Brew UK Forum | General Brewing Discussions
Water treatments and Sterlising
Hi All,
Obviously I'm very new to all this as I have completed one extract brew and have the second conditioning at the moment and reading through the forums I'm a little confused and overwhelmed by all the water treatments and sterilisation processes going on. For my first two brews I have just been using lincolnshire tap water that I have boiled hard for a couple of minutes and have sterlised all my equipment using milton.
Reading through the forum I see lots of talk of camden tablets for removing chlorine, other stuff to alter water hardness and all sorts of sterilising powders so am I doing something wrong? Both of my brews have tasted wonderful (well the second one seems good at the mo but it's still conditioning) although the starting gravity has been low for both of them, but has this been beginners luck or does it just depend on the local water? What particularly makes me wonder is that the instructions always say to use bottled water.
Hope you can shed some light on this murky but incredibly entertaining world!
Drinking: Nothing
Planning: Way To Amarillo
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
If it tastes good and you're happy with it then why do anything more. Water treatment a huge and complicated subject thats for sure.
The minimum you could do is add a Campden tablet to remove the chlorine. Some people boil their water for half an hour, when cool rack it off the chalky residue before adding the Campden.
I run my water through a Water Gem filter then use the Wheeler method...
"Bring 25 litres of water to the boil, at the start of the boil add 12g of Gypsum, 3g of table salt, boil vigorously for half an hour. When the chalky stuff has settled out, rack and add 2g of Epsom Salts and a crushed Campden tablet."
Then of course there is the full blown water analysis and treatment, which to be honest I haven't looked into much but I'm sure someone will be along shortly who knows more about it than me.
Fermenting: Summer pale ale
Maturing/Conditioning: Marynka pseudo-lager
Drinking: Wheat beer, ESB, Vienna lager & shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Thanks Hamish,
I did see a thread where Nath seemed to be getting very obsessed with water hardness
Thanks for the tips, I will certainly try it to see if my uneducated taste buds can tell the difference.
How does removing the chlorine and chalky residue help the beer, is it simply a flavour thing or is there something more to it?
Drinking: Nothing
Planning: Way To Amarillo
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
No Nath is obsessed with Styrian hops!
Chlorine is responsible for a nasty twang in the finished brew. In essence what you are trying to do is neutralise the water to make it suitable for brewing any (or any particular) style of beer. Water with excessive chalk makes crap beer.
Fermenting: Summer pale ale
Maturing/Conditioning: Marynka pseudo-lager
Drinking: Wheat beer, ESB, Vienna lager & shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Thanks Hamish thats brilliant, just what I wanted to know. It seems that this brewing is a very big subject, probably a lifetimes work!! I'll definitely try treating the water next time, can I get Campden tablets on this site or anywhere easy?
Drinking: Nothing
Planning: Way To Amarillo
Posted 1 year ago by Member
id at least add the camden tablet, i had to throw 40 pints of IPA due to the chlorine making it taste like TCP
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Water treatment can become an obsession...... Unfortunately I can't resist. I get the analysis from Wessex water and use graham wheelers calculator. Basically add CRS to correct the carbonate then add gypsum and epsom salts depending on beer style.
Conditioning;
In FV; Wigle Waggle
plannIng; Summer with elderflower
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Aquaid has an depot next door to us at work, anyone used there bottled water?
May save me a lot of hassle and energy!
This part of Hampshire is chalk downland but I have had good results so far.
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