joebagodonuts

Recipes 

Quick newbie question:
How do I get the chlorine out of my water? Do I have to buy a filter? Can I just boil it off or let it sit? What does everyone else do?

Thanks in advance

stevo155

Recipes 

I let my water sit in the kettle overnight. The chlorine will evaporate. If your water has chloramine instead, like me, use campden tablets. 1 tablet treats 20 gallons of water.

joebagodonuts

Recipes 

Thanks.
I've been reading some of the posts about chlorine and I'm confused because I've never heard of chloramine before.
I'm going to do some research to see if I can find out what they put in my water.

DrawTap88

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Joebagodonuts, let us know what you find out about chloramine.

I also just read in, I believe, Chapter 15 of How to Brew by John Palmer's online edition (or Brewing Techniques) that chlorine can be taken care of by exposing the water to direct sunlight for 10 minutes. Seems like a cheap and easy insurance policy after using campden tablets to rid your water of chloramine.

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stevo155

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I believe you'll have one or the other. Public utilities are replacing chlorine with chloramine because it is more stable, hence requiring campden to remove it. Chlorine will just evaporate if the water is left exposed.

You can usually obtain a water report from your city/town if on a public system ( a lot are available on the internet ). If not, you can obtain a water report from wards labs for a small fee.

Special Hops

Recipes 

+1 on the campden tablets

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david_42

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Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia, which is more stable and easier to work with than gaseous chlorine. It is more persistent in the water. A plus for the general health, but an annoyance for brewers.

DrawTap88

Recipes 

Thanks, David_42.

__________________
Fermenting: Nothing
Secondary: Nothing
Bottled: Oatmeal Porter, Double Chocolate Chipotle Porter
Kegged: IPA, Red Rye

joebagodonuts

Recipes 

Thanks to all.
It looks like if I want to brew today I have to go pick up some bottles of spring water. I won't be able to get these tablets quickly. I'm 40 minutes from my LHBS and on a Friday in the summer it might take me 2 hours.
So - spring water it is.
- I learned something else on HomeBrewTalk today!

impur

Recipes 

Is this really a necessary step, or is this more for people with poor water quality which necessitates the use of chlorine/chloramine? I don't even go thru this much trouble for my reef tank. I suppose I could use my RO/DI unit, but that'll just lessen the life of my filters.

I've done a few brews and don't notice any band-aid flavors, even in the brew i screwed up.

I don't know if my municipal uses chlorine or chloramine, but we do have excellent water quality here.

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Currently fermenting:
Ale Pail - Mohave Red
6gal carboy -
5gal carboy -
5gal bucket -
3gal carboy -
Bottled:
Rogue Dead Guy Ale | Apfelwein | Autumn Amber Ale

Kegged:
Hop Valley Alphadelic IPA

Next up: IPA of some sort