Frasermitch said:
Do you always treat your water?
Pretty much . . . Except when I forget
Although now that I prepare all the ingredients the night before brewing, it's much harder to forget . . . Until I see those little wraps of silver foil on the side of the mash tun and brew kettle
I use a water filter to remove chlorine/chloramine so don't need the campden tablet treatment, but I do treat my water to adjust the alkalinity, raise the calcium levels and get the balance of sulphate to chloride ions appropriate. There is little point trying to match a regional water profile as brewers rarely use the water directly 'as is'. As for the 'ideal mineral profile' for beers styles, as advocated by Murphys/brupaks, that is even less 'correct' as it is a 'one size fits all' approach, and peoples tastes and sensory perceptions vary.
Of course all water treatment, apart from the campden tablet, is only applicable to all grain brewing, for kits and extract brewing the only thing 'required' is to eliminate chlorine.
Frasermitch said:
Also is it safe to treat water then use it in a brew say an hour later without it messing up the yeast?
Yeah, no problem, as I said the campden tablet works pretty much instantly to disperse the chlorine, and once it's done that it's ready to use
THE_Liam said:
I dissolved half a tab in 23 litres, 30 minutes before using it to brew and it seems to be fermenting just fine :thumb:
It will do, remember that 1 campden tablet in 1Gallon is used by winemakers as an antifermentative. Using half that dose, as suggested by PD, is going to cause issues for the yeast . . . if you have to apportion a chemical in very low doses it is often easier to make up a solution and then to use that to dose at more appropriate rates. . . In All Grain and Extract brewing an excess of sulphite is not necessarily a problem (some authorities claim it is) as sulphite acts as an antioxidant in the mash and boil.
