San Francisco Tap Water (Chloramine)

[bundy81881]

Hi everyone, it’s been a while but I’m back in the homebrewing game.

I was wondering, does anyone know much about San Francisco tap water and the chloramine?

Some people say it’s fine and when you boil it with organic materials (like the wort), the chloramine neutralizes. Some say that you can’t get rid of it at all and any chances of brewing are futile.

I’d like to use the tap water if possible but don’t want to ruin my yeast culture.

I have heard of different ways to get rid of it like boiling, putting in cucumber in the water, or just ignoring it and beer can turn out fine.

Any ideas would be great!

Ryan

[robotninja]

I cant say for sure if they do use chloramine or not but everyone on here swears by campden to remove chloramine for brewing.

[itspossible]

All of the prior sounds like hooey boss.
There are only a few sure fire ways to remove chloramine.(That I know of)
#1 Use .25 tablet of campden crushed to every 5 gallons of water this instantly breaks the bond of chloramine and reduces the chlorine right now today!(Campden if unaware is tableted potassium metabisulfite which is perfectly harmless at these doses as it is also instantly reduced during the chlorine removal.) So to be clear 1 tablet will treat 20 gallons. These tabs are used to sterilize must when making mead, wine etc… their like $2 for 100 which will last you forever.
#2 Use an ACTIVATED charcoal filter to break the bond and then also filter out the chlorine.
#3 Use reverse osmosis or distilling which is absolutely unnecessary unless your water needs major adjustment for all grain brewing. Then were talking a whole new ballgame altogether as you would then use the distilled along with salts or blend with the prior as is tap etc… It gets deep. So that’s all I will say on this for now.

Bottom line: CAMPDEN is where its at!

[jeff4amnesty]

My LHBS sells powdered potassium metabisulfite and I add a 1/4 teaspoon to five gallons tapwater to dechlorinate. I would imagine that you could get periodic analyses of San Francisco’s tapwater from the city water bureau website and then figure out if you need to adjust it for brewing purposes.

[bundy81881]

Great, I looked into campden and it looks great.

Now if I make a big batch, how does it work? Can I put the powder in lukewarm water? Or should it be warm/boiling? And what to do after that?

Since I need to use 5-6 gallons, could I just put the powder in a big jug and let it sit? Or does it need to be a pot so it can evaporate?

If anyone could give me a dumbed-down step by step procedure, or direct me to a link that has it, it would be greatly appreciated!

[shadetree]

[quote=“BUNDY81881”]If anyone could give me a dumbed-down step by step procedure, or direct me to a link that has it, it would be greatly appreciated![/quote]Carbon filter your tap water to remove chlorine and put it into a kettle. Crush one campden tablet, or use the powder, or add the tablet to the water whole and wait a minute, then crush with a spoon when it’s soft - stir to dissolve, done. You can do this five minutes before you start brewing in cold or warm water, the reaction is immediate. About as simple and easy as it gets.

[kgeis]

I’m across the bridge from you.

Removing chloramine from my brewing water with Campden tablets got rid of a flaw in my beer that had been there since I started brewing. A year ago, it was the last obvious flaw in my beer; that is, my beer can have more things good about it, but it no longer has any bad things about it.

I chop a tablet into quarters and then use the knife to shave one quarter onto the top of the water. It works fine with lukewarm water. I’m almost certain that the products of the reaction are not volatile, so you could keep the lid on.

[tom_sawyer]

A little info on chloramines, and as it happens it is discussing San Fran’s switch to chloramines.

http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/chloramine.html

And of course wiki has some decent info on removal including a mention of brewers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine