I usually just buy spring water from the grocery store when I brew. I know that water chemistry can be extremely complicated (enough to fill books), but is also critical to the brewing process. But I was wondering if there are any good brands of water out there that can produce decent results without having to go all Bill Nye on it? What do you all use?
I'm fortunate enough to have excellent water delivered to my faucets. Chlorine is the only thing I need to address, and that's a piece of cake. The only thing that immediately comes to mind when talking about bottled water is that many (most?) brands are simply local tap water purified using reverse osmosis - you might as well be using distilled. Those are out. Unfortunately, as I understand it, there are no regulatory requirements for bottled water other than that it be drinkable. I haven't looked, but it seems that the brands' websites may provide a typical analysis. Take this with the proverbial grain of salt.
First, the ideal (if there is such a thing) water depends on the style/ingredients. But IIRC you are doing extract/steeped grain recipes. If so, you could use distilled or RO water. An argument can be made that this would be the best choice anyway. Once you go all grain, there are plenty of resources out there to help you go all Bill Nye.
I use Deer Park and it has worked well. I just found a whole foods near my work with an RO water dispenser for around $0.30 per gallon. Will probably start getting my water there since it will save around $5 per batch.
I should have qualified my comments, above. I was speaking in the context of all grain. For extracts, RO/distilled is ideal. I should also add that, if you ever get into the Bill Nye thing, RO/distilled is a proverbial clean slate. Probably the best choice as a base for your experimentation.
Go the RO route! I researched for hours and hours, but it all boils down (haha) to adding a few things to RO water depending on the batch. 5 gallon jugs of grocery store water and Bru'n Water spreadsheet are all you need: https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/
I agree that for extract brewing you would do well to use reverse osmosis water. But when it comes to all-grain, I think people get needlessly intimidated by water chemistry. There is free software that can do nearly all the math, so then it really comes down to adjusting a few variables. I should qualify what I am saying by noting that I only recently started brewing all-grain, but I think I've grasped the basics of water. People should feel free to correct any errors I've made. 1. Get a water report so you know what you are starting with. 2. Pick your software. Good free choices include EZ Water (requires Microsoft Excel [EDIT: I guess you could use OpenOffice]) and Brewer's Friend. (Don't get intimidated by all the data permutations, we will only use a handful of boxes, ignore the rest.) 3. Enter your data from your water report into your software. Save a copy so you will never have to do this again (unless you move or your local water changes.) There is a "Save/Reload" box at the bottom of the Brewer's Friend calculator, and of course it's easy to save a separate copy of an Excel file. Then, in a separately saved copy, enter your malt bill into the calculator. 4. Now, for our purposes we care about mash pH and flavor ions. Let's start with flavor ions, chloride and sulfate. These can be added to the water in the form of calcium chloride and calcium sulfate (aka gypsum). You want both chloride and sulfate in every beer, but for a malty beer aim for a bit more chloride, and for a hoppy beer aim for a bit more sulfate. In your calculator software, add both, as appropriate for your beer style, until they are in the 50-150 ppm range and calcium is in the 50-150 ppm range. Now we have the right flavor ions and we have enough calcium for the yeast to be happy. 5. For mash pH, you can read some background here (thanks to Kai Troester for his excellent work). Short version: we want mash pH to be between 5.3 and 5.8, toward the low end for a typical all-grain recipe, but above 5.4 if you are doing a decoction mash or a mash with a lot of adjuncts. (Source here.) So let's aim for 5.3-5.5, which is within the optimal range. Your software should tell you what the predicted pH is based on your malt bill and your water (as adjusted in step 4 above). If the pH is too low, then you might try reducing the amount of calcium you have already added, or you can add calcium carbonate (chalk). Just make sure to keep the calcium above 50 ppm. If the pH is too high, then you can try adding an ounce or two of acidulated malt to see if that does the trick. If your carbonate is really high, you might end up diluting your water with a little distilled water. In any case, your software should tell you the results as you adjust the variables. Just remember: Generally keep flavor ions in the 50-150 ppm range, balanced depending on your style of beer. (I welcome input from people on whether this is the right range, as a rule of thumb. Note that you can go much higher, particularly with sulfate.) Keep calcium above 50 ppm. Keep pH in the 5.3-5.8 range, maybe aiming for 5.3-5.5 for a standard mash. Now your software will tell you how many grams of calcium chloride, calcium sulfate, and (maybe) calcium carbonate to add. You also may have some acidulated malt to add to the mash (but only a few ounces tops). Be very careful to adjust the software so that you know whether these amounts are for all of the water or just the mash water. I suggest using additions for all of the water, meaning you should check "yes" for "Adjusting Sparge Water?" in EZ Water and use the sum of the minerals called for. In the Brewer's Friend software, you should not check "Use different water sources for mash and sparge." 6. So measure out your tapwater, including enough for both the mash and the sparge. If it has been treated with chlorine (as is often the case with tap water), then I would let it sit out for a while to let the chlorine come out of solution. If it has chloramine, then I would add a very small amount (let's say 250 mg) of vitamin C, which you can buy in pill form (try to get pure vitamin C, nothing else). Vitamin C seems to work on chlorine too. I got that idea from this PDF published by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (see the first question on the third page). Don't go crazy, 250 mg should be more than enough vitamin C, you could even go lower. 7. And you're all set. Enjoy all-grain brewing, I think it is a lot of fun, even apart from any impact on the quality of the beer. [UPDATED TO ADD: 8. You should be aware that, according to Kai Troester, colorpHast strips underestimate pH by about 0.3. So if you are checking to see how your mash is doing in terms of pH, don't be alarmed if your reading seems a bit low.]
I use RO water purchased in bulk at the supermarket, then adjust for calcium, sulfate, and pH using EZ Water. If you want to use spring water, be aware that with a little bit of googling you can find analyses of many of the more common brands. I think you will find that commercially available "spring water" is often very close to RO (with good reason, because very often it is RO), so you will probably have to add some salts anyway if you want to go this route.
4. You don't want SO4 in a beer like a Czech Pils. Don't get hung up on the Cl to SO4 ratio. It is a guideline, not the law. 5. Chalk doesn't dissolve well, even at mash pH. Baking soda is better. Pickling lime is better yet. 6. Not sure about the Vitamin C. Most will say to use a Campden tablet. One for 20 gallons. Will read the .pdf. Edit says for bath water. I will keep using campden if need be, but I normally use RO.
The problem with getting a municipal water report is that often the water comes from multiple sources and it can change seasonally. You never know what you are starting with many municipal supplies.
Some will vary more than others. For example the Ann Arbor report varies as it comes from surface water, and the the Detroit is not as much as it is from out in Lake Huron. You have to see if they have it online.
How can I bring down my Alkalinity? It's 90 mg/l. Seems really high for any beer style. maybe I am inputting it wrong in my software.
90 mg/l is not all that high, and depending on what else is in the water, may be a good starting point for some darker styles. A lot depends on the actual grains used. What style are you trying to build water for? And what software? Anyway, you can bring down your water's alkalinity by diluting it with RO/distilled water. Or you can bring down your mash pH by adding acid, or by adding gypsum or calcium chloride.
