Water and sanitizer question

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drummer3

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I suspect that I'm having a clorine problem. I boil my water but my first batch was medicinal. What do you guys recomend, Spring water, filtered water? also, I am using a no rince cleanner, any comments on that? Do you think this beer will clear up ? ( just bottled). Or should I chalk it up to learning and dump it? Thanks!
 
Boiling doesnt remove chloramine which is also used by some water co's. This has the same effect as chlorine.

Good 'point of use' water filters will remove chlorine and chloramine. (GAC filters:granular activated carbon filters).

Alternatively you could prepare your brewing liquer by adding 1/2 a crushed campden tablet per 5 gals before you start brewing. This neutralises the chlorine and chloramine, the effect is almost instantaneous.

As for your current batch, if you have the space to store it and can spare the bottles or keg then you could wait and see if it improves but I wouldnt hold your breath. (I'd dump it).

edit: campden tablets (sodium/potasium metabisulphite, although widely used as a preservative in beer and foods, can trigger attacks in asthmatics)
 
I've been using bottled water cuz my tap water is terrible, full of all kinds of treatments. I figure the few extra bucks is worth it to make better brew. I also use a no rinse sanitizer and haven't found that to be a problem.
 
DAAB said:
Boiling doesnt remove chloramine which is also used by some water co's. This has the same effect as chlorine.

Good 'point of use' water filters will remove chlorine and chloramine. (GAC filters:granular activated carbon filters).

Alternatively you could prepare your brewing liquer by adding 1/2 a crushed campden tablet per 5 gals before you start brewing. This neutralises the chlorine and chloramine, the effect is almost instantaneous.

As for your current batch, if you have the space to store it and can spare the bottles or keg then you could wait and see if it improves but I wouldnt hold your breath. (I'd dump it).

edit: campden tablets (sodium/potasium metabisulphite, although widely used as a preservative in beer and foods, can trigger attacks in asthmatics)
Click to expand...

Hey, how big is a tablet? I have it in powder form... about how many teaspons should I use for 5 gallons?
 
I did some checking recently when this came up in another thread. Campden tablets range in weight from about .44 to .55 grams. Call it half a gram.

You are going to need about .25 grams for 5 gallons. That's a very tiny amount. Roughly .05 teaspoons (5 hundredths of a teaspoon).

I have a scale that is accurate to .1 grams, so I can weigh out .3 grams and call it good. Most people do not have scales that are accurate to a tenth of a gram. If you don't have such a scale, you should buy the tablets and use 1/2 of a tablet for 5 gallons of water.


The powdered forms are most often used by winemakers, who use much higher concentrations than you need to remove chloramine or chlorine from your water for brewing beer. Here is a sulphite calculator that I found useful.
 
beer4breakfast said:
I did some checking recently when this came up in another thread. Campden tablets range in weight from about .44 to .55 grams. Call it half a gram.

You are going to need about .25 grams for 5 gallons. That's a very tiny amount. Roughly .05 teaspoons (5 hundredths of a teaspoon).

I have a scale that is accurate to .1 grams, so I can weigh out .3 grams and call it good. Most people do not have scales that are accurate to a tenth of a gram. If you don't have such a scale, you should buy the tablets and use 1/2 of a tablet for 5 gallons of water.
Click to expand...


Thanks the for the reply. One other thing... if you end up with more campden in your wort then is necessary to take care of the chloramine, will there be adverse effects? i dont mean like 5 teaspoons worth or anything, but if you use a little extra to make sure you've got it all or whatever... how harmful is the stuff beyond it's tolerance for chloramine?
 
Wine makers use the stuff to kill yeast I belive to stop fermentation at a certaine point so be carefull.
 
G. Cretin said:
Wine makers use the stuff to kill yeast I belive to stop fermentation at a certaine point so be carefull.
Click to expand...

yeah exactly... it can be used to halt fermentation... so i'm wondering where you cross the line between elimintating chloramine and ruining your beer. could be tricky.
 
Another thing... if I buy bottled water to avoid this, are there any bottled spring water brands that could have chlorine/chloramine in them too? Like, is Evian okay?

Would it hurt to add a little campden to spring water, or would it end up residing in the water if there were no chlorine/chloramine to react with?
 

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