johnny_teapot Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We've got pretty excellent municipal water, both in terms of taste, pH, mineral content, etc. We're also literally adjacent to a brewpub, and the master brewer of about 15 years there says the stuff is excellent for brewing (once he heats it to get the chlorine out) - he says it's very similar to the water in the Plzeň region. At any rate, assuming this is all true, is there any reason to filter it - either before using it in the mash or before using it to bring our product down to bottle strength? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 A brewmaster of 15 years is someone whose advice I'd take very seriously. However, boiling the water during the cook will not remove all the chlorine. A carbon filter is sufficient for removing organics and chlorine, and it will leave the ions that contribute to your municipal water being excellent for brewing. As far as cutting water, you don't want to put anything into the spirit except for H2O. All the organics and compounds in municipal water will alter the taste of your product. Use DI water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny_teapot Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 Well, what he does is heat it the night before, which is sufficient to reduce the chlorine to non-detectable levels. Will it alter our product in that it will taste like the Albany water, or is there danger of other interactions of the compounds in our water with whatever we're bottling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absinthe Pete Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Let me put it to you this way why would you even consider risking hundred of thousands of dollar in lieu of $300-$500? Don't take the risk you never know what's in the water at that exact moment. Buy the dam filter. P.S. I live in San Francisco and we have excellent water...I mean really good and literally as I was responding to this article I took a sip from a glass I just got from the tap and it smells terrible today...case in point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny_teapot Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 It's not a cost issue; it's a quality issue. That is, are we removing things from the water that would otherwise improve our product? Traditionally, a good deal of the taste associated with whiskey had to do with the water used. Bushmills springs (pun intended?) to mind; (as far as I'm concerned, their 10-year-old is among the best whiskies on the market) a lot of what they credit their flavor to is the volcanic rock through which their water passes. What are the benefits of filtration? Should we use carbon, reverse osmosis, a combination of the two, or something else? Why or why not? Filtration seems like the "safe" bet, but does it remove some character as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absinthe Pete Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 You never mentioned you were making whiskey...but that's besides the fact. What I do is filter my water and then add back in those minerals to create the exact water I'm looking for. So if I'm making Scotch I'll add back in those minerals and what not to make the water match that region. If you do a search you should be able to easily find, as I've done before, water reports of any specific region in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteB Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 it's a quality issue. That is, are we removing things from the water that would otherwise improve our product? I agree with you Johnny. It has often amused me that some distilleries brag about the "natural" water they use, and claim it is part of their success, but most that I know use RO so all the "nature" has been removed. I have never tasted it, but I have been told that RO water from a sewer will taste the same as RO water from a crystal clear mineral spring. I use rain water collected from my roofs and I don't use RO or carbon, just filter to 2 microns as I bottle. I say if you don't NEED to use RO or carbon then don't. You are trying to craft a product that is unique, a different flavoured water should help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absinthe Pete Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Different flavored water = yes, city water with who knows what in it plus chemicals = no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteB Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 --- brewpub, and the master brewer of about 15 years there says the stuff is excellent for brewing ----- assuming this is all true, is there any reason to filter it Different flavored water = yes, city water with who knows what in it plus chemicals = no I know what Absinthe Pete means when he says SF water has its bad days, we even get that in our cities here in Tasmania. I think it is sometimes happens when they flush sediment from the mains. IMHO do as the brewpub guy does. He has stayed in business for 15 years so it probably OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 A brewpub does not use H2O to cut their product. For mashing, if you follow the brewmaster's procedure, it sounds like you should be safe with municipal water. For proofing your product, I would invest in a DI or RO system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteB Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 A brewpub does not use H2O to cut their product. For mashing, if you follow the brewmaster's procedure, it sounds like you should be safe with municipal water. For proofing your product, I would invest in a DI or RO system. I agree, that would be the safest, and only need a smaller RO unit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny_teapot Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 I probably should have mentioned that I was talking about this for whiskey, specifically; regardless of what we end up doing here, we're going to buy an RO system for vodka anyway (but not a DI system).. I guess the mashing with city water issue is more or less settled. As far as cutting the product, how do you (collectively) feel about carbon filtration as opposed to RO? That would remove the chlorine and any organic contaminants, but preserve the character of the water - which is, again, among the best in the country. This hearkens back to what Absinthe Pete was saying - if you're making a scotch clone, you're going to add minerals to mimic the water of whatever region of Scotland you're trying to imitate. We're making an Albany whiskey; shouldn't we use Albany water? Obviously we're going to be trying everything to see what tastes best; I guess I'm just curious to see if anyone has done something along these lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absinthe Pete Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Is it possible to find water nearby that's not treated with chemicals, but filtered and decontaminated from a nearby lake or river? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny_teapot Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 You know, there might be. Before it goes to the municipal treatment plant, the city water is filtered near the reservoirs (they combine water from two of them, and then pump it into the city). If we could access it there, we might be able to get drums/tanks of it. Wouldn't be practical for mashing, volume-wise, but it might be for bottling - I'll certainly look in to it. Thanks for the suggestion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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