Tap water

[DeBAD]

Being new to this game I'm finding I'm VERY confused about water. On one side I'm told that anything that makes contact with my beer should be sterile and I shouldn't even rinse things sterilized with StarSan with tap water. However I've also been told I can use unboiled tap water as my top off water "as long as my tap water is good enough to drink".

My water is pretty soft but in general I consider it pretty good water and it definitely tastes good to drink.

So what is the real answer? Help!

 

[DeBAD]

Being new to this game I'm finding I'm VERY confused about water. On one side I'm told that anything that makes contact with my beer should be sterile and I shouldn't even rinse things sterilized with StarSan with tap water. However I've also been told I can use unboiled tap water as my top off water "as long as my tap water is good enough to drink".

My water is pretty soft but in general I consider it pretty good water and it definitely tastes good to drink.

So what is the real answer? Help!

 

[DeBAD]

Being new to this game I'm finding I'm VERY confused about water. On one side I'm told that anything that makes contact with my beer should be sterile and I shouldn't even rinse things sterilized with StarSan with tap water. However I've also been told I can use unboiled tap water as my top off water "as long as my tap water is good enough to drink".

My water is pretty soft but in general I consider it pretty good water and it definitely tastes good to drink.

So what is the real answer? Help!

 

[Yooper]

Well, you don't want to rinse star-san, as it's a "no-rinse sanitizer". It will stay sanitized as long as the object is wet with star-san.

I don't boil my tap water, but it's safe and without chloramines and much chlorine. If you don't have safe tap water, or need to boil it to remove chlorine and things, that's different.

My tap water is so safe that I've been known to even DRINK it, when I'm out of beer.

 

[BigFloyd]

There's a little bit of an increased risk of infection using unboiled tap water. The bigger concern is that it, if it's treated municipal water, it certainly has chlorine and possibly chloramine in it which can lead to some unpleasant flavors in the end result.

For a partial boil batch topping off with cold water (and it should be as cold as you can get it w/o freezing), it's better to just buy a few gallon jugs of spring/drinking water at the store and chill it before you begin brewing.

 

[opiate82]

Other above pretty much covered it, but just to reiterate, it is (pretty much) safe to use tap water because it is treated to remove any bad stuff (I am assuming yours is anyways). That is why it is safe for you to drink.

On the other hand, the stuff that they use to treat is *MIGHT* be detrimental to the flavor of your beer. That is why many homebrewers opt to use RO (reverse osmosis) water and then they add in the minerals/additives it might need. Water chemistry can be a pretty overwhelming subject but it has been broken down into pretty beginner-friendly terms and methods in the Water Chemistry Primer in the Brew Science section. Just following the baisc guidelines on the first page is a very simple way to ensure your water has nothing harmful and the few helpful things it will need.

I personally buy RO water from the grocery store. Cost me $0.41 per gallon, I buy 10 at a time, usually use around 8 for my brew and the other 2 for making the sanitizer I need for the brew day. Just following the basic guidelines in the primer has gotten me 'great' beer every time. I personally don't top off, but if you were using the water bought from the grocery store dispenser to top off you'd probably want to make sure whatever container you filled up was sanitized first. But no need to do anything further to the water itself, it should be perfectly safe for your beer.

 

[DeBAD]

My tap water is actually pretty good but it's a little hard. Don't know about the chloramines and chlorine though. I can call the city and find out on Monday. If it's high its there an additive I can put in it to neutralize it?

Thanks

 

[BigFloyd]

My tap water is actually pretty good but it's a little hard. Don't know about the chloramines and chlorine though. I can call the city and find out on Monday. If it's high its there an additive I can put in it to neutralize it?

Thanks

1/2 a campden tab at the beginning for chloramine.

For any chlorine, a carbon water filter will take it out as will extended boiling. If you are using a hose outlet, get a drinking water hose and one of these inline RV filters - http://www.amazon.com/Camco-40043-TastePURE-Flexible-Protector/dp/B0006IX87S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385185292&sr=8-1&keywords=camco+filter