Bad water

[mattjazz2000]

My brother in law lives in a different water area to me and his beer always has a really chlorine/chemical sort of taste. Is there anything he can do to combat this or is this just his lot? He's getting very despondant about it and is threatening to jack it all. He's in the Battle area of East Sussex if that helps.
Matt

 

[keith1664]

Does he use campden tablets to remove the chlorine / chloramine from his tap water?

 

[eggman]

If he's using vwp or similar to clean/sanitise it can leave a chemically taste to the brew if it's not rinsed out properly. Does he treat his water with a campden tablet?

 

[mattjazz2000]

No he doesn't do any treating. Do you just put the tablet/solution in while your boiling the water or is it more involved?

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

No he doesn't do any treating. Do you just put the tablet/solution in while your boiling the water or is it more involved?

You should treat any water for brewing with 1/2 a campden tablet per 5 gallon to remove chlorine (about 10 mins)...If not you'll get a TCP taste.

BB

 

[shearclass]

You should treat any water for brewing with 1/2 a campden tablet per 5 gallon to remove chlorine (about 10 mins)...If not you'll get a TCP taste.

not necessarily. I only do kits, but my water is fine, and my brew defo doesn't taste like chemicals.

Perhaps this chap should try it though.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Is you brother brewing from kits or all grain. If he is kit brewing then he can always go down Asda or Tesco and buy their cheapest bottled water. It will only cost about 4 quid for a brew.

 

[snail59]

If he's using vwp or similar to clean/sanitise it can leave a chemically taste to the brew if it's not rinsed out properly. Does he treat his water with a campden tablet?

Does he use campden tablets to remove the chlorine / chloramine from his tap water?

No he doesn't do any treating. Do you just put the tablet/solution in while your boiling the water or is it more involved?

You should treat any water for brewing with 1/2 a campden tablet per 5 gallon to remove chlorine (about 10 mins)...If not you'll get a TCP taste.

BB

Agree. Tap water contains Chlorine it needs to be dealt with. Rinsing out cleaning products from equipment is also vital.

If he is brewing All Grain rather than kits then it could be a whole different matter.

 

[mattjazz2000]

Thanks for all the replies. We both all grain brew, I don't treat my water at all and have no problems but he is in a different water area as I say and his beer has a very strong chlorine tatste.

Will the camden tablet take all of the chlorine tatste away or does he need to do something more.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Thanks for all the replies. We both all grain brew, I don't treat my water at all and have no problems but he is in a different water area as I say and his beer has a very strong chlorine tatste.

Will the camden tablet take all of the chlorine tatste away or does he need to do something more.

He should buy an alkalinity test kit from ebay.

BB

 

[mattjazz2000]

He should buy an alkalinity test kit from ebay.

BB
I've got one I use for my veggie garden, it's the probe kind. I was wondering if that would work.
He's also been in touch with Southern water to try and find out the chemical analysis of the water but thats proving quite difficult.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

The pH tester you use in your garden will not work. It's not the pH of your water you have to test, but the Alkalinity.

You should test this with a Salifert KH/ALK kit.

Then you should adjust the CaCO3 levels in you water to be appropriate for the beer you are brewing.

One other simple option if the water company are not being helpful is to send your water off to be professionally analysed.

These people will tell you the composition of your water, and what additions are needed for the type of brew you are making.

http://www.murphyhomebrew.com/laborator ... od_90.html

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Most people on here buy these. <<CLICKY>>

BB

 

[shocker]

Aaaah , thanks guys ! A carbonate testing kit ....I was struggling to understand why a pH meter (of which I am well supplied) was not appropriate for measuring alkalinity . Which of course it does ,acid and alkaline being the two opposing ends of the scale they measure . But alkalinity as expressed by carbonate levels is different creature entirely !

So , thank you for clearing that up . ONE less thing to vex me in my sea of confusion :thumb:

 

[snail59]

Thanks for all the replies. We both all grain brew, I don't treat my water at all and have no problems but he is in a different water area as I say and his beer has a very strong chlorine tatste.

Will the camden tablet take all of the chlorine tatste away or does he need to do something more.

I may be wrong ( I often am ) but Mashing and/or fermenting at to high a temp can impart a chemicaly tate to the beer (or am I thinking of somthing completely differnt :whistle: ) :hmm:

 

[Vossy1]

Will the camden tablet take all of the chlorine tatste away or does he need to do something more

The camden tablet will neutralise the Chlorine/Chloraminies in the water. If left untreated the Chlorine/C will inhibit yeast growth and further down the line they react with compounds called phenols from the hops to create chlorophenols and you get a TCP/medicinal taste in the beer.
Camden tablets/sodium metabisulphate is so cheap it's not worth taking the risk by not using them.

 

[mattjazz2000]

Thats exactly the taste Vossy1. I will pass all this information on to him or better still get him to sign up and see it fir himself. Again thanks for all the info.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Thats exactly the taste Vossy1. I will pass all this information on to him or better still get him to sign up and see it fir himself. Again thanks for all the info.

I was plagued with the dreaded TCP taste until I stumbled upon this forum..

BB

 

[Vossy1]

I was plagued with the dreaded TCP taste until I stumbled upon this forum

So was I in my early days of brewing, funny isn't it that this simple step is so very often overlooked, and IIRC never mentioned in kit instructions :hmm:
Imagine how many folk it's put of brewing again