Tap Water?

[brendenb]

Howdy All,

I am looking to brew my second beer, a Scotch Ale, in a couple weeks and I am looking to use my tap water this time around. It is a municipal water source, so it is chlorinated and fluoridated. If I remember correctly, I should be able to boil off these chemicals with a short boil before I start brewing, correct?

If not, I'll go ahead and get some spring water from the store, but I'd rather just use what I have it is can be fixed with just a short boil.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Rev2010]

Go for it man. If your water tastes fine than use it. I'm in Jersey and the water is perfectly fine for brewing. Matter of fact, I probably wouldn't be brewing if I had to use bottled water or filters because each can really raise the cost significantly per batch. I have no odd tastes and every batch has come out fine. Of course this depends on yur local water supply. But definitely try it out. Usually only areas with really hard or over treated water are a problem.


Rev.

 

[brendenb]

The Indianapolis area does have harder water, which, from what I have been told, is a good thing for brewing, especially Scotch Ales.

So, should I do the short boil to get rid of any chemicals?

 

[djfriesen]

Chlorine will dissipate out of water just by leaving it at room temps over night. It will also boil out of water during the boil. However, if your municipality uses chloramine, you will not be so lucky. A campden tablet will fix your trouble, but no amount of boiling will get rid of it. I do not know anything about flouride; it may not even contribute to off flavors. I know I haven't seen it mentioned much on these forums, anyway.

edit: Also, if you can find your city's water report, you should be able to tell if they use chlorine or chloramine.

 

[birvine]

edit: Also, if you can find your city's water report, you should be able to tell if they use chlorine or chloramine.

I just called ours and asked whether they used chlorine or chloramide.

If the latter, just buy some water or get a filter to get rid of it.

B

 

[brendenb]

Just did a little research, it appears that Greenwood, IN does have chloramine in the water. Go figure... I may just rely on bottled spring water then, or perhaps find a place that carries campden tablets.

Thanks for the info.

 

[brendenb]

Disregard, just found the official water report online for my county and it appears that it is "free chlorine" can be boiled off. Excellent!

 

[HopSong]

Mine tastes reasonably good fresh from the tap.. but, if I leave a glass sitting on the sink and want to take a sip during the night.. it has a medicinal smell.. I think it smell like iodine or ?? Not sure. It doesn't smell like chlorine sitting around. but has a slight chlorine smell from the tap.

Any ideas?

I was thinking of getting one of the "whole house" filters such as you can get at HD or Walmart.. with the carbon filter. Are they ok to sit around for a few weeks of non use between batches?

 

[Dr. Francois]

I have been looking at inline RV filters. They hook up to garden hoses. I am tired of transporting bottled water.

 

[Rev2010]

Disregard, just found the official water report online for my county and it appears that it is "free chlorine" can be boiled off. Excellent!

Either way, I would recommend you try at least one full batch just using your tap water. Even better... if you could brew a batch you've done before once or even better several times so there's no doubt and you can tell if there is any difference. As mentioned, if you did have chloramine you can simply treat the water with a tablet. Certainly far cheaper than paying for bottled water or filter replacements no? Also, some say filtering water can be a bad thing as it takes out minerals the yeast need to efficiently thrive - however many brew with filtered water or reverse osmosis water with complete success so that might be a myth for all I know.


Rev.

 

[brendenb]

Either way, I would recommend you try at least one full batch just using your tap water. Even better... if you could brew a batch you've done before once or even better several times so there's no doubt and you can tell if there is any difference. As mentioned, if you did have chloramine you can simply treat the water with a tablet. Certainly far cheaper than paying for bottled water or filter replacements no? Also, some say filtering water can be a bad thing as it takes out minerals the yeast need to efficiently thrive - however many brew with filtered water or reverse osmosis water with complete success so that might be a myth for all I know.


Rev.

Thanks!

 

[osagedr]

Our tap water is pretty soft, so I usually do a modest water adjustment with some or all of gypsum, calcium chloride, baking soda, and epsom salts to hit the right profile for the style I am brewing. Sometimes I will go with distilled or RO if the style calls for extremely soft water (like the Bohemian pils I brewed last weekend with RO water and a tiny adjustment).

 

[DilTheDrunk]

Disregard, just found the official water report online for my county and it appears that it is "free chlorine" can be boiled off. Excellent!

Brenden, I also live in the greenwood area and I am just getting my AG setup. I was wondering if you found anything that works for the water around here. Dilution or just straight tap water. Personally I don't think the water tastes that great here and I will probably do some dilution. Let me know whats working for you.