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The King of Spain

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LPG is expensive compared to your off-peak electricity. So today I used hot water from my (mains) boiler as a starting point. I was on gas for less than 90min.

OK, maybe your all do this, but thats my lesson for today.

Cheers
KOS
 
Sounds a good idea KOS

I always was under the misconception it was not safe drinking water from the hotwater tank dont ask me why !!

Pumpy :unsure:
 
Sounds a good idea KOS

I always was under the misconception it was not safe drinking water from the hotwater tank dont ask me why !!

Pumpy :unsure:

Maybe not from a really old water heater but modern models should be health approved. Anyway once you boil the crap out of it I think all the nasties will be sorted!!
 
Hot temperature tolerant creatures love your "heat and store" type hot water services...this is why it has long been recommended to NOT drink the water...

Whether these nasties die when boiled I do not know...
 
I always use hot water from my "hot water system".......as a starting point for my kettle


Dont know about anyone else, but to me it seems logical to fill a kettle with water @60* from my HWS than bring cold tap water to the same temp...


Call me weird...maybe I am

Damn...if only every one (could) set there HWS to strike temp........ :ph34r:

leathalcorps.....I am listening....yes it aint legal...... :excl:
 
Hot temperature tolerant creatures love your "heat and store" type hot water services...this is why it has long been recommended to NOT drink the water...

Whether these nasties die when boiled I do not know...[/quote


Whether these nasties die when boiled I do not know..


Bold statement...
 
yeah suppose the boiling will get rid of the nasties

but what about any lead and heavy metals built up in the hot water tank ,I wont be able to filter the hot water

Or will I :unsure:

Pumpy
 
I thought about doing this a few weeks ago too as i dont have an electric HLT yet.. done it in the last few brews and havent seen any problems
 
After years of a gas heated hlt I switched to a large electric urn and wouldn't look back. The timer turns it on before I get up on brew day and the water is ready for mash in as soon as I am up. I guess you could produce a similar system with gas solenoids etc but I imagine it would be a lot more complicated.
 
I've used hot tap water for all my grain beers. I've just purchased a water filter and will now be using cold filtered tap water. Won't know the improvements until I get a few beers down.
 
I've always used hot water straight from the immersion tank. The time it saves in the morning is invaluable; I just have time to crack the grain & get ready as it hits mash in temp. My understanding is a little copper is good for your brew & since mine is rain water, it needs all the mineral help going :)

Cheers Ross
 
I always use hot water to fill my HLT. Even your cold water spends a lot of time in copper pipes and metal reservoirs so I dont see it being any different. Our HWS is set to about 60C so if any bacteria is in there it wont last a 90 min boil.

The 60C temp cools a bit when I add it to the HLT which makes it the perfect temp for a protein rest addition

Kabooby :)
 
There are no "nasties" growing in your hot water service. But to prevent the tank from corroding they use a sacrificial anode. ie, a big lump of aluminium or magnesium alloy which will oxidise quicker than the copper tank or the heater elements. Traces of this anode end up in your water. Boiling will not drive off these metals, either.

I don't know whether my HWS has one, but because I don't know, I use cold tap water to brew with.
 
must be dangerous stuff if we can immerse ourselves in hot water from a service for at least 10 minutes a day .... i like to rub it all over myself personally ... i love danger ... :eek:
 
I always use hot water from the tap...but then I have a Rinai on-demand LPG system. :)
 
Has any one done a side by side taste test of

ordinary tap water
versus
cooled water from their hot water system

I'm pretty sure that there is a fairly perceptible difference

I'm tempted to use the hot water system but I still have reservations

Hmmmm..........

Cheers
 
must be dangerous stuff if we can immerse ourselves in hot water from a service for at least 10 minutes a day .... i like to rub it all over myself personally ... i love danger ... :eek:

I think a little more metal gets into your system from drinking than wetting yourself with it. It's probably not dangerous... probably, particularly if you have a magnesium one. I think it's mostly the loony fringe saying that aluminium is dangerous in your diet, but there are quite a few hits for "Aluminium poisoning" in google. I choose to minimise my exposure because I don't know for sure.

http://www.chilipepperapp.com/GWH.htm
The sacrificial anode is a metal rod usually magnesium or aluminum which helps prevent corrosion of the metal tank. Electrolysis eats away the metal anode instead of the metal of the tank. Once the anode is gone the tank itself begins to corrode. To prolong the life of the tank, make sure your anode rod is still there, and replace it when needed.

The anode is screwed into the top of the tank and can be replaced. Sometimes the anode is built into a special outlet fitting. Softeners can cause the anode to wear out more quickly.

Bacteria can react with magnesium anodes causing hydrogen sulfide which can cause a rotten egg odor. Switching to an aluminum anode rod can help eliminate the odor problems.
 
I've been using hot water from the system since I began brewing. I really don't see many reasons why you wouldn't... I can be brewing within minutes rather than hours using this set up.

That said, I like to brew early now, so I've started pre-filling my HLT the night before and setting the timer on the heater automatically, so I can mash in wearing pyjamas. My next plan is to hook up the hot water to a PC-controlled solenoid, which will fill the HLT with hot water and cut down on costs again.
 
Taking a more serious tact if your a brewery you have a massive tank with an element in it and keep it heated most of the time, whats the difference from that to a Hot Water Heater??

My MASTER Brewer when working at Bass's Hope and Cannon brewery in Sheffield had a heat tolerant bacteria in their HLT. Took them a while to locate the source, contributed a 'wet dog' aroma to the beer which they could pick up against the other Bass brewery beers. Consumers did not mind either, seeing they made 300HL evey 3 hours but took them ages to get rid of it.

And just as a thought, if metals are very high in your liquor, this will start to wreak havoc on your fermentations (EPM pathway, flocculation and esterfication).
 
Taking a more serious tact if your a brewery you have a massive tank with an element in it and keep it heated most of the time, whats the difference from that to a Hot Water Heater??

A big hunk of magnesium or aluminium that's designed to dissolve!
 
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