Another Newbie Q Re Water

[gc78]

Hey all just a quick question re water quality, when I start something new I generally get a little bit over obsessed :blink:

Silly question I'm sure but how much does water qulity effect the end result ? I'm thinking of getting one of those Brita water filters to use or maybe distilled water.

I would love to her what others have to say on this matter.

P.S Awesome site BTW. Have spent the last 4 hours trolling threads and learning heaps, copy and paste to word is a wonderful thing

Kind regards
GC

 

[wezz]

Hi again GC,

Not a silly question - I am certain water quality affects the beer. I read some other threads on this forum that said Brita or charcoal filtering, Boiling/Distilling, Rain or Spring water were all OK, but there was some people who were concerned about losing the minerals from water when boiled/distilled.

I am personally going get a water cooler and spring water in my house (but I am sure I will drink most of it in beer form).

For your first brew - just watch the Paul Mercurio video and do what he says. Make sure every thing is cleaned but dont be too anal the first time cause the kit is only new and just needs a rinse out with boiled water.

My first Coopers worked flawlessly and I am sure you will be happy with the results!

Cheers!

Wez

 

[Screwtop]

Welcome gc78, lots of other ways to improve your kit beers before bothering with water, if you want real improvement then do a search re yeasts and partial mash tecniques, using yeast starters and controlling fermentation temps. Water will make minimal difference.
Cheers

 

[pint of lager]

"If it is good enough to drink, it is good enough to brew with."

Like has already been said, get your sanitation, fermentation temp and ingredients sorted out first, then move onto specialty grains, better yeasts, better styles of beer etc.

After you have these nailed, do revisit your water. Beer is 90% water and this will influence the final taste as well as the health of your yeast. If you live in an area that has heavily treated water, water that has lots of minerals or your water comes from a bore then you will want to do some filtering.

Get the major bits worked out then move onto the finer points.

When printing and saving information, make sure you also include a link as to where the info came from. That way, as your knowledge improves, you can come back and reread your sources.

Also, in the options button at the top of a thread, there is an option to print out a thread.

All the best for your search for great beer.

 

[Green Iguana]

Put simply, water chemistry characterises many of the worlds great beers. Brittish ales (Fullers) such as those from burton on trent use quite hard water (alot of minerals) whilst the Czechoslovakian pilsner urquell use soft water (less minerals). Water profiles are named after regions where that particular profile is unique.

As mentioned above, changing your water profile is probably the last thing you should focus on before mastering the basics. However one good practice is to use water that has been treated to remove chlorine. This is especially importatnt if you are doing Kit & kilo or extract without a boil. You can do a pre-boil or run through a filter. But honestly if it tastes good from the tap you will make good beer.

I usually run my water through a standard filter connected to the tap. This gives a somewhat neutral profile where the majority of minerals are removed. I then add minerals to create the profile whilst in the HLT. I always do the following;

Hard water for ales
Soft water for lagers

Cheers

 

[gc78]

Thanks so much for the replies guys it it is very much appreciated. I'll stick to the normal water for now and just see how it goes, guess I can only learn from trying !
:beer: