sterilize water?

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NM68657

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How many people doing extract and or extract plus grain brewing kits with two gallons of water add sterilized water to their two gallon concoction at the end of the boil? In a perfect world I can see why using sterile water makes sense, but do most folk actually take the time to boil the water they add?
 
I just buy the spring water at the grocery store .60 cents a gallon...plus my tap water tastes like a butthole
 
I used to get spring water from a local spring before going AG. With the need to know my water profile I went with municipal water treated with campton to remove chlorimines. I too have great municipal water (soft) and have to add salts to acheive a particular water style.
 
I either boil my make up water the day before and chill it in a sanitized plastic bucket my cold room or I use bottled water.
 
I just finished a quickie, Maclay's 56. 2 gallon boil, late extract add & top off with tap water. The water here is about as pure as it can be, so I don't worry.

In California, I boiled every drop.
 
I use bottled water since my tap water tastes nasty and I'm too lazy to preboil the extra water. If you do add preboiled water just remember to aerate really well since boiling gets rid of all the oxygen
 
Generally the rule of thumb is, if the tap water tastes good, it will brew good beer. If the tap water tastes bad, either drink bad beer or buy bottle water
 
tap water with camphden tablets when i was doing kits, now AG so the tap water gets sterilised in the post mash boil. Still add the camphden tablets (1/2 tablet for about 8 gallons) this is the single biggest step i made away from the 'that crappy homebrew' taste :ban: , big thanks to DaaB at the brew it yourself forum for that tip.
 
We're in a co-op water company that is on a 25 or so well system. Our water is excellent out of the tap but we do soften the water and use an R/O for the drinking water. Since they don't chloriniate the water I boil the water out of the R/O prior to use. Is that overkill?

It takes me about 24 hours to get 6 gallons of water out of that R/O anyway, so not boiling won't really save me any time.
 
We've got great water over here in Oregon. I use it straight from the tap.
 
I don't use tap water, but rather I use filtered water. i take the plastic bottles to fill them up and it only costs $0.25/gallon. No need to boil, as I've not had any contamination yet. (knocks on wood).
 
so boiling water you add to your wort is not necessary? no worries about infection? my water tastes good so i could use it as is, is this correct. thus far i have boiled all of my water, but i am kinda lazy.
 
technically, it *could* be infected straight out of the tap. Most people, myself included, are too lazy to boil and wait for it to cool though, so we chance it.

You could check the water report from your water utility company and see how well they passed the bacteria screenings.
 
I use reverse-osmosis filtered water from the grocery store. Refills are 39 cents per gallon. It's worth it to me to not have to treat my tap water (it has chloramine in it).
 
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