which water?

[Hong Kong Dave]

Hello,

I'm in Hong Kong, and am just about to do my 1st all grain 1 gallon brew. 1 gallon is perfect size for HK apartments.

I'm just wondering what water to use.

The choices are as follows:

1.Tap water that is put through a brita style filter

2.Distilled water

3.mineralised water

4.Spring water (This is really expensive, so if at all possible, any of the other three choices!)

Thanks for your help

David

 

[anthonyUK]

Hi,
Of those distilled water is probably the closest to a known quantity e.g. contains no minerals so you could build your profile from scratch.
I wouldn't use Brita filtered and the other two are unknown quantities so you'd need to known their composition.

 

[pittsy]

Over here we can get cheap bottled water , not much better than tap water but usually better for brewing than most tap water . ( your filter will strip needed ions from your brewing water , ) Do you have any cheap options like asda water ?

 

[Hong Kong Dave]

Thanks for the replies,

You can buy water that is quite cheap, but most of it is distilled, which I'm assuming has all the minerals etc removed due to the process of distilling. I don't really want to start adding stuff to water to make beer!

I spoke with people in a home brew shop today, and they say they use boiled tap water and it is fine. I was wondering about mineralised water, as it has had minerals added back into it.

 

[pittsy]

Yes to tap water (although boiling often better ) but your filter is the problem as it may reduce your ions too low (some )can you get info online what your filter does , it may be fine .

 

[LeithR]

I used to live in HK (when it was a British colony) why don't you try ringing the San Mig Brewery (if its still there) and find out how they treat their water. They used to be quite willing to speak about things like that on their brewery tours.

Failing that why don't you try filtered tap water or even water directly from the tap as well as bottled water and see what you think of the results.

 

[rpt]

If your water is ok to drink and doesn't taste too bad then brew with it and see how it comes out.