Water from water heater tank for brewing

I brew on my back deck, right next to the closet that has my NG heated water heater tank. Is there any reason I can't use the water in it to fill my HLT and save time waiting for water to heat up?

Note that if I where to use water from the heater I would use one of these filters on the way to the HLT.

Is this the same water that is used for other purposes in your house? If it's good enough for drinking, it's good enough for brewing. If you're worried about precise mineral content, chlorine levels from your municipal supply, etc., then you may have an issue with your tap water.

I think it's generally a big no-no to drink hot water from the tap. Something about pipes and hot water causing leaching, or the corrosion on the inside of your tank coming through in some way. There's a reason one doesn't fill a pot full of hot tap water when putting on a pot of pasta, I think.

My old roommate worked in HVAC. He said not to use the hot water when we had a tank because of the gunk and minerals in it. Think about a hot water tank, it fills with water and sits there all day until you use it. When we took out my tank style we opened it up--holy crap it's gross the junk that's in there!!

I now have an on demand water heater. Water does not sit in there, it just goes through a radiator that heats it. If you had an on-demand water heater and your cold water works for brewing, I wouldnt worry. But if you have a tank water heater I would be a little concerned to use for brewing.

Most chefs will cringe at the thought of using water from a hot water tank, insta-heat systems are fine. Those hot water filters are more expensive then standard ones, you are better off filtering the cold water as it enters the water heater.

Psych said:

I think it's generally a big no-no to drink hot water from the tap. Something about pipes and hot water causing leaching, or the corrosion on the inside of your tank coming through in some way. There's a reason one doesn't fill a pot full of hot tap water when putting on a pot of pasta, I think.

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I've never heard this. However, I'm not saying you're wrong, either. Is there a plumber on here than can weigh in on this?

I remember watching a video series about a test brewery that Hopunion built using an all grain system from More Beer. I think I remember them saying they installed a hot water heater for this very purpose.

Morebeer's Hopunion trip (part 2: Brewhouse hot water on-demand, how Will chose his brewsculpture)

Google it up, it's definitely not brewing specific. It may be totally fine in some houses with really good plumbing but I'd wager it's a health hazard in many, not to mention the gunk and crap that's in your hot water tank.

Is this the same water that is used for other purposes in your house? If it's good enough for drinking, it's good enough for brewing.

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This is what my Dad said, more or less to the word.

I think it's generally a big no-no to drink hot water from the tap. Something about pipes and hot water causing leaching, or the corrosion on the inside of your tank coming through in some way. There's a reason one doesn't fill a pot full of hot tap water when putting on a pot of pasta, I think.

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I have read a little about this. If you have copper pipes (I don't think I do but will check when I get home) then you might be concerned because hot water leaches lead out of copper pipes faster than cold water. In my opinion, the amount leached can not possibly be more dangerous than driving to work. Furthermore, I am talking about taking the water out of the bottom of the heater and not through any pipes.

My old roommate worked in HVAC. He said not to use the hot water when we had a tank because of the gunk and minerals in it. Think about a hot water tank, it fills with water and sits there all day until you use it. When we took out my tank style we opened it up--holy crap it's gross the junk that's in there!!

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Yes, there is quite possibly some sediment in the bottom of the tank. Hence, the filter.

I don't know anything about water chemistry. Would one of the water reports people talk about tell me anything useful about the safety of the water if I pulled it out of the tank?

Huh...I always fill my HLT with hot water from the tap. I figure heating it from 90 degrees will take less time than from 40. The water will be boiled at the end of the process anyway. Is there any proof that this will cause mash or strike problems?

Weizenheimer said:

Huh...I always fill my HLT with hot water from the tap. I figure heating it from 90 degrees will take less time than from 40. The water will be boiled at the end of the process anyway. Is there any proof that this will cause mash or strike problems?

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This was my thinking and what I was planning on doing. Again, I am not an expert on this, but I can't understand why it would matter with water that is going to be filtered and boiled, like you said.

I too filled my pot from the hot water tap when I did stove-top extract batches.

I always cook with hot tap water, and I also like to pour glasses of hot tap water, then put them in the fridge to cool so I can drink them. Drinking hot water in the shower is a daily ritual for me, really gets you going in the morning. Often times I'll buy packs of bottled water at the store, dump the nasty water out thats in them, then refill them with hot tap water to drink. Sometimes I'll even repackage them and put them back on the shelf at the store for some lucky SOB to buy. All that and I'm still fine! ... *cough cough* ... uh oh ... *cough* ... it's all catching up to me! ... *cough cough cough* ... oh no, I'm dying of hot water ingestion!!

But seriously, I cook and brew with hot water a lot and I'm fine. And since you're running it through a filter and boiling it, I think you'll be ok. Any extra metal that 120F water leeches that 60F (or 75F in the summer here) water doesn't is probably pretty negligible.

What I saw in my old tank made it not worth it to me. Use cold water and pick a few weeds or drink a beer while you wait. What's the big deal?

kblankenship11 said:

What I saw in my old tank made it not worth it to me. Use cold water and pick a few weeds or drink a beer while you wait. What's the big deal?

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You realize that the sediment is primarily calcium carbonate that already exists in your cold water supply, just precipitated out from the heat? Municipalities with soft water already have a low mineral content, and likely don't have as much of a buildup--your area may be different. If you flush your water heater annually, you can avoid the problem.

OP can do as he pleases, but no way would I bother. How much extra effort is required to heat your water the extra 50-80f or so? 10 minutes? Whether the stuff's in your water cold or hot I still wouldn't want precipitated mineral crap floating around in my beer just because I wanted to save 10 minutes of time. At the cost of an additional filtering system.

You could take a mug of the hot water from the tank-- and for control purposes, water from your cold side tap. Put hot mug in fridge until it is room temp. Taste it. Does the formerly hot water taste different than the water taken from the cold-side water? if so, which tastes better? Use the better tasting water.

I've thought about this, myself: using a water heater, perhaps with a filter in the input side, to supply hot water for brewing.

I remember a friend scolding me as I went to rinse the spaghetti by running hot tap water thru the colander. He told me all about the water sitting in the tank.

I've always been on municipal water. Occasionally, the water folks would flush pipes by turning on the fire hydrant. Sometimes, there would be a repair to a main line somewhere between me and the supply. Thereafter, there would be a certain amount of yellow-orange junk in the water (Georgia red clay is real).

When I ponder how water gets to me: going thru some miles of underground pipe > water tower > back down thru underground pipes that get tapped into from time to time > to my house I often wonder how much crap ends up in my water where it enters my house simply from all the conduits en route to my house. It just seems that, in the overall scheme of things, having water sit in a small water heater (that gets flushed frequently to remove sediment) would not have any appreciable "greater" effect on the water than what's already happened to it on the way to my house.

Of course, I have no science to back any of that up, it's just my trying to "reason through" the process.

Thanks,
Keith

I think there's a big difference between running water - which your cold water pipes, up to your house at least, are filled with - and water that may not move at all for hours/days, ie: your hot water tank water, say if you didn't shower recently or something.

There's also a difference between cold water sitting in pipes or containers and hot water sitting in pipes or containers, the hot will leach things much faster. Try washing dishes in cold water and you can quickly see how ineffective that is at removing gunk compared to hot water.

I like the idea of pouring a glass from the hot water tank, cooling and sampling beside a cold water tap glass. However bear in mind any issues with things like lead and stuff, those aren't going to be noticeable to you and you won't be able to tell a year or two down the road like "Hey I think my lead levels are too high because of this weird bump on my face".

Bad stuff can be subtle and slow to affect you and bring you down. Is it worth chancing your long term health for a 15 minute shortcut on something you might do twice a month?