Brewing with distilled water

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I bought more distilled water than I needed for something and I was thinking of brewing a beer with it. What should I be aware of besides adding salts?

 

[Zambi]

Nothing, I think.
You'll need to add salts and acid etc, remembering there is zero buffering capacity

 

[Sandy Feet]

Use it for coffee and buy spring water for the beer?
I use spring water for the coffee too. The taste of the water here is pretty bad.

 

[Donoroto]

Distilled water tastes flat with no minerals, even in coffee. Add the salts as needed per the water calculator.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

It works really well with light beers, brewing salts are an obvious addition, but it works with everything from American Lager to a West Coast IPA. Most of my beers are a combination of RO and distilled water, it works with most beers that don't have too much color.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Put it in your humidifier....keeps the dust down!

 

[Craigerrr]

I may be late to the party here, but maybe brew a lager, or Pilsner, to my knowledge they typically use a "softer" water profile. I recall adding very little to RO water when I brewed the Shady Bohemian.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

The plan is to brew a Helles. My home water is pretty soft to begin with so I'm on the fence. This is my first Helles so I don't want to mess it up.

 

[Yooper]

The plan is to brew a Helles. My home water is pretty soft to begin with so I'm on the fence. This is my first Helles so I don't want to mess it up.

Distilled or RO water is fine. You can add 5 grams of calcium chloride to your water to increase calcium a little (for yeast health) and the chloride and should be fine.

 

[Flying Weasels Home Brewery]

Brewers Friend has a great water calculator. I use it and start with mostly R/O or distilled water.