Top Up Water

[jakis]

Hey all,

Can I use store bought bottled water for topping up the carboy? Or should I boil the water.

Could I also just add the water near the end of the boil if I measure the water in the pot with a wooden spoon with marking to see how much water I need to reach 1 gallon. (this is for a one gallon batch)

Cheers,

Jake

 

[flars]

The store bought is most likely sanitary. Sanitize the top of the jug before pouring.
One gallon is easy to cool quickly in an ice bath, so you could add to the boil kettle.

 

[tomaso]

I do it in Barcelona and there's no problem with it.

 

[unionrdr]

I use spring water that's been in the fridge a day or two before brew day to top off with in the fermenter. I ice bath the hot wort down to 75F or so, then strain into the FV & top off with the cold spring water to recipe volume. This usually gets it down to 64-66F.

 

[kh54s10]

I always just use tap water from a Brita filter on the faucet. But, my city water seems to be unusually good. Rated best in the area.

Bottled water is good.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Many people on these forums religiously sanitize everything they put in contact with their beer post boil. Others follow the adage "would you eat or drink it?" I am the latter. I suspect that brewers with early history of repeated infections tend to be more conciencious about sanitizing. I am fortunate that I have never had an infection that caused me to dump a batch ( a couple lacto infections resulting from using acid malt and made a great beer!!!)

I have topped off with untreated tap water post boil. I have put frozen bluebrries into my beer at 2 weeks without sanitizing. I always rinse all bottling day equipment with starsan. Hello, I'm William and I'm a home brewer!!!

 

[scdigger]

I do my boil with 3 1/2 gallons, then add 2 gallons of purified water (or however much it takes to reach 5 gal total) to the fermenter after cool down. I actually keep those gallons in the fridge to help with lowering the temp.

Has worked fine for me.

GT

 

[McGarnigle]

I either use bottled water straight from the jug, or I boil my tap water the night before and let it cool. I don't boil bottled water.

I'm curious about topping off for a one gallon batch. Couldn't you just boil enough to begin with so you end with one gallon? Usually topping off is for when you can't boil the full amount.

 

[chisena]

Many people on these forums religiously sanitize everything they put in contact with their beer post boil. Others follow the adage "would you eat or drink it?" I am the latter. I suspect that brewers with early history of repeated infections tend to be more conciencious about sanitizing. I am fortunate that I have never had an infection that caused me to dump a batch ( a couple lacto infections resulting from using acid malt and made a great beer!!!)



I have topped off with untreated tap water post boil. I have put frozen bluebrries into my beer at 2 weeks without sanitizing. I always rinse all bottling day equipment with starsan. Hello, I'm William and I'm a home brewer!!!

Well said. Beer (actually the yeast) is so hardy; it doesn't get enough credit. You'd really have to be a slob to infect beer in a way that results in dumping it down the drain. I have topped off with tap water from my Brita jug many times. Not an issue.

 

[RM-MN]

Well said. Beer (actually the yeast) is so hardy; it doesn't get enough credit. You'd really have to be a slob to infect beer in a way that results in dumping it down the drain. I have topped off with tap water from my Brita jug many times. Not an issue.

This seems to be true for the primary fermenter when the yeast are active because the wort is acidic enough to retard the growth of bacteria and the CO2 eliminates the air that other bacteria that can live in the acidic environment need. If you transfer the beer to a secondary vessel, then cleanliness is critical because when you transfer your blanket of CO2 is lost and you have only the dissolved CO2 in the beer to off gas and fill the top of the fermenter. An infection can start without that CO2.

 

[brewprint]

I just top off with tap water out of the faucet. The city water here is pretty decent. I have a reverse osmosis system on the sink but I don't even use that for the beer due to the cost of the filters. I have yet to have an infection and I'm around 20 batches.

It never hurts to overkill but mostly that's what all the boiling and extra steps are; overkill.