Mineral or bottled water?

[bicster]

Guys,

I'm about to kick off my second batch of home brew. I did my first a couple of years back and want to get the Christmas brew ready.

Anyway, I can't remember whether I used bottled or mineral water last time. Does it make a difference?

I know not to use tap water, but should I go with straight up bottled versus the mineral stuff?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[medlington]

I've used tap water for both my brews, first was bottled on Friday and the second was started on Friday.

Are they going to be rubbish because of the tap water?

 

[Moley]

All I use is tap water, treated with half a CT to 5 gallons, but I suppose it depends upon what your tap water tastes like.

I've only ever used bottled water if I wanted to use the bottle as a fermenter and didn't want to just throw the contents down the sink.

 

[hairybiker]

Same here, I have NEVER brewed with bottled water :!:

My drinking water tastes fine so I just treat with a crushed campden tablet to remove the clorinates (think that is the right beasties).

I may buy a 5l bottle for the bottle to try a small batch brew. Or I may just put it in a demijohn :wha:

 

[bicster]

I guess it does depend on the quality of water in your area. But, I was told by my home brew supplier (a little shop near Preston in Lancashire) that the chlorine kills the yeast. I didn't want to risk it and given Tesco's own brand bottled water is about £2-3 for about 20 litres I went with that. The only problem is lugging it around!

My first batch tasted awesome too! :

I've done a bit of homework on the internet and I think bottled will be safer than mineral (safer in terms of less likely for the minerals to react with something in the brew and for it to go wrong).

Happy brewing everyone!

Chris

 

[medlington]

Is this campden tablet important?

My tap water is fine, but I havent treated it for Chlorean atall. What will the chlorean do? kill the yeast?

 

[Moley]

Chlorine in that sort of dilution won't kill the yeast, but may leave a slight taste in your brew. CTs drive off chlorine and chloramines, which are added to the supply by some water companies.

If your water tastes fine, you probably don't need to treat it.




Not that it's something I would ever choose to drink neat, you know what W.C. Fields said about fish.