Which water to use?

[Bfelt]

I have been brewing long enough to brew about 3 batches (I have used tap water for all 3 batches).

Today I am brewing my fourth and am wondering if I should use the filtered water I have, rather than my tap water?

The man who taught me how to brew told me only to use the tap water because the water filter will filter out nutrients the yeast need to work.

I was just wondering how many of you use filtered water? I do not know what size filter I have. I want to know if using the filtered water will harm the yeast or if it helps the overall taste of the beer?

Thanks!

 

[jlpred55]

Depends. If brewing extract you can use any water, filtered, RO, tap etc. All the essential nutrients are already contained in the extract from the mashing done to create it. If all grain you can use filtered water no problem or tap not RO or distilled unless adding back salts.

 

[Zamial]

The truth is either your mentor or you may have mixed a few things up.

Mineral water is good, better than tap in nearly all instances.

Distilled water, without adding minerals/salts (referred to as water building) is bad.

Tap water is ok but can have chemicals that may leave odd flavors...

Bottled water should be researched as some of it is just tap water....

 

[TipsyDragon]

it depends on what filter you use. some filter out more than others. it will definitely change the taste of your beer. its up to you to decide if its a bad change or a good change. if your worried you can just add a spoon full of yeast nutrient.

 

[bootney]

I was doing some reading on the use of various salts and it's effect on brew. I've been using distilled water without brewing and had some concerns about the emptiness to my batches. Are there any sites out there that map out water building? Beer Advocate #38 touched base on the chloride / sulfate ratio but I'm curious about other minerals and their effects on certain beer styles. Would wy nutrient blend provide the desired minerals for distilled water?

 

[Zamial]

I was doing some reading on the use of various salts and it's effect on brew. I've been using distilled water without brewing and had some concerns about the emptiness to my batches. Are there any sites out there that map out water building? Beer Advocate #38 touched base on the chloride / sulfate ratio but I'm curious about other minerals and their effects on certain beer styles. Would wy nutrient blend provide the desired minerals for distilled water?

Not trying to be a wise guy or know it all BUT .....I would be shocked that the search would not find this...... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-profiles-tools-131443/

 

[bootney]

Couldn't just post the link? I'm not trying to sound like a wise guy, but I know how to use google. There are a great deal of sources out there with varying opinions and was curious if anyone had a source they trusted. Also I have a question for the op and want to know if they're using extract or all grain?

 

[SumnerH]

Extract vs. all grain is an important question.

In the absence of other info, for extract you are fine with anything that doesn't have chlorine/chloramines in it--distilled/RO water is great. For all-grain the mineral profile becomes more important, and distilled/RO water is bad without adding the right chemical profile; your tap water or spring/bottled water.

In any case, you can eliminate chlorine/chloramines by crushing 1/2 of a campden tablet (which is just potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite) into your water after you draw it up and before you heat it. For extract, doing that with tap water will get you fine water for brewing (in an ideal world, softer water is better for extract, all the way to distilled/RO). For all-grain, you still need to know your water profile but there's a chance that's in the ballpark, while distilled/RO definitely won't be.