Water added to Wort after boiling

[twentynothing20]

Hey Everyone,

Just brewed my first IPA today (Brewers Best IPA). I used hinkley purified water to avoid all of the filtering for my first batch. This is something that I didn't really notice if it mattered until after the fact, BUT after my wort is done boiling and I add water to fill it up to the 5 gallon mark do I have to boil the water that is being added too? I just hit the cap of the jug with some star-san, opened it, then poured it in to the right level. The reason I ask is for contamination purposes. I'm just curious so I know what to do next time, or just seeing if I'm ****ed. If you are interested, my OG was 1.070. Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

I never boiled my top off water. If you have chlorine in it, that would be one reason to boil it, but if you're using bottled water without chlorine there wouldn't be any reason to boil it.

 

[freisste]

While it is POSSIBLE that it will cause an infection, I would be surprised if it did. Personally, I would do what you did without thinking twice (probably without sanitizing the cap). At any rate, no sense worrying now. It is infected or it isn't. You won't know for a while.

 

[orangemen5]

I top up with tap water without boiling it. Never had a problem with infections. It has chlorine in it also. I do treat my water for brewing but if I'm topping up with a 1/2 gal or so I don't treat the top up water. Never tasted chlorine in my beer.

 

[Yooper]

I top up with tap water without boiling it. Never had a problem with infections. It has chlorine in it also. I do treat my water for brewing but if I'm topping up with a 1/2 gal or so I don't treat the top up water. Never tasted chlorine in my beer.

Chlorine doesn't have a chlorine taste in finished beer. What it does is combine with yeast byproducts to make "chlorophenols" which taste a bit like cloves in small doses, or medicine-y (or "band aids") in large doses. It is tasted in a very small amount, like in parts per million, so it's important to remove chlorine by treating for it if using chlorinated water.

 

[orangemen5]

I figured a 1/2 gal mixed with 5 gals wouldn't be noticeable. I'll probably just top up with bottled water. Easier than boiling and cooling.

 

[theck]

How I used to do all my extract beers. All gain now, but I would just put a couple gallons of distilled water in the fridge to get cold, cool the wort and pop it in. I've even used tap water when in a pinch.

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