Is Water Treatment That Important?

I do, whether I'm starting with tap water or (more usually) distilled water. And it makes a difference.

Read these two pages for an introduction as to why.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge

Edit: Although these are the pages at Brunwater, which publishes an excellent water spreadsheet, I use the EZWater spreadsheet. Both are very good and use essentially the same formulae. I just find the EZWater sheet simpler.

 

You need to know your water's profile before anyone could answer this question very meaningfully.

 

That's a water quality report, and this one doesn't contain the information you'd need for brewing. If you download one of the spreadsheets (I'll talk about EZWater), you'll see the mineral values you need across the top row. If the city won't/can't provide them, you can have your water analyzed by a lab for not a lot of money.

 

I have a related question. I'm pretty new to all grain and I've never treated the water - I use filtered water available in bulk. How much does the mash pH change for different styles of beer? I know this is a vague question, but how far could I potentially be off on one style versus another and how much of an impact would it make? I know there is more to it than mash pH, so how much of an effect is there on other factors given a single water source with no treatment? Not looking for anything detailed, but as much information as I could get without showing a water report would be appreciated.

 

I'm in Hampton, if you know that you use the same water I'll email you my report.

You do steps to remove chlorine don't you? That's really important.

 

Your brewing water's fine as long as its not polluted, or ridiculously soft. If you live in the middle of the country its proabably suitable alkalinity and hardness for dark or hoppy beers. If you live on the coast your waters likely softer and better for pilsners or lagers etc. If you like hoppy beers and live in a soft water municipality get gypsum or another brewing salt that fits the water profile. Heres a helpful link which explains some minerals effect on brewing water, however ccr's (consumer confidence reports) often wont include certain minerals (sulfate calcium) as they are already listed under the hardness or alkalinity portion. at least thats how it is in athens. https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge

 

@coreymcdonald mash ph is usually most affected by how kilned your grains are, but usually will hover from 5.2 to 5.8 (somewhat acidic). Also, enzymes in the grain (dont know if enzymes the right word there) help to keep it around that, but there are ph buffers you can buy to help. Depending on what kind of filter your using it might have adverse effects. Most cheapo filters are really just water softerners which, while good for light crisp lagers, is bad for dark or hoppy ales.

 

You really only need 1/4 tab per 5 gallons, but a half tab won't hurt anything.

 

The same water with two different styles can make the difference between perfect mash pH/efficiency/world class flavor and poor pH/efficiency/dull flavor. Carefully planned mash chemistry won't make a terrible beer good, but it can make an otherwise good beer great.

Have you read the links in the previous reply? (They are not particularly long.) They should answer your questions above. All except for the one you (and a lot of people) really want to ask... "I don't know what's in my water. What should I add to it?"

 

Fair enough - I planned on reading them when I got home, but I'm at work now. I'll take a look.

 

My impression is that water profile/treatment does make a difference, but it's probably not as important as sanitation/yeast health/fermentation temperatures. As I think someone above said, it won't make a bad beer good, but it could be the thing that makes a good beer great. It's probably the next thing on my checklist of ways to improve my brewing, but for now I treat my water with campden and 5.2* and my brews turn out pretty well.

 

Only if you want to make the best beer possible or are blessed with perfect water for the style you are brewing.

 

If you brew all grain, water chemsty can become important once all of your other process is under control, and you want to continue to improve your beer.

Vikeman summed it up, it can take your beer from good to great.

 

I've never worried about water chemistry, but over the years I've probably adjusted my recipes to fit my water. Our water is brutally hard so my only alternative would be to drive into town and buy 20 gallons of RO water, then add chemicals to it. Not really feasible for me so I've just tweaked my recipes to accommodate what our rural water co-op sends me. But at least there is no chlorine or chloramine in it, that would require me to actually do something about the water.

 

Many have talked of hard water, but hardness (Ca and Mg) is not so bad. What is bad is high alkalinity. My water is very hard (high Ca and Mg), but has a load of HCO3, so it is very alkaline. It has an RA of 200, and would only be good for Stouts and Porters.

RO water and water adjustments allows me to brew any style.

 

[QUOTE

I live in the middle, but had my water tested and was surprised to see that I didn't have any mineral over 60ppm. I started adding calcium (15ppm from the tap) and getting my chloride and sulfate ratio balanced and my few beers since have been much improved.[/quote]

 

It certainly makes a difference to the brewing, otherwise the whole history of beer styles would be different! Hence London and Dublin became famous for porters/stouts (soft water) and Burton and Edinburgh became noted for pale ales and bitter beers (very high mineral content)......Guinness failed as an ale brewer so switched to porter.It does matter.
It's relatively easy to move from having a low mineral content to high-just add more salts! Going the other way is not quite so easy though.Some brewers use a mixture of local and RO water.
Many homebrewers get acceptable results simply using household water.As long as it doesn't have any off scents/tastes and is free from chlorine.