Newbie questions about water and sanitazing

[ideaman]

Hello,

I am a new home brewer from Israel, and I have a few questions.
First of all, water:
I know that if I use tap water I should boil it first.
But if I use filtered bottled water can I use it without boiling?
What about spring or mineral water?
What should I check on the label to see that I an use without boiling it first?
I mean ingredients like chlorine, sodium or others, what amount in a gallon or liter is good and how much is too much?

Sanitizing question:
Here we don't have the cleaning detergents that you have in the USA :-(, so I wash the equipment with regular dish-washing soap and I sanitize with 96% alcohol.
My problem is that different sellers from different home brew stores tell me opposite recommendations:
One seller recommends to use iodine, the second one tells me not to touch it (he sells out from a big chemistry shop, so he knows more about chemistry than the other guy) and tells me that iodine is poison, alcohol it is much safer. Which one is best? If alcohol is good I don't mind continue using it.

Sorry about the long post.

Best Regards,
Daniel

 

[Bensiff]

Your water is dependent upon its quality so its helpful to get a local water report and see what exactly is in it. If it has chlorine in it boiling will do the trick; however, I would recommend getting a basic activated carbon filter to remove the chlorine as it removes a bunch of other stuff as well and can make even poor tap water into drinkable water...which is the basic rule, if its good enough to drink its good enough to brew with.

Cleaning is about getting stuff clean so whatever works. Oxyclean works great if you have it there as it takes away the pain of scrubbing. As far as sanitizing, I don't know what to tell you. I'm sure high proof alcohol works, but you might want to talk to some local brewers and see what is available. I know Israel has a solid wine industry so perhaps you could contact some vintners and see what they use for contact sanitizing.

 

[unionrdr]

Tap water is ok imo if it doesn't taste or smell like flat Alkaseltzer. Our water can get that way in hot weather &/or when a particular faucet isn't used often. I've used spring water (not to be confused with well water which is ground water) from the store. it has minerals & such in it that are good for the yeast. PH comes into play,but mostly with AG. I'm going to use disstilled water for my partial mash ales,since tap water can give some funky flavors to the beer as I understand it.
Some use Reverse Osmosis water for all their brewing,& some stores have a dispenser for that by the gallon/liter.

 

[Netflyer]

Alcohol, Isopropyl Alcohol is not edible, it should evaporate but not edible... cleaning very well with dish washing liquid is good, and depending upon the hardness of your water may or may not leave a residue. Typically we use strong base or strong acid or a combination of both types of cleaners. I use EZ clean, a basic cleaner and then after it dries I use Sani-Clean an acid sanitizer... acid + base = salt + water and the salt is generally beneficial to your fermenting wort. I agree, try to find out what the wine folks use but whatever you use make sure it is fit for cleaning equipment that you will be eating out of... food safe after rinsing or better yet, 'no rinse' needed cleaners are the best.
As for your water, does it have chlorine in it? Can you have it tested somewhere for some things like Calcium, Magnesium, Chlorine, Sodium, Bicarbonate, Sulphide, and pH? That would help. Once you know that many folks around here can help you decide where to go next with your water situation, if anywhere.

 

[optaka]

Hello,
One seller recommends to use iodine, the second one tells me not to touch it (he sells out from a big chemistry shop, so he knows more about chemistry than the other guy) and tells me that iodine is poison, alcohol it is much safer. Which one is best? If alcohol is good I don't mind continue using it.

Sorry about the long post.

Best Regards,
Daniel

Iodine and isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol are both poison in improper amounts, but both are completely safe when used properly. While he is right that iodine is very dangerous in high concentrations that he may have access to, you will never be using anything near those kinds of levels. Both iodine and isopropyl alcohol are regularly used as topical antiseptics in the US and I would assume many places in the world. Iodine is also used as a commercial livestock and food sanitizer so there is no real danger when it is properly used. Iodine will stain skin and potentially your equipment if you use a bit too much (again, you shouldn't even have access to amounts that are dangerous so a skin stain is no worries), but I think you are probably a little less likely to cause off flavors in your beer if you use iodine as opposed to isopropyl.

I would agree with the previous posters to see what others in your area are using. Either is safe, but they could probably tell you what is most convenient to use/where to get it.