Anyone use hot tap water for brewing?

[OLDBREW]

As a noob, the only thing I can add to the conversation is this: you can boost your perceived IQ if you refrain from using the term "hot water heater." If the water is already hot, why do you need a heater? Just call it a "water heater" and neurotic people like me can sleep better at night. Thanks!

The term "Hot Water Heater" comes from having two separate heaters in the house that heated water. If you have closed hydronic water heat, the heating system is a water heater, or water boiler when used for steam applications.

To discern between the two type heaters, the potable water heater was called the "hot water heater", and the hydronic heat unit was called the hot water boiler, although it never boiled water, unless it was a steam heat system.

 

[ibbones]

I had a tankless water heater. I am in an all electric house so no chance for Natural Gas. I want through two heaters in about four years. I did like the fact that 10 people could take a shower on the same day and never run out of water but (I think) the turning on the hot water on and off and on again at the kitchen sink really pulled the power and it would burn itself out.
I have been wanting gas at my house and it's just not avalible yet but when it does get here, I will have a gas tankless system, as well as a stove and dryer.

 

[cheezydemon3]

cheezydemon,
I sincerely apologize for the lack of tact and in appropriate candor of my post.

The rest of HBT community,
Thank you for putting me in my place.

@MMB Naturally you are correct I hadn't considered the operating temperature of a typical water heater. Anything below 140 and thermophilic bacteria can survive. Above that temp even bacterial spores are destroyed. I believe that is consistent with the recommendation to increase your water heater temp if you encounter a sulfur smell in your hot water.

I have done worse! No harm.

 

[mitch171]

...I have been wanting gas at my house and it's just not avalible yet but when it does get here, I will have a gas tankless system, as well as a stove and dryer...

Why isn't it available? My parents don't have town gas or anything, they have a tank that the company comes and fills every so often. Not a very big one either. Nothing like that available?

 

[winstonofbeer]

I used to use cold water in my brews and heat it up with the propane burner.
Got the wild idea after awhile of running a garden hose thru my basement from the water line to the washing machine, Why not hook it up to the hot water also...
Worked great for about 4 brews then the hose blew....SWMBO was pissed when i had a gusher spraying all over the basement...OOPS....


After that, I plumbed in hot and cold from the washing machine lines around the walls of the basement and punched a hole by the door that goes from outside to the basement.

Since then i have been useing the hot water to fill the tank and heat up...Takes about 10 minutes to hit 165. Use that water for MT and Sparge. After that just switch the line to the cold and voila got a direct line for the wort chiller.

I DO have a inline water filter that connects right where the water comes into the house so the entire house except outside runs thru the filter first. So minerals and deposits are gone. Water tastes great...
Beer tastes good. Never had any problems.

Has taken some time off my brew day...Makes easy to get water for cleanup and preheating mashtun since the water comes out at 145 or so...

Oh, I used PVC for the cold water, CPVC for hot water....Learned the PVC is great for cold...but wont stand the hot water...so pvc 1.25 for a 10' stick CPVC was i think 3.75 for a 10" stick.

I had to let the lines run for awhile to get the pvc particals out of the line and get any off flavors...Basicly when it tasted good on hot and cold i started to use it for brewing...Not untill.

Basicly, What has been said 20x allready....If the water tastes good, great....If not, Rethink useing the water.

 

[blk94f150]

I use hot water in all my brews and haven't had a problem yet. However I do maintain my water heater regularly and with its size and the flow of my shower heads it gets completely cycled frequently.

If you're worried about minerals and metals in your water, never look at the old pipes if they replace your mains. They can have inches of buildup. We've had hydrants that have gained 500 more GPM just by replacing built up pipes with new ones.

Mike

 

[ibbones]

Why isn't it available? My parents don't have town gas or anything, they have a tank that the company comes and fills every so often. Not a very big one either. Nothing like that available?

Yes, I could get the propane tank but I am in an older neighborhood that was built in the 60's and all electric so there was no gas available. There are no plans for the local gas company to run lines down our street (yet) but I am hopeful. I have been thinking about the tank in the back yard but my local guys want me to order 100 gallons minimum and at this time I would only be brewing with it. It would not pay for itself.

 

[mitch171]

If brewing is your only use then of course it doesn't make sense. My parents use to be all electric, but switched to propane for heat and it brought their cost way down. Seeing you are in Texas I am sure that isn't an issue for you though. If you switch to a gas water heater and stove/oven, then it would make sense.

 

[barleynhops]

I always use hot tap water for mash and sparging. Saves a lot of time and propane. I've never had a problem with contamination doing this.

 

[Wade E]

How about if you have domestic hot water where your oil fired furnace heats up your hot water? Will that change your water profile. still no good? Maybe a filter before the HLT?

 

[Vinic]

Ok, everyone needs to come up to the year 2000 now. Tankless Water-heater FTW!

Been using this for about a year and works great! No tank for your water to sit in and get stale, sediment or to let bacteria grow. Comes out of of the hose at a stead 145*. Connect my hose directly to the unit in my garage and heat the water on demand. Hell I could fill a 55 gallon barrel with 145* water if I wanted without running out.

+1 on the on-demand idea. I installed one of these in our guest house a couple years ago.

http://www.titanheater.com/

Recently I installed a 'T' in the outlet to fill hlt. If the unit is turned all the way up and the flow is restricted a bit, the temp can get up to 154*.

 

[forces]

I can attest to the salty-metallic taste that can be produced by using hot tap water. It seems some have experienced it, and some haven’t. It also seems logical that the style and age of your particular water heater and the minerals in your tap water are the true variables. I just started skipping the whole tap water endeavor and am now using filtered spring water from the local store. It’s cheap enough at $1.00/ gallon. Not because of HOT tap v.s. VOLD tap, but because I brew extract and often have to top off the fermenter after adding the chilled wort and worry about adding cool tap water from the sink. Whats an extra $6.00 if it means replacing a questionable ingredient that composes 95% of your finished beer?

 

[SOB]

Whats an extra $6.00 if it means replacing a questionable ingredient that composes 95% of your finished beer?

For some AG brewers $6 is 1/2 to 1/3 the price of ingredients for an entire batch.

 

[brewmonk]

Apart from a couple good chuckles, and a cringe or 3, this makes me want to drain my tank immediately until I can afford a tankless. (Afterall, I want my brewing to be a tankless job)

 

[cheezydemon3]

I used to use cold water in my brews and heat it up with the propane burner.
Got the wild idea after awhile of running a garden hose thru my basement from the water line to the washing machine, Why not hook it up to the hot water also...
Worked great for about 4 brews then the hose blew....SWMBO was pissed when i had a gusher spraying all over the basement...OOPS....


After that, I plumbed in hot and cold from the washing machine lines around the walls of the basement and punched a hole by the door that goes from outside to the basement.

Since then i have been useing the hot water to fill the tank and heat up...Takes about 10 minutes to hit 165. Use that water for MT and Sparge. After that just switch the line to the cold and voila got a direct line for the wort chiller.

I DO have a inline water filter that connects right where the water comes into the house so the entire house except outside runs thru the filter first. So minerals and deposits are gone. Water tastes great...
Beer tastes good. Never had any problems.

Has taken some time off my brew day...Makes easy to get water for cleanup and preheating mashtun since the water comes out at 145 or so...

Oh, I used PVC for the cold water, CPVC for hot water....Learned the PVC is great for cold...but wont stand the hot water...so pvc 1.25 for a 10' stick CPVC was i think 3.75 for a 10" stick.

I had to let the lines run for awhile to get the pvc particals out of the line and get any off flavors...Basicly when it tasted good on hot and cold i started to use it for brewing...Not untill.

Basicly, What has been said 20x allready....If the water tastes good, great....If not, Rethink useing the water.

Sorry, gotta re-iterate...

HOT WATER + GARDEN HOSE = LEAD LINED BEER

Regardless of whether or not it tastes OK, it is killing more brain cells than alcohol alone could ever hope to.

 

[Daddymem]

I tried hot water for my mash for the first time. I figure I am pretty low risk as my house is only a couple years old. I have pex piping, and I used my kitchen sink. I filled up a gallon juice jug and dumped into a 5 gallon cooler until filled. Put that out in my kettle and put the flame on. Went back inside and filled up again. Topped off the kettle and within minutes I had my mash temp. Nice.

I don't think I'd push it. But it got me thinking. In the summer, a metal pot out in the sun would heat up quite a bit during the day before you brew....

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Sorry, gotta re-iterate...

HOT WATER + GARDEN HOSE = LEAD LINED BEER

Regardless of whether or not it tastes OK, it is killing more brain cells than alcohol alone could ever hope to.

Can you elaborate? Did you already post this somewhere? I don't see the connection.

 

[tbeard]

This is a simple physics problem, cold water boils faster than hot water, hot water freezes faster than cold water. If you don't believe me give it a try.

 

[Scimmia]

This is a simple physics problem, cold water boils faster than hot water, hot water freezes faster than cold water. If you don't believe me give it a try.

I can only assume this is a troll.

Just because hot water can, in some circumstances, freeze before cool water does not make the opposite true.

 

[Vinic]

This is a simple physics problem, cold water boils faster than hot water, hot water freezes faster than cold water. If you don't believe me give it a try.

'Might want to read this.​

 

[burning2nd]

i have a hot water on demand gas water heater... i turn the knob up for a few min while i fill my kettle.. just makes the comeing up to temp a little faster, Im useing a propain turkey frier tho

 

[Hotspur]

Can you elaborate? Did you already post this somewhere? I don't see the connection.

Most garden hoses are not designed or manufactured to carry potable water. If you look, you'll see ones that are designed for such. They're a bit more expensive, but should be much safer.

 

[Wade E]

You know I never thought about this until you brought this up and I havent used hot water to decrease lag time in brewing but was planning on it very soon as I am almost fully set up to do all grain( Ive done it before but without proper equipment was turned off). I have domestic hot water and when taking a shower notice that it can taste very salty so now I see what you are saying and will not use that method, thanks for bringing this up!