spring water ?

[mrchicken]

Im a bit confused.....

Our water is crap. One day it tastes like mud, the next iron, the next it smells like the public pool so I was going to buy gallon jugs of spring water.

1. Will store bought spring water be the best choice for brewing. ( choices are distilled, spring, or "drinking water" aka bottled tap water).

2. Does the spring water need to be boiled, or sanitized before using?
I can't remember if we added anything to the store bought water 20 years ago when we used to home brew.

3. Can I put 2-3 gallons of water into the brew pot, and put the other 2-3 gallons into the fridge/freezer and use them to chill the wort? Or does it need to be boiled/sanitized before use?

Thanks!

 

[RWC]

General rule if you wont get into water chemistry, if it tastes good you can brew with it. If you plan on setting up specific water profiles, the best bet would be distilled since all (most) ions have been removed.

As for boiling, usually a good idea. The first 2-3 gal will be fine since it will be boiled. Its usually a safe practice not to add any unsanitary things to the brew post boil and pre vigorous fermentation.

 

[mrchicken]

Don't want to get into water chem at this point. Keeping it simple to start.

Ugg. Boiling the spring water is an extra step I was hoping to avoid. Was hoping I could just stick the jugs in the chest freezer at the start of brew day and have them down into the high 30's by the time I was ready to chill the wort.

 

[RWC]

Try this idea. Put a bag of regular water in the freezer until frozen. Put a double bag over that one and sanitize that and put it into the cooling wort being careful not to puncture the bag. Should help cool you off quicker.

 

[Gerry_P]

You shouldn't have to boil commercially packaged spring water in order for it to be sanitary. It gets a sanitization treatment like exposure to ozone and/or UV light, for example, prior to packaging. I've topped off my fermenter many times with unboiled, store-bought spring water.

Now, I do sanitize the outside of the water container prior to opening it and adding it to the fermenter, and to be on the safe side I don't use a container that's already been opened.

Your municipal water should be sanitary (in theory) even if it doesn't taste great, but it doesn't always work out that way. We get the occasional brain eating amoeba outbreak in our water here, so I don't complain when the water tastes a little chlorine-y in the summer.

 

[RWC]

Gerry makes a good point. Especially if you have a nice healthy pitch, the effect of adding the unboiled water should be minimal even if not totally organism free.