Water sanitary?

[downhill_biker]

So my understanding is that you cook your wort oand add it to the ferminter. Then you use water to top it off? Does this water need to be boiled? Hire is it sanitary? I have an RO/DI unit should I use ultra clean/purified water?

 

[scrambledegg81]

It's 50/50 how most people do it. A lot who do all-grain brews use software to calculate boil-off & grain absorption amounts, then adjust how much water they initially use before starting the boil (hence, no need to top-off after you're done). Personally, with my 5-gallon batches, I start with 3 to 3.5 gallons in the boil, transfer to my bottling bucket which has gallon markings on the side, and top off with bottled drinking water (i.e. the large 2.5 gallon jugs) until I have 5 gallons.

I should note that if you use bottled/processed water, don't use distilled. Standard drinking water has minerals that help out in the fermentation process, while distilled is a bit too "clean". It won't hurt the brew to use distilled, but it could affect the flavor from what I've read.

 

[Captain Damage]

If you have an RO unit or a carbon filter (Brita, PUR, etc) you don;t need to boil it before adding it to the wort - though of course if you are concerned, it won't hurt but it's more work. If you're brewing with malt extract RO and distilled water are actually somewhat preferable since the minerals in the maltster's water are included in the extract.

 

[akthor]

I think it depends on your water. Here our water comes from a lake and is very unchlorinated and I have no issues just using tap water. Various places I have traveled to have awful, recycled, over-chlorinated water that smells like it came from the public hot tub at a seedy motel

 

[evilhomer]

I boil my top off water because it takes almost no effort. There seems to be plenty of standing around doing nothing while making a batch. I've got plenty of pots so during one of these periods if I get a free burner I'll boil up another gallon.

 

[downhill_biker]

Thanks guys. I might just boil since I will have extra pots and time. I will start with filtered water. I am using extract kit and I have heard that if it goes in good it comes out good. That when the minerals really matter is if you are doing a grain only batch.

 

[Revvy]

Its one of those matters of preference and whether or not your tap water is good. I have excellant water, am 3 blocks from the treatment plant and use water directly out of my tap to top off, and have never had issues.

 

[jfr1111]

Three batches. Did not use boiled top off water: no infection, clean crisp taste. I use well water and I am ABOVE any farm or industry, plus the lot is sandy/rocky, so I probably have a lot of filtration going on.

I would say it really depends on your tap water. I do sanitize the transfering vessel and the faucet before topping off though.

 

[dotnetdotcom]

Check the webpage for your local water department. They are required to publish water quality reports and any incidents of contamination. In my case, I've topped off straight from the tap with no problems.

 

[Gman2]

I never even thought of boiling my top off water. Interesting idea. I just assumed that the water out of the tap is sanitary. Never had a problem.

 

[mojotele]

I always thought about it this way:

You could boil your top off water. But then you have to cool it down, let it sit until you're ready for it, etc. By that time, it probably already has all sorts of airborne bacteria and mold in it anyway.

So, my opinion is that, unless your tap water is crap, you don't have to boil it. And, if it is crap, you shouldn't be using it anyway.

 

[downhill_biker]

Good points guys. I think I will just use filtered tap water. Should be sanitary enough...