Need to treat bottled spring water?

[Coppertone]

Hi all,

I plan to make my next kit, probably a Woodfordes Wherry, with cheap spring water from Tesco. I was assuming that there is no need to treat this water with Campden tablets as it is not tap water. Would I be right? I hope so as I do not have any campden tablets.

[MickyD]

Campden tablets wont do much to bottled spring water as theres hardly any chlorine in it to be neutralised.

What you might want to consider is boiling it (I never have done) as bottled water isn't subjected the strict water cleanliness inspections that tap water is.

[Coppertone]

Cheers MickyD, I did'nt think there was any need to treat it, just was not 100% sure. I don't think boiling it is an option so I will just pour it straight in.

[Dave d]

I was gonna ask about that also Coppertone but just presumed it would be fine. Just made up my Brewferm Gold now using Asda 17p 2ltr spring water absolute bargain

[Curious Brew]

I think tap water treated with sodium metabisulphate is probably less of a risk than bottled water.

As Micky said, bottled water doesn't have to pass the strict health and safety guidelines that tap water does, and tap water is protected by chlorine (until you neutralise it that is!).

[Coppertone]

Yeah Dave, you can't beat the price and will be worth it if the beer turns out nice.

[Coppertone]

Cheers guys, and I understand the logic of pre-boiling the bottled water. The only problem is trying to boil, cool and store 20 litres of water.

Is it a huge risk not pre-boiling or is it a very small risk? We all need to take risks (as long as the odds are in our favour )

MickyD you mention that you have never boiled your bottled water, how has your results been?

[MickyD]

Well I have made several brews now with JS 5L bottled spring water, and I don't think its gone wrong yet. They are still all very young, so the flavours are a little off or I havent tried them yet.

Smugglers Reserve - Bottled 5 weeks ago. Its as clear as day, but tastes a little sour/bitter, but has improved a lot.

Brewferm Christmas Beer - Tasted great out of the fermenter, but is now only just coming up to 4 weeks old. Havent tried it yet.

BOTW Christmas Ale - I could have happily drunk this straight from the fermenter, but resisted. Its only 3 weeks bottled. Not tried yet.

BOTW Bavarian Pilsner - Still in fermenter (10 days today) tasted very nice at the weekend.

All of the beer kits made up here have had 3 liters of the bottled water boiled and used in making the kits. They all have hop bags that need steeping, so I boiled the bottled water for this purpose and used the remaining boiled water to rinse the malt from the can. The rest was literally poured in from a great height to aerate the wort.

I have also made up 3 wines (2 kits and 1 Elderberry) using the same water, and they have also been fine.

I don't know if boiling just 3 liters is enough, but its worked for me so far and I am sure I will get a dodgy bottle at some point and get a ruined beer, but for me the risk is acceptable compared to the bloody awful TCP taste.

[Coppertone]

Thanks for that Micky. I will probably do the same myself. I would give boiling a go but just to not have big enough pots containers etc. In the Cooper starter kit that comes with an instructional DVD, they also used spring water straight in with no mention of boiling.

I understand what Daab and co are saying and maybe if I hit a bad batch, water will be one of the suspects, until then I'll think positive thoughts.