MR.BEER® COMMUNITY

I have used Ozarka Spring Water, a generic spring water and a combination of tap, R/O, and spring.
What type of water is the best that I can buy?

Joe

As far as brand goes, it probably doesn't matter all that much. While the different brands surely differ a bit in their mineral makeup, they all contain the necessary yeast nutrients. Bottled spring or plain ol' drinking water is good, because you know it's bleach and microbe-free.

Likewise, if you think your tap water tastes good, go for it. It almost certainly contains the necessary ions as well. You may want to install a charcoal filter though, to remove any trace chlorine. Also, if you live in an area with lots of iron in your water, you might want to go for the bottled stuff.

RO water or distilled bottled water aren't too good to brew with. These water treatment methods both eliminate necessary yeast nutrients, which will ultimately lead to off flavors. It'll still ferment, but the lack of calcium, magnesium, and zinc (among others) will stress the yeast a bit.

alfon_24 wrote:


I get to use Milwaukee water and I figure it if was good enough to make "Make Milwaukee Famous" it's good enough for me. I run it through a Pur filter and I think it works out very well.

Really it depends on what style of beer you are trying to create. Different regions have different water hardness and that gives each beer it's own unique quality. Look in any beer cloning book and it will probably give some references to the hardness of unique beers. I just use the spring/drinking waters by the gallon from a grocery store and add different parts to it depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. Experiment with different waters and see what you like best. Like ericg said, if you're tap water tastes good then use it as long as you can't smell any chlorine in it. If you do, boil it out or filter it before you begin.

I've used Deer Park, generic spring water, and filtered tap water. I haven't really noticed any difference in taste in the beer. i imagine that after the filtering processes, and the boiling, that anything that could affect taste is gone. But in terms of 'ease of use', the 5 gallon spring water bottles are awesome.

SF Bay Area water comes right out of Hetch Hechy resovoir in the hills strait to my tap and straight in to my beer. Never had to filter it at all

Personally, I've tried a few different water sources. First of course just plain old tap water. However, I distill the water I use for drinking, but distilled is a no-no for brewing. That said, when I see what's left behind in my distiller after it's processed a gallon of water (it neither looks nor smells pretty), I get a little leary about using tap water for my brews.

So then I shifted to those 2.5 gallon jugs of spring water you buy at the grocery store, the ones with a handle you can use to carry like a briefcase (albeit a heavy one). But even that became cumbersome and wasteful, what with a big empty plastic jug to dispose of afterward.

So now I've compromised and I'm using a Brita pitcher to filter the tap water. It's a heckuva lot quicker than distilling, doesn't destroy the needed micronutrients for the yeast, and is much more cost-effective and easier to manage than jugs of water from the store. I'm sure a tap-mounted filter (like Pur) would be equivalent.

So far it works fine, although I haven't notice any distinct difference in my results. But I've only been brewing for about a year now, so maybe time and experience will help reveal some of the benefits of using filtered tap water.

I started with tap water then moved to a Brita pitcher then to a Pur tap filter. Each step of the way, there was a slight but noticeable (to me, anyway) improvement in the quality of the end product. I also did one batch with bottled water, but I did not notice any significant difference.

I also started w/ tap, moved to Britta, and have settled (for now) on Deer Park...I definitely notice a difference....the beer is clearer and tastes "crisper" somehow. I'm going to try Figi w/ my next batch....I'll let everyone know how it comes out.

CHEERS!

I also use a PUR filter -- it works great for my beer!