what kind of water to use

[stevo]

making my first batch of beer from a brewers best kit,german octoberfest my question is , what kind of water should i use I have a reverse osmosis in the house or should i buy spring water,my dilema is does the osmosis take to many minerals?

 

[Runningwolf]

I think you'll be fine as long as you don't have a water softener or strong chlorine smell. When I buy water I always get the Spring water.

 

[stevo]

i also have a softener that hits the water before the osmosis system,I would think the osmo would take care of whatever the softener does?just a thought

 

[Plmac]

I use a charcoal water filter to remove the chlorine. I have brewed with both hard and soft water and can not tell the difference in my finished beer.
basicaly I'm lazy, it is easier to get water 10 feet from the kettle than to pack it down a flight of stairs.

 

[Tom]

I think water from a softener wil not give you good head in a glass. Oh boy here comes Dans comments

 

[stevo]

I think water from a softener wil not give you good head in a glass. Oh boy here comes Dans comments

but if it goes through osmosis after it is softened will the softener effects be omitted ? guess I will use bottled spring water thank you everyone for the help....

 

[Runningwolf]

I think water from a softener wil not give you good head in a glass. Oh boy here comes Dans comments

I don't get it Tom, what do you mean? Would it be better if it was hard?

 

[Redtrk]

Normally I use spring water when I brew beer. The taste is always great!

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

If you take the water before the softener you will have straght well water ( if you are on a well) . If you are on city water put water into a fermenter with the lid on loose for a day or two to let the chlorine disapate. Beer made from local pure water is the way its been done for years, the minerals give it some charater and add to the flavor. Do not use distilled water, it will work but will taste flat ( not carbonation wise). Good luck!

 

[Wade E]

I use the kind thats wet! LOL

 

[bpickell]

If you are running softened water through your RO filters; you are shortening the life of your filters. Because now you are adding salt to be filtered out of your water. You should run the RO before the softener, but don't put the output into the softener. The water that comes out of an RO system is already soft.

 

[Randy64]

If you are running softened water through your RO filters; you are shortening the life of your filters. Because now you are adding salt to be filtered out of your water. You should run the RO before the softener, but don't put the output into the softener. The water that comes out of an RO system is already soft.

The salt in a brine tank is used to clean the resin in the softener tank, during the backwash cycle of regeneration. The water you drink doesn't come into contact with the salt only the resin. Also if you don't soften your water before you put it through a R.O. membrane the R.O. membrane will plug up faster and, at least for commercial units, chlorine is very harmful to the R.O. filter elements and should be put through a carbon filter first. So in my humble opinion to get R.O. water you should soften then carbon filter, then 5 micron filter, then R.O. filter. givin you 0 ppm tds.

 

[tchuklobrau]

If your water(before softner) tastes good use it. RO is not recommended(however it can be used) unless you plan on adding stuff to mimic the water of the region the beer style comes from. Spring water is recommended when to many questions arise. From my understanding it is generally not the chlorine in municipality water you have to worry about so much as do they use chlorimine which will deffinitly give bad flavors. I have used all of the above mentioned waters in my beer I can vouch for the chlorimine municipality water giving a funky taste, all others worked fine for me.

 

[tchuklobrau]

Sry just realized i gave bad info. RO is fine, its distiled water yyou dont want to use unless you are adding stuff to mimic a water profile.

 

[alvachristeen]

I think spring water will help you to enjoy your first ever batch of having a beer.