I have had a whole house carbon block filter that I have used for doing
extract brews ever since I started brewing. I am on chlorinated city water.
I have always soaked the element in star san and then sanitized the housing ect. and
assembled it and run tap water run through it a while to rinse it. The water always tastes OK
and seems chlorine free and makes good extract beer. I have always wondered,
though if others did this or what their methods were. Any thoughts?
wait, why are you sanitizing the filter if it is for pre-boil water? Am I missing something in the way you worded this?
No it is for the cold water waiting in the fermenter that never gets boiled.
if it were not for that I wouldn’t worry about it. What do you think?
Thanks
[quote=“1tun”]No it is for the cold water waiting in the fermenter that never gets boiled.
if it were not for that I wouldn’t worry about it. What do you think?
Thanks[/quote]
I think most brewers don’t use water that has never been boiled, but I could be wrong. On the few partial boil extract batches I made, I boiled the top-off water separately and cooled it ahead of time.
[quote=“Slothrob”][quote=“1tun”]No it is for the cold water waiting in the fermenter that never gets boiled.
if it were not for that I wouldn’t worry about it. What do you think?
Thanks[/quote]
I think most brewers don’t use water that has never been boiled, but I could be wrong. On the few partial boil extract batches I made, I boiled the top-off water separately and cooled it ahead of time.[/quote]
I’ve made about 6 extract kits and never boiled any of the top-off water. Never had any issues.
Mattnaik,
OK. Did you top off with tap water?
Did you remove the chlorine?
I thought of boiling the water ahead and
cooling it but it seems like a lot of trouble.
I guess my question is: how can I run the
top off water through a carbon block filter
and not risk contamination. My method of
a quick soak of the element in star san and
a quick rinse after assembly seems to work
but I just wondered what others were doing.
[quote=“1tun”]Mattnaik,
OK. Did you top off with tap water?
Did you remove the chlorine?
I thought of boiling the water ahead and
cooling it but it seems like a lot of trouble.
I guess my question is: how can I run the
top off water through a carbon block filter
and not risk contamination. My method of
a quick soak of the element in star san and
a quick rinse after assembly seems to work
but I just wondered what others were doing.[/quote]
Straight from the tap to the carboy. No treatment at all but my water doesn’t not have a chlorine taste or smell. You can remove chlorine by putting 1/4 of a campden tablet mixed into your water.
[quote=“mattnaik”]
but I just wondered what others were doing.[/quote]
Straight from the tap to the carboy. No treatment at all but my water doesn’t not have a chlorine taste or smell. You can remove chlorine by putting 1/4 of a campden tablet mixed into your water.[/quote]
+1.
You are inoculating with billions of yeast cells, so it should be difficult for anything that may be living in that top-up water not to get crowded out. I would recommend treating it with Campden though (1/2 tab per FIVE gallons), as its real cheap insurance against band-aid beer. Carbon filters will remove chlorine, but not chloramine, the latter of which is added regularly to muni water systems as its more stable than chlorine. Campden will precipitate both of them out.
How long do the campden tabs take to work?
My understanding is they are instant. Once they dissolve, the chemical reaction takes place and chlorine is released.
I’ve topped with distilled bottled water and tap water; call it a young pallet, but I can’t taste the difference. You could check out Palmer’s “how to brew” online; lots of info on water.
