Water- Tap or bought?

[potatoes]

Hi All,

I am just new to brewing in the UK having done a little bit of it down under. However, I have noticed that the tap water tastes a lot different here, with more calcium in it. I was wondering, if that changes the taste of your brew? Last brew I put down, I used bottled water from Tescos. Does anyone recommend that

Last question, I often get foaming over during this first 2 days of fermentation. so I have started filling my brew only to 4 gallon mark, waiting for 2 days of fermentation then adding the rest of the water. Is this a good or bad technique?

Cheers,

Potatoes

[micromaniac]

our waterr has a lot of chlorine and chloromines in it, you can get rid of it in a flash by putting a quarter of a camden tablet in 23 ltr of your brew water that may help. i do this as a matter of habit now

[Ditch]

Just out of curiosity, Spuds; Did ye do Coopers Stout back home? If so, did it not spew over there?

[dedken]

Some people use bottled water, some use tap. I think it is just a matter of personal taste. If you check out the label on bottled water you'll find there is calcium there as well. Personally I think there's nothing wrong with a bit of calcium other than the scale it leaves on your kettle or shower head! I often fail to understand why people bother to buy expensive brita-type things to filter the stuff out - after all it does you more good than harm! I've lived most of my life in the SE so I'm used to it though. When I questioned my beer guru on this he replied that all that matters is that the water 'tastes good', so there you have it. Personal taste - if you like it use it, if you don't, don't. Just remember that if you do use bottled water you be increasing the cost of your brew and then there is the logistics of getting truck loads of bottled water in. Also, remember when adding it to your wort that it will not be as cold as tap water (unless you have a massive fridge!), so you should adjust the amount of boiled water you use for your brew.

Not sure on your second point... could be to do with how much yeast you're using, what type it is and what temperature you pitch it at. I'm sure someone will correct me though. I've never had an overtopping problem but I suppose it could be to do with the type of fv you use - the cheap Youngs fv's with the flat lids seem a bit shallow to me from the 5 gallon mark to the lip of the bucket. I'm sure adding water is fine, after all people add extra fermentables at different stages. Never done it myself though

[potatoes]

Just out of curiosity, Spuds; Did ye do Coopers Stout back home? If so, did it not spew over there?

Yeah, I did coopers stout back home and it spewed over there. So its nothing to do with the water. I just thought of a way around the spew over problem . do you reckon it works?

[potatoes]

our waterr has a lot of chlorine and chloromines in it, you can get rid of it in a flash by putting a quarter of a camden tablet in 23 ltr of your brew water that may help. i do this as a matter of habit now

Thanks for the tip. Will try some of the Youngs Campden tablets. I think that any home brew stock will sell them. Are there any tricks with using them?

[potatoes]

Not sure on your second point... could be to do with how much yeast you're using, what type it is and what temperature you pitch it at. I'm sure someone will correct me though. I've never had an overtopping problem but I suppose it could be to do with the type of fv you use - the cheap Youngs fv's with the flat lids seem a bit shallow to me from the 5 gallon mark to the lip of the bucket. I'm sure adding water is fine, after all people add extra fermentables at different stages. Never done it myself though

Thanks for your tip about the water, dedken. Also in relation to the second point. I use a Youngs Fv. last time I got beer beer overflow which made a bit of a mess. It didn't impress the mrs as I am brewing in the second bathroom. I used the yeast which came with the coopers stout kit and my FV has a temp range of 20-23c. Is that a bit high?

[potatoes]

Just add 1/2 tsp of 10% sodium metabisulphite solution to 25L or 1 tsp to 50L (you can dose it out with a syringe but it really isn't necessary, if you are treating 30L, 1 tsp will be fine).

I've made a video of how to make a 10% solution to save keeping on explaining how http://www.youtube.com/user/strongandco ... kkrddfH4uE

Cheers, Will give the campden tablets ago and see how much of pain it is. If it annoys me too much, I will try metabisulphite solution. Nice you tube clip. That is commitment!

[Ditch]

I've done a few Coopers Stouts I too use a standard Youngs FV. These days I only top the wort to the ..... is it 40 Ltr ? ..... level. The highest mark opposite and below the 5 Gallon line anyway. Just goes to show how much I care about such details.

Spews its guts out, regardless.

My point is; Just how little water need one use, to avoid the spew? And, is there a point in there somewhere, where we'd start effecting the chemical reaction which leads us to the desired, final result?

Dunno. Fortunately, I'm in a position where I can just ignore the spew and mop up later.

[barl_fire]

I've done a few Coopers Stouts I too use a standard Youngs FV. These days I only top the wort to the ..... is it 40 Ltr ? ..... level. The highest mark opposite and below the 5 Gallon line anyway. Just goes to show how much I care about such details.

Spews its guts out, regardless.

My point is; Just how little water need one use, to avoid the spew? And, is there a point in there somewhere, where we'd start effecting the chemical reaction which leads us to the desired, final result?

Dunno. Fortunately, I'm in a position where I can just ignore the spew and mop up later.

Did my Coopers Stout to your recipe but only made it up to 20 litres, it was very lively but not a drop spilt, unlike me John Bull Porter which I did to 20 litres and that still erupted, dread to think what havoc a 23 litre brew of that stuff would have created

[potatoes]

These days I only top the wort to the ..... is it 40 Ltr ? ..... level. The highest mark opposite and below the 5 Gallon line anyway. Just goes to show how much I care about such details.

My point is; Just how little water need one use, to avoid the spew? And, is there a point in there somewhere, where we'd start effecting the chemical reaction which leads us to the desired, final result?

There are 40 pints or 23 litres of beer. I put down a blackrock cider at the moment and filled it up to the 16 ltr mark. The cider went crazy fermenting for two days as usual but it didnt overflow. After this I filled it all the way to the 23 ltr mark. No spew at all and no cleaning. But does this affect the taste? Is the yeast too concentrated?

[Ditch]

But does this affect the taste? Is the yeast too concentrated?

Exactly the sort of thing I'm thinking of, see? I mean, personally, I'd have no idea. I'm not too into the scientific aspects of all this. I just find what I like and make loads of it. Why try to fix what's not broken?

But, I'm still shy of doing things like adding water to an active brew. I suspect things as simple as (maybe?) chilling the yeast whilst it's working at its optimum temperature. Disturbing what's in suspension / on the bottom. Things like that. Things I probably haven't thought of ~ especially as I don't think too much about it.

But, it's a divergence from the tried and trusted ways of doing these things, isn't it? Me? I leave such experimentation to those better versed in the possible outcomes.

I just let her blow. Then clean up and drink my beer

[potatoes]

I just let her blow. Then clean up and drink my beer

True, Enough said!