Brewing Water

[tjthresh]

I've started buying bottled spring water to brew with because I wanted to take some variables out of my brewing.

I read that distilled water is being used and stuff being added to match the water from other places. I don't really care to do all that, but should I use distilled water to brew with?

[mmmBeer...]

I could be wrong, but wouldn’t you need to oxygenate distilled water? Since it is usually steam distilled I would imagine that there is very little O2 present in the water. This is the only potential problem I could imagine.

[MagTheGrate]

You lose all the oxygen in the water during the boil anyway.

I'm of the opinion that some of the minerals in the water is good for your beer. If you don't want to add them to distilled water, I'd just go with the bottled spring water

MoreBeer (http://www.morebeer.com) sells "instant water" kits... basically salt solutions you add to distilled water to emulate the water from specific regions. I've never tried them tho.

-Mag

[S.F.B.]

You do want some mineral content in your brewing water. I have been using the bottled spring water from the store. Works very well. I started using it because I am too lazy to boil my house tap water myself. I know, it doesn't take all that much effort to do. I am just a lazy a$$.:D

[ray m]

Me, too SFB!! I started using exclusively store purchased spring water since I started doing all grain at the beginning of the year........no complaints. I don't have the time, nor desire, to boil my hard-as-nails tap water. It's too damn chlorinated, anyway....to the point where I can smell the chlorine coming out of the faucet along with the water....I sure don't want that in my brew!

[barley ben]

Yeah, that's what i want to start using. My water is horrible. You never know what it will smell like or if it's gonna be clear or rusty. It's always very hard.

[paul84043]

My water is okay, actually on the soft side, so if I can plan enough ahead, I'll boil my own the day before, but I always keep 4 gallons or so or store bought purified water in the basement just in case...
I use an oxygenation system in my wort and have had extremely good luck with my brews so far...

[Fast_Eddy]

Our water is very basic (ph 8.3) and very hard. But in an effort to introduce some local character to my beer and keep necessary yeast nutrients I use about 2/3 purified water and 1/3 tap water(that I adjust the ph of by using phosphoric acid).

[mcarlson74]

I agree with Fast Eddy on this. I use a mixture of bottled and tap water. One place you might want to look also for cheap filtered water is your local homebrew supply store. I know that mine charges $0.25 a gallon for filtered water you just need to bring in your own container.

[Jeff]

I have looked for spring water at a couple of my local grocery stores, and the only size they carry it in are 1 liter bottles. I suppose I could by the 19 bottles it would require for a five gallon batch but it would be nicer to find gallon jugs of the stuff. Has anybody else found 1 gallon jugs of spring water? Any specific brand?

[MagTheGrate]

Most of the grocery stores around my area (So. Cal.) carry 2.5 gallon jugs with spigots on them. I buy three of them, and drink the rest.

[mcarlson74]

All of the grocery stores in my area (Raleigh, NC) carry their name brand in 1 gal jugs.

[Professor Frink]

My girlfriend & I just got a water softener, and the plumber hooked up the main water input to it, not just the hot water. So, our tap water has a salty taste/ greasy texture now. I didn't even think about it when I used it for a pumpkin ale I started last Sunday, now I'm a bit worried. Actually, the airlock is bubbling away, but not sure if the salts will ruin the flavor.

Has anyone else brewed with softened water, would the sodium be an issue???

And on unrelated plumbing question, should the plumber have asked before putting the main intake through the softener, or should have just hooked it up to the hot water?

[Fast_Eddy]

Almost certainly you now have water that is too high in sodium and as far as I know the only way to remove sodium is reverse osmosis or distillation.

See :

http://byo.com/mrwizard/907.html

Standard brew water caveat: If you make beer with the water you have and you like it - don't worry about it.

[Jeff]

I would say 90% of softened water systems are strictly on the hot water side. If you have really hard water then there are some advantages, no more rings in the toilets etc. However, you will be buying a lot more salt because your sytem will go through a lot more water. Its kind of a waste to water the lawn with soft water.

[Professor Frink]

Well, according to the byo Wizard, he would not recommend using softened water, but it's too late for my pumpkin ale. The water is drinkable, just different with a very slight salty flavor.

So, Should I continue with the secondary and bottle it to see what happens??? Anyone think I shoud just scrap this batch? The wizard didn't elaborate on the final results if you've already started a batch.

Thanks for the help.

I'm also going to find out which would be cheaper, replumbing to get hard water to kitchen sink, or a reverse osmosis system under the sink.

[Jeff]

If you go with reverse osmosis for your brewing water you are stripping even more stuff out of the water. Would it be cheaper to just use bottled spring water from the grocery store?

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by Professor Frink
Well, according to the byo Wizard, he would not recommend using softened water, but it's too late for my pumpkin ale. The water is drinkable, just different with a very slight salty flavor.

So, Should I continue with the secondary and bottle it to see what happens??? Anyone think I shoud just scrap this batch? The wizard didn't elaborate on the final results if you've already started a batch.

Thanks for the help.

I'm also going to find out which would be cheaper, replumbing to get hard water to kitchen sink, or a reverse osmosis system under the sink.

I definitely would not scrap it - the hard parts done, just wait and see how it turns out.

Remember that if you go RO then you'll need to "season" the water a bit with probably some gypsum and maybe some calcium chloride because you're starting with essentially distilled water.

Distilled water is very cheap to buy plus I use the gallon jugs that it comes in for my yeast starters.

[GunNut76]

I can get 5 gallons from my LGS for less than $1.20 and I'll pick up another two gallons for under .50...so lets see here 7 gallons for less than $2...not bad! :D

[tj beerman]

I have well water what do you guys think about that?
lots of minerals low salt...

[Tweek]

I made beer for many years off of well water. I think it all goes back to if it tastes good you can make good beer with it.

[b3s]

like tweek said...if it tastes good as water, it'll probably make good beer.