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BrewTaster

BrewTaster

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Hey guys, I have made a few batches so far, all have been great and let me say i freaking LOVE brewing.

Now it has come to my attention that i may be overly cautious and end up making my brew process much longer.


Basically my current process is making roughly 3 gallons of wort, chilling to room temp in cold water, and then adding to fermenter. I then add 2.5 gallons back in the brew pot, boil and chill again, then add the chilled already boiled water to the fermenter to make up the rest

Now it has come to my attention that it may be possible to just add cold tap water to make up the remainder of water needed in my fermenter, but im concerned this is a source of contamination. Opinions?
 
BrewTaster said:
Hey guys, I have made a few batches so far, all have been great and let me say i freaking LOVE brewing.

Now it has come to my attention that i may be overly cautious and end up making my brew process much longer.


Basically my current process is making roughly 3 gallons of wort, chilling to room temp in cold water, and then adding to fermenter. I then add 2.5 gallons back in the brew pot, boil and chill again, then add the chilled already boiled water to the fermenter to make up the rest

Now it has come to my attention that it may be possible to just add cold tap water to make up the remainder of water needed in my fermenter, but im concerned this is a source of contamination. Opinions?
Click to expand...

Some people like to boil the water they add in to top up before hand. When I did partial boils, I would skip that step and just dump it in and give it a good stir. If your tap water is good enough to drink, it is good enough to make beer with.
 
You could easily boil and chill your top off water well in advance to brew day if contamination is your worry. Your tap water SHOULD be safe enough!
 
BrewTaster said:
Hey guys, I have made a few batches so far, all have been great and let me say i freaking LOVE brewing.

Now it has come to my attention that i may be overly cautious and end up making my brew process much longer.


Basically my current process is making roughly 3 gallons of wort, chilling to room temp in cold water, and then adding to fermenter. I then add 2.5 gallons back in the brew pot, boil and chill again, then add the chilled already boiled water to the fermenter to make up the rest

Now it has come to my attention that it may be possible to just add cold tap water to make up the remainder of water needed in my fermenter, but im concerned this is a source of contamination. Opinions?
Click to expand...
I've used tap water to top off very often with no ill effects.

If you want to be a little more cautious, go buy a couple of gallon jugs of bottled water. They’re like 88 cents apiece and if you toss them into the freezer at the beginning of your brew session, they’ll bring your sort down to pitching temp very quickly.
 
So tap water should not be a major concern for bacterial infection?
 
it depends on the tap water. some of it could easily contaminate your brew.

i used tap water to top off all my batches the first couple of years. I HAVE VERY NICE TAP WATER.

however, all it took was ONE TIME experiencing chlorophenols to put me off. i use cold bottled water or distilled water when i top off now.
 
Wouldnt distilled water kill off any and all desirable minerals though? You need certain salts and other suspended chemicals in beer (or so ive been lead to beleive), and distilled water would have none of those
 
If your tap water has so much chlorine in it so you can smell it, you might want to boil it and cool it before adding to the beer. My tap water peels my skin down to the bone in the shower. I won't put that crap in my beer until I've boiled that stuff out.
 
If you filled the required amount of water for your brew in a pail/reservoir 24 hrs prior to brew, wouldn't the hypochloride dissipate?
Would it then be a contamination issue?
 
BrewTaster said:
Wouldnt distilled water kill off any and all desirable minerals though? You need certain salts and other suspended chemicals in beer (or so ive been lead to beleive), and distilled water would have none of those
Click to expand...

it won't add minerals, but it won't kill them, either. there are already plenty of minerals in the beer when i top off...hasn't negatively affected the beer.
 

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