How long can boiled tap water sit before use?

[fanch75]

Hello all - just registered this morning. My name is Jim; my wife, 18 month old baby, and I all live in Morgantown, WV. I'm big into rock music & sports, and I love beer. Now in my mid-30's, my pallet appears to be growing quickly. Just 3 years ago I would have been happy with Natty Light, Bud Light, etc, but now those beers just don't satisfy me and I have taken an interest in some darker ales, etc. Not ready for stouts yet, though.

Anyway, I'm about to brew my fourth batch, all using Cooper's or Munton's can "no-boil" kits. The first batch (Cooper's Real Ale) turned out awful - mostly because I did not sanitize my bottles correctly. The second batch (Cooper's English Bitter) turned out terrific; I'd rather drink that than about any macrobrew out there! I can't say enough good things about Cooper's English Bitter. The third batch was Munton's Premium Pilsner; that batch has been conditioning in bottles now for exactly two weeks, and we'll crack one of those in about two more weeks.

Now for my question -

In anticipation of batch #4, three days ago I boiled about 4 gallons of tap water in aluminum pots for about 30 minutes to sanitize/rid of chlorine, etc. After boiling, I put the lids on the pots (not airtight but they fit well) on the pots and they cooled and have been sitting in waiting at room temperature. I was hoping to make batch #4 the day after boiling all of that tap water, but life got in the way and it didn't happen. I hope to make the batch tonight or this weekend (in 2-3 more days from now, or 5-6 days after boiling).

How long can we safely say that that water remain safely "sanitized"?

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

Welcome to the fold fanch!!

Don't use that water without reboiling it. The purpose of bringing the water to temperature for the no-boil kits, is basically to pasteurize the wort before pitching your yeast.

I'm into all grain now, but when I started using extract kits, I mixed the extract , water, etc. and boiled it for 10-15 minutes to sanitize everything. Cooled the wort to 70 degrees and pitched the rehydrated yeast...never had a problem at all. It also gave me peace of mind that it was all clean.

By the sounds of it, you've already learned a lesson on sanitization. If you keep things super-clean, the ingredients seem to want to become beer.

 

[Brewmiser]

Hey Jim, Welcome to the site! I used the coopers IPA kit added 3lbs of LME & dry hopped it & it was awesome. I haven't tried the English bitter yet but I just might have too. As to your Question I don't think it would take long for bacteria to grow & spread as to actually how long, I can't say. I'm sure the lid keep most bad stuff out but wouldn't take much to ruin your batch. I would just heat your water up to a boil & then add your kit to be safe. I know it's a no boil but it won't hurt to heat up your water to a boil before adding your kit.

 

[fanch75]

To clarify - the water I boiled earlier this week is intended to be used for for the step, "Add cool water to the hot wort until you hit the 5 gallon level in the primary fermentor."

I didn't want to use pure tap water for this, so I pre-boiled it and it's been sitting. But still it sounds like teh answer is to boil it again, let it cool to room temperature, and then create the wort from the kit, pour the wort into the fermenter, and then pour the cool (earlier boiled) water in until the 5 gallon mark. Am I correct

 

[tunoffun]

Ditto what Goodgod has said. As soon as the water started to cool, it started pulling in the surrounding air in the process, lid or no. By this time, it's likely not much different than where it started in terms of biological contaminants. In fact, with the lack of chlorine, it's probably worse

 

[fanch75]

Ditto what Goodgod has said. As soon as the water started to cool, it started pulling in the surrounding air in the process, lid or no. By this time, it's likely not much different than where it started in terms of biological contaminants. In fact, with the lack of chlorine, it's probably worse

Well that being said, how does one protect the water after boiling the approx 4 gallons of tap water to rid it of bacteria? Again I'm not referring to the 1 gallon used to boil the wort; I'm talking about the cool water that is added to the wort after the hot wort is poured into the fermenter.

 

[djinn88]

I'm not sure that it is necessary unless you have water that you wouldn't drink without boiling it first. I've made all of my batches (5) by just topping up from the tap directly. I've had no problems that were water related yet. You are good to just dump in what you have already, in my opinion anyway.

 

[Brewmiser]

I'm not sure that it is necessary unless you have water that you wouldn't drink without boiling it first. I've made all of my batches (5) by just topping up from the tap directly. I've had no problems that were water related yet. You are good to just dump in what you have already, in my opinion anyway.

Same here, I use my tap water. However I do have good well water & a whole house carbon filter.

 

[tunoffun]

I think you want to be more concerned with minimizing the population of contaminates rather than ridding them altogether, which in a normal kitchen setting is very difficult to do. So cooling with a lid is probably just fine. But cooling with a lid and then waiting days and days to do anything... IMO, not so much. You might be fine & then again you might not.

For the relatively minimal input required to boil & cool the water again, compared to the potential pain of waiting 4 weeks only to find out your beer is hosed, I think it only makes sense to err on the side of caution. To be fair, however, I have some background working in a medical lab setting, so sometimes I often tend go a little overboard on things like this...

 

[fanch75]

Thanks everyone for your replies, very helpful.

Here's what I'm doing. This morning I boiled my top water for about 5 minutes, and then I put a lid on the pot and then put seran (sp?) wrap over the top to seal it from the outside air. Then I placed the pot outside in the ~40F degree temperature to cool it more quickly.

Tonight I'll make the wort (Coopers English Bitter!!!) as per usual and pour the cold, sanitized top water to chill the wort quickly.

I'll let you know how it goes.