Beginner's Q #1: Cold water in fermenter (partial wort boil)

[Elijah]

Hey all,

First, I must say that it is a true pleasure joining this forum and reading it. I thank you all for your contribution and for enriching my research on home brewing.

I have been reading "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition" by Papazian Charlie.

In his book, more accurately some recipes, he instructs to biol part of the water with the rest of the ingredients to make a wort - then adding the partial wort to the frementer which already contains the majority of water; also he instructs to top the fermenter with water to reach the 5 gal.

My questions as follows:
1- Does the water need to boiled of filtered beforehand?
2- My water supplier adds chlorine to the water, which naturally evaporates within a few hours, or when boiled... Should I let the water sit for 24h (or worry) as it may affect a: taste, b: yeast activity?

an additional question ...

3- When reading I have seen some pages referring to this method as "partial mash;" yet doesn't partial mash refer to mashing some grains but completing the wort with extracts (unlike a full grain mash) ?

Thank you very much or your help,

Elijah

 

[Homercidal]

In a nutshell, your answers are all YES.

However make sure your water has Chlorine, not Chloramine. Chlorine is released fairly easily, and boiling or leaving out overnight is supposed to remove it. Chloramine is much less volatile, so you need to add 1 crushed Campden Tablet per 20 gallons of water (1/4 tablet for 5 gallons) in order to neutralize the Chloramine. It's an instant process, so just crush, add, and stir!)

Partial mash is extract brewing, but using some mashing grains and then adding some extract as well. I think what he is describing can be done either extract OR partial mash (or even All Grain brewing for that matter, although most people don't..) Whenever the volume of wort is less than the desired amount of beer, and is a higher gravity, adding water not only dilutes the wort to the proper gravity, but it also acts to cool the wort faster. This is very helpful for those who can't fit the full volume of wort in their kettle or don't have a chiller.

 

[Elijah]

Thank you for your prompt and adequate reply

 

[jc5066]

When ever you are adding water after the boil you want it to be "clean" and sanitized. No chlorine, etc... What i like to do is boil some water the night before and put it in the fridge overnight to cool. Then I have cold sanitized water to add to my wart. Really helps it bring down the temp too.

 

[unionrdr]

I like to use local spring water I get at the source for 25c per gallon. I put a couple gallons in the fridge a day or two before brew day. After partial mash & sparge,I wind up with 3.5 gallons in my 5 gallon SS stock pot for the boil. I get about 1/2 gallon boil off during the 1 hour boil for hop additions.
I chill the hot wort in an ice bath in the kitchen sink down to about 75F. I pour it through a fine mesh strainer on top of the fermenter to aerate it & get any remaining gunk out. Then top off with the fridged water to recipe volume. This usually gets the temp down to about 65F. Stir roughly 5 minutes to mix the wort & top off to get an accurate OG reading. Then pitch yeast & seal'er up.

 

[atreid]

I live in Montreal and back when I was extract brewing I was simply pouring the top off water right from the tap into the fermenter (no intermediate bucket).

Never had a problem with infection, yeast activity or chlorine aftertaste... got the tip from a friend who was brewing before me and wanted to save me time. North America has really strong drinking water regulations and tap water is very safe. Of course, there are places with hard water that could still be problematic but it's another story.

I'm pretty sure they do add chlorine in Montreal. Do you know how far you are from your City's drinking water plant? Usually they shoot chlorine into the water at a concentration that will permit houses at the limit of the water network to still have an acceptable concentration for sanitation (since the concentration lowers over distance). That means there is more chlorine closer to the plant. So the questions are: how far are you and how far are the most far away houses from the plant? If you are close to the end of the system, there shouldn't be that much chlorine left... just enough for sanitation.

 

[Elijah]

Unsure of how far I am from the plant, but I am sure I have chlorine in the water (by the taste of it)
I have a new sun boiler at the roof of my apartment, water taste very good actually coming back from it - no chlorine notes.

Well, I have just shot my first ever batch of beer with less-than ideal conditions.
Hard water, Extra-Hot weather... but with tender love and high hopes!

So far the t-58 are going crazy with my fairly high gravity beer (1.061) hope it comes out good

 

[atreid]

Unsure of how far I am from the plant, but I am sure I have chlorine in the water (by the taste of it)
I have a new sun boiler at the roof of my apartment, water taste very good actually coming back from it - no chlorine notes.

Well, I have just shot my first ever batch of beer with less-than ideal conditions.
Hard water, Extra-Hot weather... but with tender love and high hopes!

So far the t-58 are going crazy with my fairly high gravity beer (1.061) hope it comes out good

Ah well if you can really taste the chlorine (and you're not the only one obviously), there's probably too much....

Have you made a swamp cooler for fermentation? Basically it's just immersing the fermenter in water (not completely of course!) in which you periodically add ice... it's very cheap and works wonders... (but it's too late for this batch of course)

 

[Elijah]

Ah well if you can really taste the chlorine (and you're not the only one obviously), there's probably too much....

Have you made a swamp cooler for fermentation? Basically it's just immersing the fermenter in water (not completely of course!) in which you periodically add ice... it's very cheap and works wonders... (but it's too late for this batch of course)

Yes I have -- cooled using this method reaching 30c and pitched the t-58!
it's an average of 28c during daytime here. 3 hours late that yeast started going crazy... I wasn't expecting that...
I hope that the seller where I have the bucket is 1-2 degrees chiller.

I've tasted the wort after cooling... and I must say it was very good... hope it stays good after maturing

 

[atreid]

Yes I have -- cooled using this method reaching 30c and pitched the t-58!
it's an average of 28c during daytime here. 3 hours late that yeast started going crazy... I wasn't expecting that...
I hope that the seller where I have the bucket is 1-2 degrees chiller.

I've tasted the wort after cooling... and I must say it was very good... hope it stays good after maturing

You've got to find a way to get it a lot lower than 30c before pitching... You should aim for a pitching temp of 18-20c... at 30c, you'll get a lot of fusel alcohol and off-flavors... :-\

 

[Elijah]

According to fermentis pitching should be done at 27c +-3 or 20c+ if directly pitched in the fermenter...

http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFBT58.pdf

I am more worried about the average temperature which is high 27-28c average.
Four days passed, I took some sampling:
G: 1.012, and ~ 6% brix
sample smells very good, very similar to belgian but of the fruity side.
I am not worried, I am sure it will come out better and much cheaper than bottled beers at my local supermarket.

 

[atreid]

According to fermentis pitching should be done at 27c +-3 or 20c+ if directly pitched in the fermenter...

http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFBT58.pdf

I am more worried about the average temperature which is high 27-28c average.
Four days passed, I took some sampling:
G: 1.012, and ~ 6% brix
sample smells very good, very similar to belgian but of the fruity side.
I am not worried, I am sure it will come out better and much cheaper than bottled beers at my local supermarket.

The only 27c specified in this spec sheet is not the pitching temp, it's the short step before the actual pitching in which you rehydrate the yeast to reduce pitching stress. The real pitching temp specified is 20c.

The reason most people here are aiming for 18c is that the primary active phase releases a lot of heat and it's common to have it risen 3-5 degrees. Unless you have a ferm chamber, it's hard to lower the temp once the active fermentation has started. In addition, belgian strains have a tendency to just "give up" when you try to lower temperature. Especially with belgian strains, it's best to pitch at 17-18c, do your best to keep it at 19-20c during the most active phase for about 3 days, then let it rise on its own about one degree each day, maybe up to 24c. Helps to dry out the beer.

Nevertheless, it might be drinkable anyway, but definitely fruity, maybe too much. I suggest you let it sit for a total of at least 3 weeks. When the nutrients will be depleted, yeast will start to break down some of the off-flavors byproducts released during the 'too warm' active phase of the primary fermentation. It might not clean it up completely but it will sure help.

 

[Elijah]

Thank you for the tips
3 weeks in primary or bottle condition?

 

[unionrdr]

Both...at least.

 

[FermentusMaximus]

I was wondering if anyone uses distilled water to top off their fermenting buckets/carboys? I'm only a couple brews into the hobby, but I haven't had any problem doing this. I usually use spring water for the boil and refrigerated distilled water to top off my bucket (I figured this was good as distilled water is pure, evaporated water) Is this relatively safe or would I be better off boiling tap water and refrigerating?

 

[unionrdr]

I've used both distilled & local spring water,& I like the spring water better. I saved some clean spring water jugs from the store to go get it for 25c per gallon. I put 2-3 jugs in the fridge a day or two before brew day to chill well.
Chill wort in kettle down to75F or so,then pour through fine mesh strainer to clean & aerate it. Top off to recipe volume with the chilled water to get it down to 65F or so. Stir roughly for 5 minutes,take OG sample,& pitch yeast.

 

[Elijah]

I must share my first beer log...

Ok so it is day 8.

SG: 1.061 - seems a bit darker than intended!
Temperature - 28 C (room)
MG: 1.012 and 6% brix (August 11th 2013)
Temperature - 28 C
Smell is spicy, sweet and on the fruity side.
Looks cloudy.
MG: 1.01 (August 15th 2013)
Temperature - 27 C
Smells spicy, sweet, fruity.
Tastes fairly dry, some peach, hoppy, yeast, spicy with a slightly biting bitterness (good bite) at the finish.
Looks very cloudy and lighter in color than starting point, some CO2 bubbles. Bucket starting to gather yeast layer, almost 1 cm thick.

Overall, it tastes much better than I expected!
I sampled it at room temperature (27c) which could affect the taste. But so far so good...

(MG my term for middle gravity - in-between SG and FG)