention than any other ingredident in our brews.

This. I use my reloading powder measuring scale for measuring the mineral additions. I've gotten rave reviews on my beers.