Will a cornie of tap water go stale?

[Cazamodo]

Pretty much that. A cornie filled from the tap. Will it go stale even purged of O2?

[Belter]

Yes unless it has been sterilized.

[Cazamodo]

So if I did wish to have a keg of drinking water, for what ever reason, I would need to boil it up first.

[Belter]

Yes if you want it to last. If you refrigerated it it would last longer. Boiling wont necessarily sterilize it. Sometimes you need to boil, Wait a day then boil again to kill absolutely everything. How long do you need to store it for?

[Matt12398]

Yeah I'd avoid it. You're at risk of having legionella in there if you leave it a while.

[Pinto]

Legionella needs warmer temperatures and certain conditions to grow effectively.

Legionella can grow at temperatures of between 20-50°C, with the optimum temperature for growth and virulence approximately 36°C. At temperatures below 20°C the bacteria is dormant (it is alive but can't grow) but at temperatures above 60°C legionella is killed with time. Legionella also survives well in humid conditions i.e. the greater the relative humidity the greater the risks.

Nutrients such as rust, sludge, algae and scale will encourage legionella bacteria to grow. Biofilm formation (a thin layer of slime formed by micro-organisms) in water systems provide protection from adverse conditions. The presence of other micro-organisms will, depending on type present, increase the ability of legionella to survive e.g. Flavobacterium will provide nutrients for the legionella to grow on. Legionella can grow inside amoebae, which can encyst, making them (and the legionella inside) very resilient to environmental stress and biocides."

Sensible money to sterilise it first tho - and dont hang on to it too long. Im interested - what do you actually intend to do with a corny of tap water ??

[Aleman]

I do this regularly for fizzy water for the kids in summer, Initially I used to boil it, now I don't bother . . .sometimes it can be a month in the keg before it's emptied (depending on the kids fancies)

[Belter]

Im guessing carbonated soft drinks . he hasn't said if he's refrigerating it so it could potentially reach 20degrees

[Pinto]

Sounds like a job for.....SODASTREAM

[Matt12398]

Legionella needs warmer temperatures and certain conditions to grow effectively.

Legionella can grow at temperatures of between 20-50°C, with the optimum temperature for growth and virulence approximately 36°C. At temperatures below 20°C the bacteria is dormant (it is alive but can't grow) but at temperatures above 60°C legionella is killed with time. Legionella also survives well in humid conditions i.e. the greater the relative humidity the greater the risks.

Nutrients such as rust, sludge, algae and scale will encourage legionella bacteria to grow. Biofilm formation (a thin layer of slime formed by micro-organisms) in water systems provide protection from adverse conditions. The presence of other micro-organisms will, depending on type present, increase the ability of legionella to survive e.g. Flavobacterium will provide nutrients for the legionella to grow on. Legionella can grow inside amoebae, which can encyst, making them (and the legionella inside) very resilient to environmental stress and biocides."

Sensible money to sterilise it first tho - and dont hang on to it too long. Im interested - what do you actually intend to do with a corny of tap water ??

I still stand by what I said. If you have it sat in a central heated room it is perfectly reasonable to accept that the temperature could reach those sufficient for legionella to grow. I used to work in a lab and all of the safety shower taps that are cold feed had to be run solidly for several minuites once a week to ensure that the still water was flushed through to stop legionella growing.

[Pinto]

Not disagreeing m8 - like you, one of my old jobs involved me doing the same, such as checking the static temperature of hand washing boilers and maintaining a 5000 litre water-to-oil thermal exchanger system on a bitumen process line ( full spacesuit / mask process that one as the tank was enclosed and could have been a legionella paradise if left untreated)

So.... boil it, keep it cold and dump it every ten days ? Its not that much hastle to re-carb a cornie - more fun than serious illness !

[liquidman]

legionella is only infectious via a respiratory route i.e. is made into an aerosol and inhaled, so evan if presant in your corny you'd have to aerolosise it to be a risk,

also the chlorine present in tap water is likely to have already rendered any organisms as non vegitative anyway...

[themadhippy]

Take the top of a water fire extinguisher if you want to see what stored tap water smells like

[Dr. Dextrin]

If you want to store water pretty well indefinitely, then Campden tablets will keep it fresh. I used to fetch and store brewing water from the in-laws place in Lancashire before I worked out how to treat my own tap water. I kept it in the dark in plastic jerry cans and added a couple of tablets to each. I sometimes kept them for 6 months to a year. Probably some more tablets might need adding occasionally if keeping the water for longer periods.

I don't see why the water wouldn't have been fine to drink after storage (depending on your tolerance to sulphites of course). Certainly it smelled and tasted fresh enough. But as it was boiled for brewing that wasn't an issue anyway.