Sparking With Tap Water

[rodwha]

My tap water tastes fairly good out of the tap, but I know it contains chlorimine (Spl?). I’ve read that people claim the water we use to sparge with isn’t a big deal, much like when doing an extract beer.

I generally have about 3-3.5 gals to sparge with, which has always been the same treated water I used in the mash. After I drain the first runnings and valve it off I add 1/3 of my sparge water, stir well, and wait 10 mins before I drain and repeat. Would this be OK to do with my tap water?

 

[pvpeacock]

If you add Campden tablets to your water, (both strike/mash and sparge) it will remove the chloramines. See: https://www.morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water.

 

[RM-MN]

When people say it is no big deal for sparging water they are talking about the pH of the water. Chlorine and chloramine are bad for your beer.

 

[IslandLizard]

Would this be OK to do with my tap water?

What other water were you using before?

When people say it is no big deal for sparging water they are talking about the pH of the water.

To be more precise, the alkalinity is important in sparge water as its buffering capacity resists change of pH. High pH sparge water can extract tannins.

Chlorine and chloramine are bad for your beer.

+10 ^

 

[rodwha]

When people say it is no big deal for sparging water they are talking about the pH of the water. Chlorine and chloramine are bad for your beer.

Hmmmm. I’ve always just treated it all regardless, but because I’m still doing rather short mashes.

Water doesn’t seem to matter with extract bread so I wondered if this worked all the same, that it was the actual mash that mattered.

 

[rodwha]

What other water were you using before?

To be more precise, the alkalinity is important in sparge water as its buffering capacity resists change of pH. High pH sparge water can extract tannins.

+10 ^

Initially I was using a faucet water filter and using RO water for a long time, but months back we got a new faucet that doesn’t allow that filter so I’ve been buying all distilled and working from there.