Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

I have been having a consistent problem with an off-taste that I can't describe. I have scrubbed and sterilized equipment with great care and still it persists. I use Marion city water out of the tap, and was wondering if I'm tasting a chlorine (chloramine) odor/taste.
Have any of you Marion brewers noted an "off" flavor/odor to city water? I've tried a Campden tablet in my most recent batch and am hoping for the best.

DOGWATER!

Only Iowa City has worst tasting tap water than Marion! Get a Brita or use bottled drinking water.

While CR's tap is OK, we have installed filters in our kitchen. Makes a huge difference in our coffee. In my many travels on business, when I take my own coffee to make in the hotel rooms, I've found that the old Dos Equix saying is true - "eetz de water!" No matter how good the coffee, most tap water makes it end up tasting like Folgers. Same is true for making beer. Good water makes good beer.

Water is the main ingredient in beer. I use CR tap water treated with a Campden tablet. My process is I fill my kettles with 10 gallons of water for a 5 gallon batch of all-grain and 20 if doing 10 gallons the night before brew day. I add 1 campden tablet per 20 gallons.

I can't speak much on the Marion water itself other than I know it is an entirely different source than CR. For the first 5 years I brewed I would just fill 5 gallon jugs of filtered water at Hy-Vee. I was always pretty happy with that water and it is relatively inexpensive compared to everything that goes in to the batch of beer.

I use a 4 stage RO system that brings my water down to less than 10 ppm. From what I've heard that CR's water is high in ammonia and other additives. I have a lot of fish and it seemed like it doesn't take too much tap water to kill them off real fast. If anyone is worried about their water quality and wants some RO water I can produce 150 gallons a day. It's pretty much the same water that you get from culligan.

CR water is treated w/ chloramines, but camden tablets will take care of that. Overall, CR water is relatively soft andpretty good for brewing. IC water sucks much less than it used to. The new water treatment plant makes a big difference. And yeah, I hate Marion water. Fortunately about the only time I actually try to drink the stuff is when I satisfy a Zoey's jones.

I got a water report from the CR water engineering dept, and posted it here a while back. It's probably still up here, if you're interested.