Mash liqour

[crafty john]

I have just ordered all my equipment for AG I will be doing my first brew next week. I have brewed kits and extract with water from my tap treated with 1/2 a campden tab and all my brews have turned out great. Is it advisable to do the same with AG? I have boiled up some water and there is a tiny film of chalky residue left in the bottom of the boiler but nothing drastic.

Should I just go ahead with the campden tablet or do I need to add something else? I wanted my first brew to be as straight forward as possible but I don't want to muck things up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers guys

[Befuddler]

I have just ordered all my equipment for AG I will be doing my first brew next week. I have brewed kits and extract with water from my tap treated with 1/2 a campden tab and all my brews have turned out great. Is it advisable to do the same with AG? I have boiled up some water and there is a tiny film of chalky residue left in the bottom of the boiler but nothing drastic.

Should I just go ahead with the campden tablet or do I need to add something else? I wanted my first brew to be as straight forward as possible but I don't want to muck things up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers guys

As wiser men have said: If you only do one thing to your water, the campden tab should be it. It's not usually neccessary to do anything else, but you will get much better results if you treat the water properly. Read this thread about alkalinity testing, then figure out if you need to use CRS to bring your water to an acceptable level. After that you can start thinking about adding gypsum or other salts to achieve a certain water profile.

[boingy]

For the first few AG brews just do the campden tablet. There will be plenty of other stuff to worry about on the day!

[Hawkinspm]

As said , definitely add the campden tablet to remove chlorine / chloramines.

As it's your first AG I would just do that and your beer will be fine. You can then delve in the world of water treatment once you are happy with the basics.

[crafty john]

Thanks guys