letting the water breathe before brewing???

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twobears

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I picked up on a technique a friend and fellow brewer is doing. The day before he brews he fills his pots with the water he needs and lets them sit overnight to "air out". I've never done that but he says its let the chlorine in the water (city water) escape. Is there any truth to this? One thing I was thinking about doing was recirculating the counterflow chiller water back into the MT and HLT for future use rather than letting it go down the drain, is this a good idea? Granted some will be wasted due to the fact that my pots will fill before the wort has transferred but anyway.......
 
I picked up on a technique a friend and fellow brewer is doing. The day before he brews he fills his pots with the water he needs and lets them sit overnight to "air out". I've never done that but he says its let the chlorine in the water (city water) escape. Is there any truth to this? One thing I was thinking about doing was recirculating the counterflow chiller water back into the MT and HLT for future use rather than letting it go down the drain, is this a good idea? Granted some will be wasted due to the fact that my pots will fill before the wort has transferred but anyway.......
I used to do that before I started using a carbon filter. Supposed to allow the chlorine to dissapate overnight. I think it works but a filter is a better way to go for me.
Dunno about the recirculated water.
 
just fill your brew kettle with the hose and spray from high above it to air-rate it...this will get the chlorine out...you can smell it! also just invest in a charcoal filter as justkev has mentioned.
 
Chlorine yes
Chloramine no.

Check to see what your water is treated with so you can be sure.
 
Most Municipalities have or are switching to chloramine, which is much more stable and does not dissipate as rapidly as free chlorine. I treat my chloramine water with .035g Pot Meta per Gallon of H2o (I read you can use a whole campden Tablet to treat up to 20 gallons, the excess wont hurt) . It even works if your Pot Meta is over a yer old...and is commonly used in Wine making.

Excerpts from Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine

"Chloramines should be removed from water for dialysis, aquariums, hydroponic applications and homebrewing beer. Chloramines can interfere with dialysis, can hurt aquatic animals, and can give homebrewed beer a metallic taste. In hydroponic applications it will stunt the growth and fruit production of plants."

Also From the Wiki Link
Activated carbon have been used for chloramine removal long before catalytic carbon became available; Standard activated carbon requires a very long contact time, which means a large volume of carbon is needed. For thorough removal, up to four times the contact time of catalytic carbon may be required.

Campden tablets
Home brewers use reducing agents such as sodium metabisulfite or potassium metabisulfite (both proprietary sold as campden tablets) to remove chloramine from brewing fermented beverages. However, residual sodium can cause off flavors in beer so potassium metabisulfite is preferred.


Other Removal Method
Chloramine, like chlorine, can be removed by boiling and aging. However time required to remove the chloramine is much longer than that of chlorine. The time required to remove half of the chloramine (half life) from water by boiling is 26.6 hours, while the half life of free chlorine in boiling water is only 1.8 hours.



....but yeah in the day when it was just chlorine, we would let it sit out overnight with the lid off...


.
 
Ahhh! So there is some truth to it. Thanks for the tips. I just got my water quality report the other day, I'll check it out.
 
I used to do that before I started using a carbon filter. Supposed to allow the chlorine to dissapate overnight. I think it works but a filter is a better way to go for me.
Dunno about the recirculated water.

I researched a bit when I just had Chlorine, and what I came up with that it takes a lot of surface area to get the chlorine out of the water, and this means usually have to trickle the water thru the carbon Very, Very Slowly. So without actually testing for chlorine there is no way to know that you are removing it. I do test to see if my Chloramine is removed (before and after treatment) a few times a year to see if I am actually removing it with my old Pot Meta.
 
Yeah, chlorine evaporates really quick. I know a few people who do that with their tap water to improve the taste, instead of filtering it. Chloramines has ammonia in it. Letting chlorine evaporate will get rid of that, but yeah, if you have chloramines it will take other treatment, and it is good to get an analysis of your water for all the other stuff in it. It is free and easily accessible, just gotta find out who your water provider is. I think a carbon filter is a good way to go as a default treatment method (I'm not saying it would always be the only one, but worth it in most cases as the first thing you do to your brewing water).
 
Got it! Its chlorine and the running annual average is 1 ppm. All the brewing I've done to this point has been extract brewing. I picked up some equipment to start all-grain and I'm starting to pay more attention to the details. I guess its just part of the evolving procedure. Started with a turkey fryer pot, a kitchen stove and a bucket. Now I've got (2) 15g stainless pots w/ball valves, (5) glass carboys, (4) kegs, (2) wort chillers etc.....and still growing. Thanks again for the info.
 
I've been doing this forever. I too use a sprayer, cold water. In the morning, the water is de-chlorinated and at room temperature.
 
My routine is the same. I fill two carboys with water the day before and add some campden and let it sit over night
 
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