Can I use Tap Water?

The_B_Man

I've just one 5L bottle of water. I usually use bottled water, but I'm stuck at home now so all I have is tap water.

Is tap water OK? Or maybe should I boil it first?

I'll be making a Pilsener.

Thanks.

fuerte1976

Just finished mixing a brew. I use bottled water all the time now. Used tap water (straight from the sink) when I did my 1st brew 3 years ago. Could deffo taste the chlorine in it...

Boiling might make a difference tho

*edit Chlorine not flouride ...

mayto

Tap water should be fine, well thats what most use unless its pretty bad. Treat the water first with about half a crushed campden per 23L of water if chlorine in water.

The_B_Man

Ye, I don't think there's any chlorine in the tap water here in Tallaght. Maybe flouride though.

The water doesnt taste the nicest though, so I suppose thats probably the main factor for me to consider here.

Khannie

Almost certainly chlorine in your water. The advice I saw online was to leave it sit for 24 hours to let the chlorine out. I put mine through a brita filter. Time consuming, but it makes nicer water for brewing tea / coffee / booze IMO.

tricky D

Tap water given khannie's treatment and campden tab is much better than bottled water. There's a perception that bottled water is better which doesn't bear up to scrutiny. Take a look at the ingredients of your bottled water, or contaminants, which is a more accurate description. There's also the problem of stuff like bisphenol-a leachate from the plastic which is carcinogenic. Bottled water has a use by date for these reasons.

The_B_Man

OK cool. This is good stuff to know!

One more thing. If I leave a bucket load of water out somewhere, should I cover it to prevent contamination or will I need to leave it open to let the chlorine out?

ian_m

Khannie wrote: »

Almost certainly chlorine in your water. The advice I saw online was to leave it sit for 24 hours to let the chlorine out. I put mine through a brita filter. Time consuming, but it makes nicer water for brewing tea / coffee / booze IMO.

I was thinking of doing this also for my next brew. The clorine evaporates from the water within about 24hours when the water is left to stand.

Leave a glass of water out overnight and do a taste test compared to water staight from the tap you will taste the difference. We used to keep fish and when it was time for a water change we used to let the water sit for a day before replacing it.

I kept my 5 litre plastic water bottles from my last batch. I am going to fill them with tap water and just let them sit with the lids resting ontop. I think that will do the trick. If it doesn't work I'll go back to the bottled water. Also Craigtube and others use tapwater.

Yawns

Tallaght water ain't too bad tbh.

I'm in Kildare now and the limescale in the kettle after 1 use is enough to put me off using that water untreated in my brew.

I usually filter the water the night before cos it takes ages. I fill a fermenter with 23L of water and leave it overnight and generally do the brew in the morning. The odd time I've just filled it with water and left it overnight but I'd normally brita filter it.

I usually ive the fermenter lid loosely covering over the top with a small gap. The idea of the lid is to stop objects from falling in more so than anything else. I've never actually treated my water with campden but usually because I forget to. I always say I will next time.

oblivious

The_B_Man wrote: »

I've just one 5L bottle of water. I usually use bottled water, but I'm stuck at home now so all I have is tap water.

Is tap water OK? Or maybe should I boil it first?

I'll be making a Pilsener.

Thanks.

You may want to boil it to reduce the bicarbonates, Czech Pilsener tend be brewed with softer water. But the boiling process will reduce you calcium too so you may need to add a little back as either Gypsum or calcium chloride.

or Dublin water is not dissimilar to Munich and make a helles

willabur

boil it, add campden tablet. Does the job for me

Shiny

I usually fill up the boil kettle and leave it sit overnight to let the chlorine out but I have been wondering lately, why bother?

Surely the chlorine would also seep out during the fermentation?

oblivious

Shiny wrote: »

I usually fill up the boil kettle and leave it sit overnight to let the chlorine out but I have been wondering lately, why bother?

Surely the chlorine would also seep out during the fermentation?

chlorine is very reactive can with phenols produced during fermentation to make chlorophenols, although I have not really detected a chlorine aroma from some Dublin tap water

cheap method is just to let it off gas with the lid of the kettle overnight

rubadub

They will add more chlorine when needed. In warm weather bacteria grow better so they will typically add more. Also when a reservoir is low in water they usually add more per litre. So if there is a water shortage in hot weather expect lots of chlorine, I can smell it a mile off some days.

I had 1 beer brew effected by the chlorine once, it stank of TCP.

Yawns

I spent an hour and a half last night filling a vessel with filtered water because I forgot I only had the one filter with a cartridge in it. I must buy some for the other filter and have spares again. I usually buy in bulk.

Just as well I had something to watch on tv whilst waiting for it. Such a slow painful process. I did add campden tabs this time tho. Just finished making up a Canadian Blonde with the help of my 3 year old. My father loves this brew so this will all prob go to him anyway in a few weeks time.

For me I think it's time to drink through what I have and get my bottle collection ready again for more brews. It's time to branch out into the all grain method.

rubadub

I was thinking up ways of using a britta filter before. Most look like this

And the upper white reservoir section can be taken out completely with the filter in place.

Now imagine you had a fermenter lid with a big 2" hole in it (you could burn this into plastic with a soldering iron or hot knife). Now you could pop the britta reservoir on top of the fermenter and put it in the garden. Now get your garden hose (mine is connected to drinking water) and turn the tap on really low so water is just trickling into the filter so you can just leave it, so slow that it does not overfill the reservoir.

But I think these filters work better when they are submerged in water at the bottom.

If you had a jerry can type container or a keg it might already have a neck narrow enough to take the filter reservoir, it might need to be bunged up with a clean tea towel to hold it in place.

Yawns

hmmm I might have an idea tho just reading your text.

I have a 33L bucket with tap and I have a few 25L buckets with lids. I may use your method of putting a large enough hole into the 25L lid and affixing the filter and reservoir in place.

Have the large bucket filled with tap water and placed above the smaller bucket. I could use the bottling wand or tubing to run the water straight into the reservoir and open the tap so it trickles slowly enough that it doesn't overflow.

I might use the dishwasher door technique others use for bottling and place the large bucket on the counter above it in case it overflows a bit. Should be a win win situation. My worry would be the weight being too much for the door. Maybe some support under the door to take the weight, but of course something not to scratch it and have the other half kill me Or just put a towel on floor as any overflow would be small if done right.


*edit*

Or I could get another bucket that sits slightly into 1 of my buckets and dill a hole for the filter alone, and use the the rest of the bucket as a reservoir, could do 2 or 3 filters in the base and have fast filtered water.