Continuing where we left off with my series on finding various ways for the average homebrewer to save money on their favourite hobby… it’s now time to turn our focus to that often overlooked ingredient: water.

Water makes up the largest portion of the final product and as such it’s a vital part of not only how things taste but sometimes also how much things cost. While some people swear by buying reverse osmosis (RO) water and adjusting it from there, that can prove to be expensive over time. Here are some ways you can save money on water while homebrewing beer.

Learn to Love your Local Tap Water

This may be sacrilegious to some people but if you just happen to like the unadulterated taste of your local tap water then congratulations: you’ve just saved money! Many people dislike the taste of their local tap water or the (often) chlorinated flavour it brings but if you can learn to love that unique part of your homebrew flavour profile then there’s really nothing more for you to do here. Untreated tap water is always going to be the cheapest way for you to brew your own beer.

Adjust Your Tap Water

OK so you can’t live with your tap water taste but you do want to strike a decent middle ground. How about just taking your tap water and adjusting it with salts and acids from there? To know where to start you should be able to pull up info on your local water chemistry or failing that there are companies out there that you can send samples to in order to find out what the composition is.

Filter Your Tap Water

‘But what if my water is chlorinated?’ I hear you ask? Well in that case you can simply purchase a decent in-line filter, like one used for an RV, and run your tap water through that first to remove a lot of that chlorine and other mineral content. Then you should be able to adjust from there to your hearts content.

Bonus: Buy Water On Sale

If none of those options appeal to you then you can at least look for deals on buying your water. Buy it on sale or pre-pay/buy in bulk and you may get a discount on the price of your RO water.

Conclusion

Water is an essential ingredient in beer so it’s important to make sure you get a good quality source. That said I hope these examples have given you some ideas for how to save money in doing so.