learned a new term today

Chlorophenolic: a term when chlorine mixes with an organic compound, gives off plastic aroma and flavor. I brewed a English black ipa with bourbon soaked oak chips, and the bottles I drank early on had a plastic aroma and flavor. This was before we started treating horribly chlorinated tap water with campden, this was the second all grain after switching from extract. I thought I screwed something up, and was pissed, now almost a year later I discover it was the oak (organic compound) not playing well with chlorinated water. Whew!

An organic compound is anything that has carbon in it- so that's pretty much everything in beer wort. It wasn't the oak, it was just the wort, specifically phenols (a 6 carbon ring with an alcohol group) reacting with your chlorine/chloramine. Chlorphenols have a very low taste threshold, which means you can taste them even when there's just the tiniest amount in your beer, which is why it's important to remove all of the chlorine/chloramine from your water before brewing.

daksin said:

which is why it's important to remove all of the chlorine/chloramine from your water before brewing.

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Hi, I'm also in southern CA with the same highly chlorinated tap water. How long do you recommend boiling before using your tap water? I typically mash using store-bought spring water (BIAB batches) and then top off in the kettle with tap water as I start my boil. I always figured that the 60 minutes of boiling would effectively remove the chlorine.

My first batch with non-treated water tasted like chlorine, just like my water, only got the plastic notes in the oaked beer, do I figured it was the oak. As it aged it became more and more faint, some people who tasted it didn't notice the off flavor.

BlackGoat said:

How long do you recommend boiling before using your tap water?

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I don't as the half life for chloramine in boiling water seems to be about 40 min. Campden tablets are a much more practical way to go. See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/campden-tablets-sulfites-brewing-water-361073/ for a full rundown.

I actually don't boil my water at all, but use Campden tablets (potassium or sodium metabisulfite) at a rate of 1 tab per 20g of water. Boiling is a pain and requires forethought, which I rarely have, and fuel, which is expensive.

Chlorine can be eliminated by boiling, or just letting it stand uncovered overnight (I'd say 24 hours to be sure), but chloramine cannot. For that you need a carbon filter or metabisulfite. I prefer the campden because it can be added just a few minutes before I brew, to cold water, and I'm good to go. It's important to find out what your water district uses to sanitize its water- chlorine, chloramine, or both, as they both smell/taste similar.

As indicated in #5 chloramine can indeed be eliminated by boiling but campden tablets are a much more practical approach.

AJ's right, it would have been more accurate to say chloramine can't be eliminated with a short boil, as chlorine can. As you say, it takes quite a while.

Thanks everyone, hope I didn't hijack the original post

You can't hijack a thread man, is all about learning from others experience here, we all have something to add, and it may prevent someone else from finding something out the hard way. Brewing is about sharing, look at the top commercial breweries they collaborate all the time. Use campden tabs, as they are effective, easy and cheap, and enjoy the brotherhood and sisterhood! Cheers!