will boiling water to change water chemisty

[Dexter101]

Hi All,

I keep having a reoccuring flavour in all my beers.

Its not unpleasant but want to try and reduce it if possible.

Having looked at all my brews (using various techniques) I can't seem to find a constant other than potentially the water profile.

I live in North Essex so generally hard.

I currently boil all my water in order to remove any potential chlorine. Will this change the water profile making the water report useless?

I will buy some campden tablets so I won't need to always do this but for the time being wasn't sure.

Thanks,

 

[the_quick]

Boiling deferentially removed chlorine and can remove calcium - but I think it might need longer boiling period, like 30 minutes.
Have a look at Beginners guide to water treatment thread - there is more information about water hardness.

 

[terrym]

Does your tap water taste or smell of chlorine something similar? If it does then treating with campden tablets prior to a brew should get rid of both chlorine and chloramine. Boiling alone will not not get rid of chloramine as I understand it.
However if your water tastes and smells OK then chlorine problems are less likely but treating with campden tabs won't do any harm, although if you are only doing kits its probably not necessary, and this applies to any water treatment. (Note you will introduce a small amount of minerals as the campden tabs break down and dissolve).
As far as the boiling impact on your water chemistry is concerned if your water has temporary hardness, Ca(HCO3)2 - calcium bicarbonate, then boiling breaks down the bicarb and precipitates out the calcium as calcium carbonate, so that part of that calcium in solution is lost. However if you have permanent hardness, CaSO4- calcium sulphate, nothing will happen.
Not sure what boiling does to other inorganics, probably nothing.
That aside you haven't said whether you are brewing kits or AG. If its kits then there is a possibility HB twang is responsible fro your recurring flavour. There are numerous threads on that subject on this forum. My personal favourite is cheap or old liquid malt extract. Others have their favourites.

 

[Dexter101]

Boiling deferentially removed chlorine and can remove calcium - but I think it might need longer boiling period, like 30 minutes.
Have a look at Beginners guide to water treatment thread - there is more information about water hardness.

Thanks, I have read through this and it kind of makes sense but with the amount of lime scale we get, it was more out of curiosity as to how much it affects the mineral content.

 

[Horners]

In the water chemistry bit on Brewers Friend I think there is an option you can choose to show water as boiled first and I assume it then adjusts the calcs automatically. Certainly if I boil tge night before it precipitates out shed loads of chalk.

 

[Dexter101]

In the water chemistry bit on Brewers Friend I think there is an option you can choose to show water as boiled first and I assume it then adjusts the calcs automatically. Certainly if I boil tge night before it precipitates out shed loads of chalk.

Thanks dude, thats great to know

 

[strange-steve]

I'm of the opinion that all brewers, including kit brewers, should use Campden tablets (unless you use bottled water). Boiling seems like a waste of time to me when it's so quick and easy to crush half a Campden tablet and stir it into the water.

But to answer the original question, there will be some concentration of minerals depending on the boil-off, but it'd probably be a small increase. As mentioned, boiling the water causes precipitation of calcium carbonate which will reduce hardness and alkalinity, but as far as I know you have to decant the water off the top off the precipitate for this effect otherwise it will dissolve back into the water as CO2 is reabsorbed.

 

[Dexter101]

I'm of the opinion that all brewers, including kit brewers, should use Campden tablets (unless you use bottled water). Boiling seems like a waste of time to me when it's so quick and easy to crush half a Campden tablet and stir it into the water.

But to answer the original question, there will be some concentration of minerals depending on the boil-off, but it'd probably be a small increase. As mentioned, boiling the water causes precipitation of calcium carbonate which will reduce hardness and alkalinity, but as far as I know you have to decant the water off the top off the precipitate for this effect otherwise it will dissolve back into the water as CO2 is reabsorbed.

Thanks Steve, I will definitely move across to using Campden Tablets. At the moment, I boil all my water to fill up the mash tun anyway, takes a bit of time but its quicker than heating it up in a pan.

Would the boil off rate, be the same as the loss of minerals anyway so would balance out?

 

[strange-steve]

Would the boil off rate, be the same as the loss of minerals anyway so would balance out?

No, what happens is that the water evaporates leaving the minerals behind so there's a slight increase in mineral content. Presumably you're only boiling for a few minutes though, so there will be very little boil-off anyway.

 

[johncrobinson]

Hi Dexter,
Any acid in your brew and esp wine musts, WILL react with the precipitated calcium so its NOT "lost" in that regard.

 

[Justin Dean]

I tested alkalinity using alkalinity measuring tablets (count tablets until colour changes) and CRS. My filter tap (Mid Essex, Braintree) measures 220mg/l so to get to 110/L i use .87ml CRS per litre. That is ok for mos beers. Just add Campden tablet too and some brewing salts (others know the calcs better than I do) ad it good to go. Works fine with all my brews

 

[An Ankoù]

Its not unpleasant but want to try and reduce it if possible.

I don't think we're nailing it it here. If it were chlorine or chloramine the resulting beer would be pretty much undrinkable. The alkalinity provided by some Ca(HCO3)2 might cause problems with lighter beers unless you'd compensated for it, but shouldn't be an issue with darker beers. In any case you've boiled it out. I think you need to look beyond the water chemistry. What does it taste like, by the way? Do you use kits, extract, partial, or all grain? Do you use the same yeast with all your beers?