Tap Water Vs Filtered Water Vs Treated Water

[Kyral210]

Ok, here is the dilema. Should I use plain old tap water for my brews, filtered water from my Britter water filter, or tap water with water treatment. I live near Nottingham if that helps with water quality at all, a hard water zone.

Chris

 

[Dieseljockey]

Hi K. Welcome to the forum

This may help

Also there's a post (somewhere can't find it) that states you can go online to your local water company and get an analysis of your water supply....then you feed that into the ....
...Water Treatment Calculator... that's on the forum...(top of the page) :thumb:

Try this from Aleman This may also help

All the best :thumb:

 

[Kyral210]

Does it make a difference to the taste?

 

[snail59]

Oh yes. Treating your water useing the forum calculater to assertain the correct additions will turn your beer from GOOD to GREAT.

 

[Aleman]

Oh yes. Treating your water useing the forum calculater to assertain the correct additions will turn your beer from GOOD to GREAT.

It is not a magic bullet, unless you have a sound brewing technique the majority of people will not notice any difference between using treated water and using dechlorinated tap water.

To the OP, I would suggest that all you do to treat your water is to add 1/2 a campden tablet for up to 10 Gallons (to get rid of chlorine) then use a tsp of gypsum in teh mash and one in the boil. . . . Measure the pH of the mash after 10 minutes to see if it is in the range 5.2 to 5.8 . . . if it is fine if not Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Homebrew. Next time you brew you might want to look at using 25% Asda Smart Price instead of your tap water . . . brew repeatedly and keep notes until you have determined what additions you need to make to your tap water to brew the beers you like.

 

[Frisp]

I went down the Asda / tesco cheap bottled water route and was happy with the results. ...... I have also done the water treatment thing and im happy with either method.

 

[Kyral210]

What about a home water filter (e.g. Britta)

 

[Alec]

I think my Britta filter may take several hours to filter 23 litres, I will look for the on line water analysis info

 

[TLServices]

I live near Nottingham if that helps with water quality at all, a hard water zone.

Should be ideal for ale brews - after all, you'll likely have a similar water profile to Burton and it didn't do brewing much harm there :)

 

[Aleman]

What about a home water filter (e.g. Britta)

Can't say . . .often the Brita filters are ion exchange swapping a calcium/magnesium ion (Good Ions) for two sodium ions (Bad Ions). We do not want to reduce hardness (Calcium and Magnesium), what we need to reduce is alkalinity (Bicarbonate/Carbonate), and Brita Filters don't do this. Alkalinity reduction is often carried out by pre-boiling the liquor (Expensive in terms of energy and time) or using acids (hydrochloric/ sulphuric / phosphoric), or Slaked Lime - Ca(OH)2 . . . but should only be attempted once you have measured the alkalinity levels and determined how much acid to add