Since moving in September, I have noticed that the local drinking water here tastes a little…different.
It’s hard to describe. It’s not bleachy-chlorine tasting. It’s not rusty-dirty tasting.
It’s soapy tasting. There’s a slickness to the aftertaste that is reminiscent of dish soap. Mike warned me about it since he has relatives that live in this section of town. He said that if he ever moved there, he would have to buy a water filter to brew.
Not that I have brewed with the water yet (I have used spring water), but I think I agree with him.
Although it is tempting to see what a beer would taste with this town’s unfiltered water, I think I would like to invest in a homebrewing water filter.
In Brew Your Own magazine’s January/February 2007 issue, there is an article on how to make a homebrewing water filter for around 40 bucks.
The main component is a water filter built for showers…which looks like a fairly small filter when compared to a water filter needed for a Brita pitcher. I wonder how much filtering it really can do.
But for me, the price is nice and although it’s small, I am willing to bet it can take away the funny water taste my tap water has.
If you would like to read the article, it is available online for you to build your own.
Mark
I am using village water that I consider to taste and smell good, but wanted to remove chlorine. I built this filter and have used it for about a year. I brew in the garage and modified it to include high quality garden hose quick disconnects. It is a good project for its purpose and it is very compact. However, regardless of how much I adjust and twist, mine leaks around the dry fit PVC fittings. In the garage, it is not a big deal to me, but if I was using it inside, I would grow annoyed with it. I am probably going to cement it together to eliminate the leaks. This will sacrifice the ability to change out the filter, but with an estimated life of 10,000 gallons and occasional back-flushing, I will get a number of year of use from this project.
John
Agreed. 10,000 gallons is a lot of brew sessions for me.
The Water Filter Chap
I brewed for years using ordinary tap water, but it wasn’t until I got an under the sink water filter for a completely different reason did I realise how bad our water was. The beer tastes much cleaner, the tea is wonderful and even our dog will only drink the filtered water now.
I would say if you can’t get access to decent spring water then a cheap filter is the way to go, mine cost $59 but if you look hard enough I bet they can got a lot cheaper.
Tucsonbrewer
Hi, I recentl;y built this filter. A great way to build one and fun to do. However, I tested it the other day, and after running a few gallons through it, I tasted the water… and POOL WATER? Yes it tasted of chlorine. Even slowing down the flow rate didn’t help. So I went back to the tried and true Pur filter on the faucet for my brew day. Any ideas, suggestions? Is it just a bad filter maybe?
John
Hi Tucsonbrewer,
It could be a bad filter, but I am not sure about this. I ended up buying a water filter for RVs for my brewing. It cleans up the water nicely. I have a post for it here:
https://www.brew-dudes.com/rv-water-filter-for-homebrewing/795
You may want to try to switch out the filter with a new one. The one thing that always bothered me about this set up was the use of a water filter for a showerhead. I couldn’t imagine that it was as effective as one you would use for drinking water.