Chlorine/chlorophenols question in brew

[AussieLondon84]

I made the ginger beer (started fermenting yesterday) using blended ginger and spices and chilli etc with inverted sugar with lemon juice.
However, when I topped up the fermentation tank with water I used tap water from the cold tap (I live in London, England) and I didn't think twice about it until I realised that it is likely chlorinated heavily as I live in London.

Now I read about how this means the yeast can make chlorophenols (and apparently also Chloroform!)

Considering this is a heavily spiced ginger beer and thus may hide the chlorophenols etc, then basically is there any danger to drinking it, or is it just a smell/taste thing that people are afraid of chlorine/chlorophenols for?

I am mainly concerned with if these bi-products of chlorine being present in brewing water pose a health hazard or not.

 

[Fil]

Tbh i cant say about the brew on the go but i wouldnt worry about it, in future you can simply treat your water with the addition of a campden tablet, 1 tab is sufficient to treat upto 50l, and while the chemical reaction is almost instantaneous as i understand it you will need to stir well to distribute the active ingredients..

 

[AussieLondon84]

Tbh i cant say about the brew on the go but i wouldnt worry about it, in future you can simply treat your water with the addition of a campden tablet, 1 tab is sufficient to treat upto 50l, and while the chemical reaction is almost instantaneous as i understand it you will need to stir well to distribute the active ingredients..

Cheers for the suggestion, I was looking into those tablets, but then stumbled on someone saying I can just leave cold tap water (drawn from the cold tap in the kitchen) to be left with the lid off in a sterile container (with not anything at all added other than the tap water) to let the chlorine evaporate naturally.

I am just thinking logically here, that if the levels are so low in tap water of chlorine, then can it really be that much of a harm when making something such as a ginger beer?
I can understand if you make a wheat beer, to be honest, back in the days when I brewed in Australia the brews I noticed more that were funky tasting (not in a good way) were wheat beers or light style beers etc... I think wheat beer may be more susceptible to the drinker noticing even the smallest off flavours.

 

[brumbrew]

I live in Birmingham and have never treated my water. I've never been to concerned about water chemistry even though I got a report for severn Trent detailing water chemistry. Will have to dig it out. I've always been under the impression my water is taken from Brecon beacons in Wales somewhere and is of a decent quality. Despite the chloro, floro content. It's in the parts per million and when brewing 15-23 litre BIAB I don't think the levels would cause much trouble.

 

[MyQul]

I also live in London and now treat my water with campden tabs ( I used to use a brita filter). But sometimes I forget to add it. I've never had a problem with medicinal off flavours from Chloropenols

 

[AussieLondon84]

I live in Birmingham and have never treated my water. I've never been to concerned about water chemistry even though I got a report for severn Trent detailing water chemistry. Will have to dig it out. I've always been under the impression my water is taken from Brecon beacons in Wales somewhere and is of a decent quality. Despite the chloro, floro content. It's in the parts per million and when brewing 15-23 litre BIAB I don't think the levels would cause much trouble.

Birmingham possibly has cleaner water maybe? It is a smallish city and thus would not have heavily chlorinated water like a large city.
From what I have been reading, Scotland and Tasmania (Australia) have amazing water there since they are not so large and the water is naturally soft.
London is a nice city, but the water quality here leaves a lot to be desired (as well as rent prices, haha)

I also live in London and now treat my water with campden tabs ( I used to use a brita filter). But sometimes I forget to add it. I've never had a problem with medicinal off flavours from Chloropenols

That's good to hear you never had issues.
I was reading more and it can vary when the chlorination is highest, but it seems to be the larger city you live in the more likely it is chlorinated and such.
I am not sure about these campden tabs, don't they stop fermentation happening properly?
I bought some 17p ASDA smartprice bottles of water to test this out for my next brew anyway as they are dechlorinated (tesco have them the same price also).

Water quality is major when you read into brewing more, but I guess the main things is chlorine or chloramine (not sure if the latter is used in the UK, but it is in the USA) and the latter is also harder to remove from the water.