Water - Is It Ok To Use Hot Water Tap?

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i installed new pipes from the HWS when we got it as it used to be in the roof - now outside so thats fine but the pipes to the house will be old, be it hot or cold.

If i get the natural gas hooked up i guess i wont worry as much as heat is cheaper. I guess i am just a tight arse on time and heating (lpg/elec) cost - aint we all hehe

:p
 
My Missus has one of those italian ceramic water filters that sit on the kitchen bench, they hold about 10L or so. She fills it from the cold water tap in the kitchen, it runs though a ceramic candle with an activated carbon core. Every 4 months or so it slows down to a trickle an the candle is coated in a rusty looking powder. Having said that, I don' tthink it would be any worse for you than the flouride an chlorine that the govenment puts in the water in the name of health.

cheers

Browndog
 
How do you fill your brewery? i tend to brew 50Lt or 100Lt and apart from the hose (which i run for a while to clean it out) i could only bucket the water - which takes ages:(

i cant detect any effect from the hose but if there is a better way i would like to know so i can change my setup and use a new method before i move the brew stand

cheers

edit: also the hose i use is about 5m long just to get from the tap to the brewery

With the food grade hose synthetase mentioned ... never gets used for anything but brewing water, is stored indoors between use and goes through a dedicated carbon filter on the way to the HLT (most of the time) -- do a search on the term Garden Hose... On this and other forums, I can remember more than enough "whats this weird taste in my beer?" threads that were backtracked to a garden hose so that I would bucket all 40L of water before I used a garden hose.

But.. if the water coming out the business end tastes taint free... then you're obviously good to go and a different hose is an optional upgrade for the future.
 
My Missus has one of those italian ceramic water filters that sit on the kitchen bench, they hold about 10L or so. She fills it from the cold water tap in the kitchen, it runs though a ceramic candle with an activated carbon core. Every 4 months or so it slows down to a trickle an the candle is coated in a rusty looking powder. Having said that, I don' tthink it would be any worse for you than the flouride an chlorine that the govenment puts in the water in the name of health.

cheers

Browndog

You should see the crap in the bottom of mains water PVC pipes. :icon_vomit:
 
With the food grade hose synthetase mentioned ... never gets used for anything but brewing water, is stored indoors between use and goes through a dedicated carbon filter on the way to the HLT (most of the time)

Hey Thirsty.

I bought a carbon filter and 10" housing a few years back to use for filtering my brewing water and never hooked it up. I found it the other day.... still in its plastic wrapper.

Im not certain about what to do with it between brews........ i think you air dry them and run a bit through next time you use them before puting the water in the HLY dont you?

cheers
 
Im not certain about what to do with it between brews........ i think you air dry them and run a bit through next time you use them before puting the water in the HLY dont you?

Someone here once wrote that they stick it in a plastic bag and into the freezer. I am as yet undecided about whether to use a filter or not to filter the crap that comes off my roof, collection tank, black poly pipe, storage tank, etc, but I used to air dry the thing and store it like any other filter.

Regarding drinking water quality (caravan) hose, I think if you pass hot water through it, you will taste some of the plasticisers. I haven't had mine long enough to be entirely sure about it, but I've tasted some quite plasticky (hot) water out of it. Cold is absolutely fine though and I got to pay a heap more for it than normal garden hose.
 
I recently hooked up a water filter for brewing. Instructions were to unwrap, then run some water thru it first to rinse it then use as normal. When rinsing blackish water came out for about 39sec. I assume it's a coating on the filter. All good since then. Oh and I use silicone hose with brass tap fittings ti transfer the water into the filter and from the filter to the hlt.

Edit: re OP
ur better off getting a wall urn for what ur planning. Cheaper than a hot water service. If u do go a hot water service use a newer model. If ur really worried ask a plumber/gas fitter.
 
Well, I have used hot water directly from my tap for my last 300 GALLONS of beer and I think it is perfectly safe and wonderful!

55 from the tap into the HLT, heat for 20 mins up to 80 ( a little less now that it's summer) and run it into the MLT. Adjust a few degess plus or minus and you are done! Then just fill up the HLT with more hot water, and heat it for Sparging.

Can someone set up a poll on using your hot water service for brewing please? Things like, for: Mash water only, sparge water only, both, never, sometimes, etc. Thanks someone! I dunnos hows to do it.
Personally I have only ever used my filtered cold water as I thought the HWS was no go for brewing. May have been an old wives tale, but I'd be interested to know how many do use their HWS for brewing water
 
You should see the crap in the bottom of mains water PVC pipes. :icon_vomit:

I do quite regularly. The only negative comment I could make is that the smell of cholrine is sometimes a bit too strong. If the street has services drawing water or it feeds another area the pipe should be fine - particularly if the main is PVC (this is an age based statement, not one based on the properties of the material itself).

Now the ends of mains that see little to no use - those you don't want to know about.
 
Being unable to filter hot tapwater prior to brewing is the main reason why i dont use it, i can definetly taste the difference between our unfiltered/filtered tapwater.Our Unfiltered tastes like shit.Install a filter at ya kitchen sink if you can,its the one brewing related thing my missus actually approved of...i just fill 20l willow jerry cans prior to brewing and lug them to the brewery!
 
What your local water authority would prefer you did not know (cause its yucky) and your water filter company certainly does not want you to know is that the big big mains pipes (as opposed to what feeds your house, so the big pipes that feed the backwards tributaries) are actually, something on the line of sphagnum bogs but different, they are chockers with slime and assorted organics, is this slime going to make you sick or screw your beer up, most likely not, is it going to filter your water..well make your own call.
Your HWS is not going to impact on your water or beer quality, if its old enough to do so its most likely blown up by now , a sort of sacrificial HWS one might say.

K
 

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