Brewing with tap water

Another newbie question:

I'm about to start brewing tonight. I'm planning on using 2 gallons of tap water for my wort, boiling it for 15 minutes or so and letting it cool to get rid of the chorline (sp) and minerals, then getting started steeping the grains.

But what about the other 3 gallons of tap water that go into the fermenter? Should I boil this too? Will straight tap water ruin the beer?

It you have a chlorine taste to your water, you're better off boiling it and then sticking it in the freezer to cool while you brew. In my case, I don't have chloramines in my water, and minimal chlorine, so I never bothered boiling my top off water.

It could. I boil tap water for my partial mash, but use gallon bottles of drinking water or spring water from the store for my top-up. If you have to use all tap water, I'd boil it just to be safe.

I don't bother....my water isn't noticeably chlorine tasting...so I use tap water, and I don't bother boiling either.

Revvy said:

I don't bother....my water isn't noticeably chlorine tasting...so I use tap water, and I don't bother boiling either.

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Same here, my tap water tastes quite good, so I generally use it. Recently, I've switched to spring water, but the taste difference is negligible with my water.

If your water contains chlorine, boil it all! If it contains chloramine, using bottled spring water is the easiest solution IMHO.

By the way....I notice by your use of the words "ruin your beer" that you have a typical new brewer fear that your beer is somehow weak, like a new born baby..and will be ruined or die of you look at it wrong...I want to put it into perspective for you, and save you a lot of new bewer nerves...

Beer has been made for over 5,000 years in some horrific conditions, and still it managed to survive and be popular....It was even made before Louis Pasteur understood germ theory....

If beer turned out bad back then more than it turned out good..then beer would have gone the way of the dodo bird, New Coke, or Pepsi Clear...

It is very very very hard to ruin your beer....it surprises us and manages to survive despite what we do to it...

I want you to read these threads and see..

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/has-anyone-ever-messed-up-batch-96644/

ANd this thread to show you how often even a beer we thnk is ruined, ends up being the best beer you ever made, if you have patience....
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

There is a saying we have in the homebrewing community...RDWHAHB...make that your mantra and you will be a successful homebrewer...


Oh this thread is really good too...if you adopt the mindset in here you will do well...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/youre-no-longer-n00b-when-24540/

My water tastes good, but I boil it or use other water for the simple fact that I can't sanitize my faucet. For all I know, fruit flies have been crawling all over it 5 minutes before I draw my top-off water.

Thanks, all. I'm going to try forgoing the boiling for now. I may use spring water for future batches due to the chorline taste, though.

And I'll take your advice on relaxing, not worrying, etc - I'll help myself to a commercial beer until my first batch is done!

Revvy said:

If beer turned out bad back then more than it turned out good..then beer would have gone the way of the dodo bird, New Coke, or Pepsi Clear...

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I actually really liked Crystal Pepsi.

llazy_llama said:

I actually really liked Crystal Pepsi.

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You obviously didn't spend enough money on it....

I always use a Brita Water Filter. I use the jug and it has worked out great but you just have to wait for the water to filter which does take some time.

I use a PUR water filter on my tap...

Wouldn't worry too much about the faucet, as long as you don't use the tub faucet. +1 for tap water top off... but then again my tap water is untreated well water, the best tasting water I've ever drank.

A nice filter will work well and is the easiest way to remove chlorine from your water. Chloramine is a bit harder to remove and will need extra contact time with the carbon filter to be neutralized. Alternately, I use Campden tablets (aka sodium/calcium metabisulfite) to remove both chlorine and chloramine from the water. All you do is crush 1/2 campden tap per 10 gallons of brewing water, and stir well to dissolve the powder. This will combine with the chlorine and chloramines in the water and release a sulfur dioxide gas as a result. You may notice a smell initially as this gas disperses out of solution.

Campden tablets - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have had great results using a Brita pitcher. As a previous poster noted, it takes quite a while to prepare 7 gallons of water using the pitcher, but I just plan ahead and it's no big deal.