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Water Question


JonG1

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Hi guys, am going to be doing some more brews soon (just the kit can basic stuff) and was wondering about water. I'm definitely going to use filtered water as rockhampton water is not that great. I don't have a tap inline filter but one of those 3.5 litre filter water jugs.

 

What I planned on doing to minimize chance of infection before the yeast can get a hold of things is to fill the fermenter up with filtered water from this jug FIRST (refilling it as I go), then add the mix of the can and fermentables and hot water in afterwards, which I would have mixed seperatley. And then add the yeast obviously. Do you think this backwards way of doing it would work ok? My only worry is the time it will take to fill up the fermenter with filtered water.

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That could work, though you may want to put your fermentables in a different vessel to dissolve them prior to adding.

 

An easier way - one that I used when I had the patience to use filtered water (Sydney water is drinkable, just not tasty); is to put my filtered water into a 20 litre food grade bucket, and pour from there into the FV when ready.

 

As with everything else, make sure to rinse and sterilize before use.

So, in a nutshell your process would be:

filter about 18 litres of water and pour into 20 litre food grade bucket. (If you fill to the brim you'll spill it and risk injuring yourself from lifting a heavy bucket)

warm up your brew can.

 

Place your brewing sugar in the FV, add 2 litres boiling water and mix until dissolved.

Then add brew can contents.

 

filter some more water then add this along with the 18 litres and however much water you need, usually filling up to 23 litres.

take OG sample then add yeast and Bob's your uncle.

 

Filtered water is a good option if your local water is not so palatable, but you need to find the best way to store it prior to adding it to your FV.

 

Running back and forth from your FV to the tap to the filter jug is not fun and not a good long term option I tried, it was not good!

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Heh thanks Beeblebrox yeah its not going to be ideal but I definitely notice the difference with the water/beer quality. Thanks for those ideas, I am looking at using a different vessel as you said for the fermentables like a big cooking pot or something. I like the idea of adding the last few litres of cold water after its all mixed in. Didn't think of that, that might help aerate the wort or whatever. Thanks again, will try this out in a couple of days.

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... put my filtered water into a 20 litre food grade bucket' date=' and pour from there into the FV when ready.[/quote']

The added benefit here is that if you pour into your FV from a fair height, you'll introduce aeration into the wort (which is desirable, to give the yeast a fighting chance of building up numbers).

 

As has been said before, this is about the ONLY time you want to aerate the wort.

 

What I do for nice and simple K & K's (kit & kilo), and we're on rainwater here, is top up the FV with ambient water, but squirting it in with a hose nozzle. It fluffs and foams the wort up, but sure introduces air into the wort. Just leave a couple of litres free to add chilled water or ice to get the temperature where you want it before pitching the yeast.

 

I used to work in Rocky for a time, and the water wasn't real flash to drink then. I gather it's still about the same.[pinched]

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Ah yep thanks Roger yeah its not the best, in fact I think it has gotten worse. I didn't notice it was bad until I got used to drinking filtered water then I could really taste the difference. It sure does make homebrew taste better with filtered water anyway.

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