For the past 3 years, whenever I have brewed an all grain batch, I have collected water from my basement at a spigot where the water first enters the house from the well (so it wouldn’t get to the water softner). I am now wondering why I don’t use the outdoor spigot. My only concern is the hose the water would travel through and possibly picking up something that could add to off flavors.
Am I being over cautious???
If your hose smells, you don’t want to run brewing water through it.
Potable water hoses for RV’s can be purchased at Home Depot, Lowes, etc…
[quote=“stickboy”]If your hose smells, you don’t want to run brewing water through it.
Potable water hoses for RV’s can be purchased at Home Depot, Lowes, etc…[/quote]
It doesn’t have a smell, just wondering what might crawl in and out of the hose throughout the summer.
Ants, slugs, bees, small rodents. You can flush them out, or plug the hose between uses.
I use the same RV hose to fill my HLT that I water my garden with.
also bear in mind this water is getting mashed, then boiled for 1-1.5 hours. You point me to something that can live through that (including microbes), I shiver.
unscrew hose, problem solved 
Yep. I just fill a few gallon water jugs from my standpipe and keep them on hand while I’m brewing. That way it’s immediately available (and measured) if needed.
Can you run the hose for a few minutes to flush whatever out of it before you use it to brew? That may solve your problem… I use hose water all the time, I just run for a few minutes, taste, smell, and then fill the HLT.
I use a white drinking water(RV) hose. We’ve all drunk out of the hose and no one died from it but the rubber used in garden hoses is not meant for potable water and I’d prefer not to include whatever could leach out of that rubber in my beer. Just my opinion.
I use a regular garden hose all the time… :?
[quote=“beerme11”]Don’t do it!!
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/06/ ... rden-hose/[/quote]Damn, we used to do that when we were kids all the time.
[quote=“Beersk”][quote=“beerme11”]Don’t do it!!
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/06/ ... rden-hose/[/quote]Damn, we used to do that when we were kids all the time.[/quote]
And survived! I bet the USA made ones back in the day were safer than the Chinese junk now.
Back on topic, I also use drinking water safe hoses AKA RV/boat to fill my MT and HLT. I have a carbon filter rigged to it and use it for the supply to the RV also.
[quote=“beerme11”]Don’t do it!!
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/06/ ... rden-hose/[/quote]I’d be more concerned about what’s leeching out of your coffee cup that your Starbucks coffee comes in.
Personally, I used any sort of hose to supply my brewing. But I always flushed the hose completely by letting the hose run for a minute and the flow temperature changed. All kinds of nasty plastic tasting chemicals can dissolve into water over time, but when the contact time is a matter of seconds, then its really unlikely that any significant quantity of contaminants will make it into your mash tun.
