Tap Water question

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benharper13

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I'm getting ready to do a brew right now and I've always used spring water, but I called my city water department and they said our chlorine content is only .2 to .4 which he said is pretty low. Would it be ok to just use the tap water?
 
I do it all the time and make award winning beer. However the tap water here in Louisville is second to none, which is to say it taste great, no off flavors. So, if it taste ok then I say go for it.

I intend to start using potassium metabisulphite tablets to eliminate chlorine and chloramine. Simply crush one tablet to add to approx. 5 gallons of water. These tablets are commercially available as Campden Tablets.
 
It will need to be boiled or charcoal filtered first. Normally if it tastes good it's ok to brew with.
 
I spray a bucket with starsan and then put in approx. 6 gal of water and then crush a Campden tablet and put about 1/2 to 3/4 of it in and let it sit for a 15 - 30 minutes while I get all the other stuff put together for brewing.

I doubt there would be a problem using it right out of the tap, but why not rest easier by hitting it with something to take out the chlorine based treatments
 
I spray a bucket with starsan and then put in approx. 6 gal of water and then crush a Campden tablet and put about 1/2 to 3/4 of it in and let it sit for a 15 - 30 minutes while I get all the other stuff put together for brewing.

It's not necessary to sanitize anything pre boil.
 
another tap water user here. i treat mine with sodium or potassium metabisulfite (campden), about 1/8 tsp in my entire 12 gallons of brewing water. makes some tasty beers.
 
I got a pack of campden tablets. about 25 of them for 94 cents. Thats a no brainer for me.
 
I'm getting ready to do a brew right now and I've always used spring water, but I called my city water department and they said our chlorine content is only .2 to .4 which he said is pretty low. Would it be ok to just use the tap water?

i use the water from the place the cdc labels the best tap water in the us. no problems here :rockin:
 
It's not necessary to sanitize anything pre boil.

True, but I usually do partial boil and top off 2-3 gallons of water out of the bucket which would bring the temp down into the danger zone... "Should" be okay without sanitizing, but the amount of effort is minimal, especially compared to the risk of infecting a batch...
 
Store-bought spring water works. Distilled/RO works with extract or with (minimal) mineral additions, or if used in conjunction with spring water.

I bought a Brita(tm), and I'm planning on just using that to filter my water. It doesn't taste *bad*, but it doesn't taste fantastic either... so it will only help my water.
 
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