water composition

killerklown88

hi,been chatting to someone who is into home-brewing big style and i have been advised to get a water report of my are so i can change the chemical balance of my water to taste like the water that is native to the brew in question. can you simplify this for me. is it a big thing to do. if not how do i do it

HBO_Staff

Sometimes people who want to replicate a brew that closely may take steps to alter the water, this is probably more common in all-grain brewing rather than using extracts. This is not usually necessary, and not something we recommend to anyone making a brew from a bought malt extract kit. As a basic step, some people like to stand the water they are going to use to brew with for 24 hours before using to allow chemicals in the water to evaporate, but again this is not that common, but may be worth trying in areas with certain types of water to see if you can taste any improvement in the finished result