I got lazy, cheap, or possibly both in my last brew and used tap water for the brewing liquor. Our tap water tastes strongly of chlorine which is why we have a '3rd tap' that runs through an undersink filter. That water tastes neutral, which is what I used in the brew.
The result is a strongly phenolic undrinkable brew. Strong antiseptic/disinfectant/astringent taste with a slight burning aftertaste. Nasty stuff and it's actually got worse over the course of a few weeks. It's going to have to be chucked and a lesson is learned the hard way.
I stirred in a crushed half campden tablet into the cold water before heating for the mash but it obviously wasn't enough, I didn't stir enough, or it didn't dissolve in the cold water. Or maybe it was the litre of untreated water I added post-boil to bring down the OG. Or maybe it was insufficient rinsing after cleaning with VWP (unlikely - I do rinse a lot). Come to think of it, I do vaguely remember a tell-tale faint blue-green tint to the water in the heater and that's a sign of the presence of chlorine.
Anyway, changes to be made before the next brew:
Damn you Anglian Water!
The result is a strongly phenolic undrinkable brew. Strong antiseptic/disinfectant/astringent taste with a slight burning aftertaste. Nasty stuff and it's actually got worse over the course of a few weeks. It's going to have to be chucked and a lesson is learned the hard way.
I stirred in a crushed half campden tablet into the cold water before heating for the mash but it obviously wasn't enough, I didn't stir enough, or it didn't dissolve in the cold water. Or maybe it was the litre of untreated water I added post-boil to bring down the OG. Or maybe it was insufficient rinsing after cleaning with VWP (unlikely - I do rinse a lot). Come to think of it, I do vaguely remember a tell-tale faint blue-green tint to the water in the heater and that's a sign of the presence of chlorine.
Anyway, changes to be made before the next brew:
- Eden Falls or other bottled water for ALL brewing water in future.
- Replace 5 year old plastic FV with a new one. I don't think infection was the cause but this needs doing anyway.
- New siphon tube. I avoid taps on the FV because they can be a source of infection and are difficulty to clean.
- Out with VWP and in with PBW.
- And the expensive one - a calibrated digital thermometer & stainless probe from RS. All this talk of mashing with 1 degree tolerance is fantasy unless you have a calibrated thermometer/probe pair. I don't think temperature was the issue but as an engineer it irks me to trust an uncalibrated instrument.
Damn you Anglian Water!
