Hot tap water for mashing?

[Jim311]

Yeah it really shouldn't exceed 150 degrees. 170 degree water will cause burns quickly. I think the paranoia about what's inside your water heater is probably unfounded. It gets flushed basically every day when you take a shower, and it stays hot enough in there that there's no bacteria. Filtering it is another problem though. If you have good non-chlorinated tapwater it would work fine I imagine.

 

[jddevinn]

How water from a tank I would say no. From a tankless, should be OK as long as it is located CLOSE to the faucet.

 

[flanken]

Yeah it really shouldn't exceed 150 degrees. 170 degree water will cause burns quickly. I think the paranoia about what's inside your water heater is probably unfounded. It gets flushed basically every day when you take a shower, and it stays hot enough in there that there's no bacteria. Filtering it is another problem though. If you have good non-chlorinated tapwater it would work fine I imagine.

I agree... I haven't seen or found any evidence to suggest it's dirty, especially since it's a brand new unit.

I ended up getting a Bayou Classic KAB6 so I'll be getting hot water quick anyway.

 

[thespiff]

I've never really given any thought to this before. I brew exclusively with water from the hot tap, because it saves me like 10 minutes of stovetop heating. My sink is about 15 ft from the hot water tank. I dunno, I think my beer tastes pretty good.

 

[Spartan1979]

I've always wondered why, if stuff settles out of your water while in the water heater tank, people think it will be re-absorbed into the water if you mash with it?

 

[Sir_niveda]

I'm kind of miffed at how quickly people are to judge someone by their water heater temps!

Do people actually sue their friends for turning only the hot water on and mindlessly shoving their booger hooks into the water?

In terms of water quality, considering mine has to run through 100ft of potable rv hose, only to be mildly filtered through a Home Depot whole house filter, and my beer turns out ok, I don't think that would be that much of an issue, however I would pour some, let it cool and taste it. I always run a little bit of water through before collecting, and it tastes just as good as right from the tap (I'm on well water in a rural area).

 

[kh54s10]

I wouldn't worry at all about the plumbing in any house less than 40 years old. Remember that unless you get your water by bottle it is coming through those pipes. It is just the hot water side or the cold water side.

If you don't have problems with chlorine, and you filter the water some, I would certainly go ahead.

I would look at turning the thermostat down on the water heater though.

 

[kh54s10]

What is all the negativity about water from a tank water heater. There may be sediment in the tank, but the outlet to the plumbing is on the side, not the bottom unless I am mistaken. So the sediment will stay in the tank, and not transfer to the mash.

Do you never fill a pot in your kitchen with hot water to cook with? Where do you think that water comes from?

I am sure there are phobes out there that will not use house water, but the vast majority do.

 

[jddevinn]

What is all the negativity about water from a tank water heater. There may be sediment in the tank, but the outlet to the plumbing is on the side, not the bottom unless I am mistaken. So the sediment will stay in the tank, and not transfer to the mash.

Do you never fill a pot in your kitchen with hot water to cook with? Where do you think that water comes from?

I am sure there are phobes out there that will not use house water, but the vast majority do.

No I don't. Hot water is typically not recommended to be potable. If you live in a newer house then it is safer.... but still not recommended.

 

[kh54s10]

No I don't. Hot water is typically not recommended to be potable. If you live in a newer house then it is safer.... but still not recommended.

Since when?????

This is the first I have ever heard this!!!!!

You boil water to make it safe!!!

 

[jddevinn]

Since when?????

This is the first I have ever heard this!!!!!

You boil water to make it safe!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/health/29real.html

http://grist.org/living/is-it-safe-to-cook-with-hot-tap-water/

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/water.htm

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/qa-spotlight/how-safe-pex-tubing

 

[kh54s10]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/health/29real.html

http://grist.org/living/is-it-safe-to-cook-with-hot-tap-water/

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/water.htm

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/qa-spotlight/how-safe-pex-tubing

OK, but I will take this as another "it's going to kill you" over-reactions. If it were that bad life expectancy would be down in the 40's and the population would be declining at an alarming rate!!!

 

[flanken]

I've always wondered why, if stuff settles out of your water while in the water heater tank, people think it will be re-absorbed into the water if you mash with it?

Go green! [emoji16]

 

[flanken]

I'm kind of miffed at how quickly people are to judge someone by their water heater temps!



Do people actually sue their friends for turning only the hot water on and mindlessly shoving their booger hooks into the water?



In terms of water quality, considering mine has to run through 100ft of potable rv hose, only to be mildly filtered through a Home Depot whole house filter, and my beer turns out ok, I don't think that would be that much of an issue, however I would pour some, let it cool and taste it. I always run a little bit of water through before collecting, and it tastes just as good as right from the tap (I'm on well water in a rural area).

Lol "booger hooks" I'm using that...

 

[applescrap]

I brewed off my old hot water heater for a long time. That hot water heater was really old. When tasting the water I didn't taste anything. My new hot water heater I think I taste a little something. I must admit you're getting off easy for your ideas. I was attacked and bombarded. There is a theory, likely plausible, that there are unhealthy things that are in the hot water. Funny my new hot water heater taste a little weird I think. I went cold and it took I want to say 20 minutes instead of 10 minutes to come to strike. So the extra 10 minutes I can live with. My thing is brewing quick and I try to keep it under 3 hours. If it's going to cost you only 10 minutes I don't see why using the cold water is a bad idea. And that's coming from somebody who has only used cold water once in 50+ all grain batches. If the water tastes fine and Brewing Quick is your thing then use the hot water heater. Some of it depends on what your heating with. Most importantly be sure to taste the water. Do a blind triangle test. Taste it again. Taste it throughout the day. The bottom line is if it tastes fine using it will somewhat speed up your day. That being said if you're somebody who doesn't care about how long you take to brew then use cold.

 

[daveMN]

One thing to check out is whether your water heater is plumbed from the water softener. If it is, then also better to use cold from the kitchen tap.

 

[brewcat]

What is all the negativity about water from a tank water heater. There may be sediment in the tank, but the outlet to the plumbing is on the side, not the bottom unless I am mistaken. So the sediment will stay in the tank, and not transfer to the mash.

Do you never fill a pot in your kitchen with hot water to cook with? Where do you think that water comes from?

I am sure there are phobes out there that will not use house water, but the vast majority do.

I don't use hot water. Cold only for cooking. The hot has a potential leaching problem with heavy metals. It may not kill you but it isn't necessarily healthy.

 

[RTL]

Another thought alongside chlorine presence is hot side aeration beyond what you're used to. The high pressure in residential water lines can cause higher dissolved oxygen levels than usual even on the hot side. Some HSA is unavoidable on the home brew scale but this might push it beyond the usual levels. I'm not sure how high it is maybe it's not a concern but is something to think about.

 

[flanken]

Another thought alongside chlorine presence is hot side aeration beyond what you're used to. The high pressure in residential water lines can cause higher dissolved oxygen levels than usual even on the hot side. Some HSA is unavoidable on the home brew scale but this might push it beyond the usual levels. I'm not sure how high it is maybe it's not a concern but is something to think about.

Doesn't boiling take care of that?

Is aeration an issue at mash time?

 

[RTL]

Boiling will remove oxygen that got into the wort during the mash but oxidation is occurring as long as there is oxygen in the wort, boiling will not reverse the chemical reaction. Again I don't know how much DO there is in hot tap water but personally I boil my strike water then treat it with K-meta then cool it to strike temp and under let the mash. Then put the lid on for the duration of the mash.

If you aren't already taking HSA precautions you might not notice much difference. Or maybe it's not a concern. I can't seem to find anything that says what levels of DO to expect in hot tap water. Maybe someone in the know will chime in. Or maybe someone with a DO meter could run some tests.

 

[jddevinn]

Water should ideally be degassed before being used as strike or sparge water

 

[Jim311]

Your hot water heater is essentially just a big tank. Water sitting in a tank for an extended period of time should technically degas it BETTER than using the cold side of the tap.

 

[CJ-3]

Hi folks.

It's a water heater, not a hot water heater. It is used to heat cold water to a hot temperature.

I am a plumber.
Any arguments against me are invalid.

:rockin:

 

[mxstar21]

Hi folks.

It's a water heater, not a hot water heater. It is used to heat cold water to a hot temperature.

I am a plumber.
Any arguments against me are invalid.

:rockin:

Well played.

 

[RTL]

Duplicate post.

 

[RTL]

Your hot water heater is essentially just a big tank. Water sitting in a tank for an extended period of time should technically degas it BETTER than using the cold side of the tap.

Not really. Hot water sitting in a kettle will degas because it is hot and under atmospheric pressure, but is still never 100% degassed. Hot water in an enclosed tank will normalize the head pressure with the partial pressure of the liquid and dissolved gases. Yes it's better than cold tap water but not the same as heated in a kettle.

According to engineering toolbox the solubility of air in water at 60 psig and 120F is 0.0654. Since air is about 21% oxygen that means 0.013734 is oxygen. Which is a obviously 13734 ppm. At 0 psig you are a factor of 6 lower than this. At 0 psig and 210F you get 84 ppm oxygen. Not a trivial difference in my opinion, and some house pressures are quite a lot higher than this.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-solubility-water-d_639.html

According to the article linked below it only takes 1ppm of oxygen for 1 minute to spoil malt flavors. However most of us don't brew the way they recommend in that paper, so really what we want is a measure relative to what we normally brew with. Which is of course unique to each brewer. But if you don't already attempt to degas your strike and sparse water I would assume you won't notice much more HSA than you are already used to.

http://www.germanbrewing.net/docs/Brewing-Bavarian-Helles.pdf

 

[MadJohnShaft]

I sparged the last 3 brews with hot tap water measured in a bucket, saves on a kettle and is effortless. There's 4 showers and a dishwasher cycling all the water in the hot water heater everyday if you ask me. I haven't noticed any drop in quality so I'm going to keep doing it. It's Lake Michigan water.