Beaumont's water

[njschmidt]

Hi all,

I picked up on some discussion during the meeting regarding different cities' water supplies, and I was hoping to get some more thoughts on the subject. I did some research, and found an analysis by the Beaumont utility company (found at www.cityofbeaumont.com/PDF/TX_beaumont_webready_10.pdf on pages 5-6, and attached as a .pdf to this post).

To summarize briefly, chlorine was found at 2.31 ppm, chloramine also listed at 2.31 ppm, iron at 11.5 ppm, sulfate at 20 ppm, total alkalinity as CaCO3 at 117 ppm, and total hardness as CaCO3 at 20.1 ppm.

Everything I found shows traces that are much smaller (or similar to) the water supplies in some of the most famous European brewing cities. I was wondering, then, if it's ok to use plain old tap water for brewing, or if you all filter your water (or maybe even go with bottled)?

-Nick

Attachments:

[justbrewitraybo]

It is ok to use the tap water, but we usually use the filters to remove the chlorine. I have been on well water for the last 20 years and have had success with well water. If you are extract brewing, tap water is great. The chlorine is removed through the boiling process.

[bbushmaster]

yep the boil will remove chlorine my beaumont water supply after bob's water test was fairly neutral so we added acid and water salts I always use salts anyway

[Bob McGill]

I never use chlorinated city water for brewing, and would never use water treated with chloroamines. Both can be removed with a carbon filter. Orange uses only chlorine, which can be removed by pre-boiling the water used. The chlorine in water will react with the malt during mashing, sparging, and boiling, giving off flavors. It will react before the boiling removes it and should be avoided. If I am using city water, I boil it for at least 15 minutes about a week before brew date. The boiling not only removes the chlorine, it converts highly soluble bicarbonates (temporary hardness) to minimal soluable carbonates (permanent hardness). By letting the boiled water settle, you can decant off water with much lower amounts of carbonates. With my water, this settling also removes much of the undesirable iron.

[njschmidt]

Thanks, Bob. I was waiting for your response seeing as how you are the resident chemical engineer . For my first brew day, I ended up carbon-filtering all my water and boiling it prior to use. It was such a PITA, I might just end up using bottled spring water next time. We'll see how this batch turns out first, though .

[Daniel]

Hello,

I just found this board (new to town), I have boiled only 3 batches in Beaumont, always using filtered water from the refrigerator dispenser. I appreciate the analysis this thread provided for me.

I wondered, since I am new to the area, which yeast work the best for fermenting at room temp over the summer. Does everyone have refrigeration? Or are you guys finding good yeasts for high temp fermenting?

Just curious.

Peace-Daniel

[njschmidt]

Apr 21, 2011 15:15:18 GMT -5 @Daniel said:

Hello,

I just found this board (new to town), I have boiled only 3 batches in Beaumont, always using filtered water from the refrigerator dispenser. I appreciate the analysis this thread provided for me.

I wondered, since I am new to the area, which yeast work the best for fermenting at room temp over the summer. Does everyone have refrigeration? Or are you guys finding good yeasts for high temp fermenting?

Just curious.

Peace-Daniel

Welcome to the area! Lately I've been using filtered water, and then boiling it before using it (although I'm not certain this last step is entirely necessary ... I might experiment one day).

Regarding temperatures, I've found that a simple swamp cooler (RubberMaid container with my carboy in it, filled with 6 inches of water, a t-shirt over the carboy to act as a wick, and a box fan aimed at it) can keep my fermentor around 64*F when ambient room temperature is 72*F. I figure I'll be able to brew just about any ale with this easy setup, but would need some type of refrigeration to ferment lagers.