Bring wort to volume

[kproudfoot]

I have made several batches and have never had an issue but I'm going to ask the question anyways.

What process do people use when bring an extract kit to volume after cooling. I have always just used gallon jugs that I prefilled and dump those into my fermenter. No boiling sanitizing jugs or anything special and I've made around 30 batches now with no issues. But recently I helped a buddy with a kit and he boiled his water 1st. With all the talk of sanitizing everything that touch your cooled wort is this ever an issue or have I just gotten lucky?

FYI I have recently started at least sanitizing and extra bucket before i put water in it but still don't boil.

Thoughts?

 

[jrgtr42]

I never bothered sanitizing the jugs of water when I did less-than-full boil kits. Just filled them, put them in the freezer, or at least the fridge while I did the rest, and went for it. Never had an issue that I couldn't trace to something else.
Best part about using cold water is not worrying about getting your wort down all the way to pitch temp - ice bath in the sink doesn't get that far. I'd get it to around 100F, dump a really cold jug into my fermenter, add the wort and go from there as far as temps and volume go.

 

[jtratcliff]

Boiling your top off water is good, for a couple of reasons... Kills any nasties that might survive the chlorine dose your water treament gets, and drives off chlorine (but not chloramines!) which can lead to off flavors in the finished beer. To be safe from both chlorine and chloramines, you should treat all your brewing water from the tap with campden tablets (1 tab treats 20 gallons). I throw 1/2 of a crushed tablet in as I'm collecting my water.

One way to top off and chill at the same time is to boil some water, let it cool, then portion it out into containers of known sizes... maybe a few 1 quart and few 1/2 gallon containers. Freeze a day or two before brew day. After the boil, top off with necessary number of "ice cubes" and you lower temps as well as correct the volume.

 

[kproudfoot]

Fortunately I don't have to worry about filling as I use a plate chiller. More concerned with ruining my beer (which fortunately has never happened.

 

[jtratcliff]

Even if you don't need the chilling aspect of cold/frozen water, it'd still be safer to boil any tap water and treat with campden tabs. Or at least heat to pasteurization temps (165F for a few minutes, I think).

If you sanitize a bucket and then dump in un-sanitized water, you're essentially undoing your sanitization...
Your tap water isn't sanitized... It's (hopefully) sanitary enough for drinking but could still *potentially* have
critters or too much chlorine that won't harm *you* but could lead to off flavors in your beer.

You could be fine and never see an issue. Or any off flavors could be below your personal taste threshold. But if you do get an infection, you won't know if it's from the top-off water or from some other step in your sanitation process.

Comes to down to your personal cost/benefit analysis... How much extra hassle are you willing to go thru vs the risk of less than ideal batch?

I do full boil BIAB, so I don't have the top-off issue, but I do treat all my mash & sparge water w/ campden tabs to remove chlorine/chloramine... They are cheap insurance against my city water having chlorine spikes due to the treatment facility.

 

[kproudfoot]

Thanks for the info definitely makes sense.

 

[jalc6927]

I always have started with a 10 lb bag of store bought ice, which is supposed to be filtered water, pour hot wort over it, then top off with near freezing distilled water, usually 2 gallons worth and never had any issues at all

Plus I clean and sanitize everything every time, doesn't matter what you use if your equipment is dirty or unsanitary

 

[jt8d]

I use jugs of spring or distilled water that I put in the freezer while I'm brewing. By the time the wort is cooled to around 90 I'll add my 2 gallons of nearly frozen water bringing pitching temp to around 64F.