Water

Grains, malts, hops, yeast, water and other ingredients used to brew. Recipe reviews and suggestions.

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Justin
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2003 7:49 am

Water

Post by Justin »

Can bottled water be used for all grain brewing without any treatment?

Thanks
Dr Strangebrew
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue May 13, 2003 7:01 pm
Location: Lincoln, NE, US

It Depends

Post by Dr Strangebrew »

From a yeast standpoint, the yeast need some minerals at trace amounts. These minerals would not be present in distilled water.

From a mash standpoint, conventional wisdom states that the mash pH must be 5.2. You may need to alter the pH of the mash with additives to achieve this ideal. Fivestar chemical makes a mash stabilizer. They say that no matter what the water makeup or grains used, the stabilizer will achieve a mash pH of 5.2.

I have only used this stuff once. I didn't check the pH of the mash, but my mash efficiency went up. Hope this helps.

Nate
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