New Water or Not?

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Hi

I met an interesting fellow all grain brewer today who said

It's important to let your water stand for a few days after drawing it from the tap before using it to brew

Is this correct and why?

 

[VW911]

Don't really need that long - 24 hours is enough to allow the chlorine added by the water companies to dissipate...

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Don't really need that long - 24 hours is enough to allow the chlorine added by the water companies to dissipate...

Thanks - never knew that

 

[Drunkula]

Just shove a quarter of a campden tablet in it - 30 seconds later you're good to go, and it works on chloramine, too, which doesn't evaporate.

 

[Clint]

Yup...I smash a Camden up on brew day and thrash it round the brew kettle..

 

[Gerryjo]

I've only tried the Campden tablet once and notice a noticeable twang on that particular brew so never tried again.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Could it not be to let calcium carbinate fall out of suspension? I boil my water the night before and let it sit, but no idea if the happens without boiling first.

 

[HoppingMad]

I used to draw the water the night before to allow the chlorine to dissipate. Then, when I moved to extract and had to boil water, I figured that would remove the chlorine etc. so I stopped bothering to do that.

I played around with bottled water on a few brews but didn't notice any difference in the quality of the beer, so knocked that on the head too.

Now I have the GF and boiler, I plan to fill both the day before which solves the Chlorine issue. Chloramine doesn't seem to be listed on water quality statements, so is it a default in all tap water, or is it a "possible"?

 

[CD]

Aren't I lucky, I draw water strait from a well which collects it from an aquifer 12ft underground. Distance from well to brewing copper about 20ft!

 

[MZonard]

Our water is from the village pump but it is exceptionally hard with 330ppm CaCO3. No chlorine but we treat with over 1ml/litre of AMS. I dream about living in a soft water area.

 

[MmmBeer]

I have never left water to rest before brewing. I started using campden tablets a couple of years ago and a few brews afterwards, I started noticing a twang, just like Gerrjo. After several compromised brews, I realised that it only needed 1/4 tablet in each of mash and sparge water, rather than the half a tablet I had been adding to each. Since then I stopped using it altogher and haven't had a bad brew since. Maybe my water is just naturally low in chlorine & chloramines.

 

[strange-steve]

It's important to let your water stand for a few days after drawing it from the tap before using it to brew

Is this correct and why?

No it's not correct. I mean you could do that as a way of removing chlorine, but as others have mentioned there are much quicker and effective methods.

I've only tried the Campden tablet once and notice a noticeable twang on that particular brew so never tried again.

If you dose at the proper rate (about half a tablet per 35L of water) then I seriously doubt the twang is from the Campden tablet.

Could it not be to let calcium carbinate fall out of suspension? I boil my water the night before and let it sit, but no idea if the happens without boiling first.

I wouldn't think so, you need to boil it first to drive off CO2 and then syphon off the top of the settled calcium carbonate otherwise it will dissolve back into solution.

 

[Gerryjo]

If you dose at the proper rate (about half a tablet per 35L of water) then I seriously doubt the twang is from the Campden tablet.

Actually used a full tablet in 28l but have no need too TBH.