A water question from a first time brewer

[BoozeMuse]

Hi everyone,

I've finally got all of the kit together and am planning to fire up my first brew ( milestones lions pride) at the weekend.

I was wondering about the water for the FV and would it really be so bad if I filled up with water straight from the tap? I could always get some value mineral water from the supermarket if the chlorine in the tap water would really destroy my first attempt.

Thanks in advance
Greg

[Garth]

if you think your water might be high in chlorine/chloramine then go ahead and use the supermarket stuff. Or you could just go ahead and use the water as it is and see first time. Adding half a Campden tablet to 25 litres of water neutralises the chlorine almost straightaway, so you could do that if you're worried.

Usually in the winter the water board seem to put less in anyway. Turn your tap on in the kitchen sink full belt then off, then have a sniff, you can sometimes tell if there's loads of chlorine by the swimming baths smell you get.

[Ditch]

I just bung half a crushed C Tab in as I fill my five gallon Jerry Can with tap water. Then I sling that 'treated' water into the mix. Takes any 'educated guess work' out of the programme.

This has been the way since I first Home Brewed. I'm sure tap waters have changed over the years. But a good old half a crushed C Tab has stood the test of time

[BoozeMuse]

Thanks guys, I think i'll just use the water straight from the tap this time and hope for the best as it never smells of chlorine and i always drink tap water even though I live in Middlesbrough I'll get hold of some Campden tablets for my next brew just incase though.

The temperature of the tap water at this time of year is making me worry about getting the FV to the right temperature for pitching. Am I right in thinking I should fill the FV to about 3 litres from the top then add more boiled water to get the temperature up?

Cheers
Greg

[phillipjohnson]

My first kit has just gone into secondary fermentation... also Lions Pride and I used tapwater. Seems to have gone through primary fermentation ok... OG was 1040 and FG was 1012 (instructions stated target of 1009 so that seems pretty close).

Im in Washington UK so its probably similar to the tap water you get in middlesborough.

I haven't tasted it yet though... waiting until the end of secondary fermentation this Sunday before moving it somewhere cooler to mature and I will sneak a sip at that point. I don't think I will try a full pint until after a week or two of maturation.

[Ditch]

The temperature of the tap water at this time of year is making me worry about getting the FV to the right temperature for pitching.

Greg; If the water's so cold that it bothers ye, that makes me wonder what ye going to do about sustaining the optimum temperature for fermentation, once ye've pitched.

Leading off of that, as it were; I use fish tank heaters in my FV's. Thus I dump one in. Turn it on. Then pitch. I don't check the temperature of my wort before pitching because I know it's just cold water. Doesn't hurt the yeast though. Then, as the heater warms the wort to 22 degrees, the yeast gets happy and away we go.

Too hot a water will knacker ye yeast. Too cold and it might just not get off or work too well. But that's my question; How are ye going to keep things constant?

[Garth]

The temperature of the tap water at this time of year is making me worry about getting the FV to the right temperature for pitching. Am I right in thinking I should fill the FV to about 3 litres from the top then add more boiled water to get the temperature up?

You want to be pouring both your tins of gooey malt extract into your sanitised fv while the full kettle of water is boiling. Once you have poured as much that will come out of the tins, pour the kettle water into the tins and leave them to dissolve the rest of the extract. After 5 mins give them both a stir with a big spoon and wearing oven gloves or using a towel, pour the tins into your fv. I always found I needed another kettleful of hot water in the fv then topped up with cold would get to around 20-25C. This is the best temperature to pitch your yeast, and it will give it the quickest chance to start working.

I have to admit the water today is very cold. I'm just along the road from you in Durham. I've just done a brew and if I hadn't been paying attention to the chiller it would have easily chilled the wort down to 5C. When I was really looking for 20-25C for pitching.

[BoozeMuse]

Ditch - I have a Brew Belt (I know some of you dont rate them, but i'm going to give it a go) to go on the FV and it'll be sat next to the boiler in the garage, so it should be a near constant temperature.

I'll just have the kettle on the boil to get it as close to the 22C mark as i can, seems this is just the perils of using tap water in the winter.