Boil or Filter

[UsernameTaken]

I currently pre boil all my water before brewing for reasons I don't fully understand, I was just told it was a good idea.

But I do believe it's to get rid of some chemicals added up stream like chlorine and Chloramine and any other nasties that may be lurking?

So if I were to hook up a charcoal filter to my brewhouse sink would I no longer need to pre boil?

Cheers,
UNT

 

[MHB]

The other reason to pre-boil brewing is to reduce temporary hardness (Calcium and Magnesium Carbonate). Filtering wont do this but not knowing your water I have no idea if it is either necessary or desirable. Manticle wrote quite a lot about Melbourne water when he was living there - might be worth a read.

Mark

 

[UsernameTaken]

My water has;

pH 7.3 to 8.4
Chloramine 0.1 to 0.2 mg/L
Chlorine 2.6 to 3.5 mg/L

UNT

 

[UsernameTaken]

I also add a tea spoon of gypsum as advised by a more experienced brewer than me!

UNT

 

[Bribie G]

Assuming you are on the regular Melbourne supply you are onto a winner there. I believe that Melbourne water is the softest in Australian capital cities so boiling shouldn't affect the mineral content if at all.
Carbon filtering should do the trick.

How new is your domestic hot water system? Until I got onto tank water, I used HWS water for all my regular brews with the occasional brew done on a Reverse Osmosis device.
It got rid of the chlorine problems.

First, maybe try a couple of batches on HWS water and see how you go. RO water is another more expensive solution but with Melbourne water your initial cartridges should last for ever.

ed: the guy (now retired) who regularly took out lagers and pilsners at the Nationals used carbon filtered water off the Brisbane SEQ network, that's just about drinkable but that's the best you can say about it. Compared to Sydney (Warragamba Dam) or Melbourne water.

 

[manticle]

As Bribie said, Melbourne municipal won't need minerals dropped out through boiling. Boiling is an effective way to remove chlorine but less efficient at reducing chloramine. It does reduce it but it takes longer.

Charcoal filtering is a good method for this purpose. In my experience, even heating melbourne tap water to strike temp is enough to remove chlorine but if you have chloramine (none in the supply when I lived there), the filter will be worthwhile.

As Mark alluded to, I did write an article on water which was Melbourne centric (initially for a BJCP study group I helped organise) so I'll see if I can hunt it up.

It does need in text referencing (I got part way then got distracted) and there is further info about calcium levels in lagers you'll find on the Brun water knowledge page that isn't in mine so I should look at updating one of these days. Should give you some understanding though. Also keep in mind the pH diagram formatting does not work on my android device, so other phones may show it askew. Works on my PC when viewing. I need to get in and add some more visual aids too.

 

[manticle]

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/46120-ahb-articles-water-chemistry/?p=950414

Try this.

 

[UsernameTaken]

Cheers manticle

Thats a lot of info!

UNT