With the long weekend I thought I would try using my city water to brew, I usually use RO and add salts, but our city water is pretty good for brewing except for the chlorine. So how long should I boil the water the day before to rid the water of the chorine?
It’s easier to add a Camden tablet an hour before brewing, I think.
I agree, Campden is safer and easier. There are actually two types of chlorination and boiling will only work on hypochlorite, not chloramine. Campden removes both hypochlorite and chloramine instantly and you only need 1/4 tablet to treat 5 gallons.
Chlorine boil point is 29°F
Maybe a C rest at 30°?
Joke
Obviously, some things ain’t that easy
AJ has an article that shows how long it takes to dechlorinate via boiling: http://hbd.org/ajdelange/Brewing_articles/BT_Chlorine.pdf
I suggest that unless you need to boil the water to reduce alkalinity too, campden tablets are a far better choice. Proper dosing will not appreciably change your water profile or leave sulfites in the water. Another dechlorination option is filtering the water through an activated carbon filter. You must do this at a flow rate of under 1 gpm when using the big 10" undersink filters. You would have to flow far slower if using a smaller filter.
I can’t wait for the Water book to come out - I was not aware that boiling changes alkalinity - is it caused by the water losing minerals to steam? It would seem to concentrate things at first glance…I am considering an RO system for my house, but my well water is so hard that I fear I will be changing filters constantly. I wish that chlorine were my only issue, but out here in the country, you take what you can get.
Boiling reduces alkalinity in water with high temporary hardness by driving off dissolved CO2. Read more about it here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=5792.0
My water board has 3 homebrewers that work there and they tell me by the time the water gets to me, the chlorine in it is pretty much not enough to worry about but suggested I use a campden tablet for the chloramine.
They also said it would be a good idea to let my water sit out over night and much of it will dissipate. I’ve done that for over a year and have no problems related to water. I always use 5.2 stabilizer as well.
It’s good you are careful with the dechlorination. It takes incredibly little of chlorine or chloramine to produce perceptible chlorophenols in beer. The levels that your water board tells you not to worry about are FAR more than needed to screw up beer flavor.
Good luck with the 5.2.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha… (some would say “LOL!”)
Very diplomatic, Martin. I’ll be a bit more blunt…lose the 5.2! It seldom works and give the beer a strange flavor. This is my experience and that of many others. As AJ said on another forum, the people who say 5.2 works are those who don’t actually check the pH. Try at least a couple batches without it and compare.
My campden tablets came without instructions. Should they really be added an hour before brewing?
Karen,
Campden tablets react almost instantly with chlorine compounds. There is no need to wait an hour. A couple of minutes to make sure they are dissolved is all the time necessary.
This may be overly simplistic, but with Chlorine can’t you set the water out the night before and it would dissipate?
I know that’s not the case with chloramine which is why I thought municipalities started using it instead of chlorine.
I have chloramine in my public water system, so I use campden tablets.
Water’s boiling point is 212F, yet there is still water in the kettle after boiling for over an hour. ;D
Chlorine is highly volatile at standard temperature and pressure. In fact it prefers to be a gas. But water, not so much. Water has a high “heat of vaporization” at standard temperature and pressure, and can only evaporate up to 100% relative humidity near the kettle, beyond which it evaporates and recondenses at the same rate. It would much rather be liquid water at standard temperature and pressure, but will reluctantly convert to vapor with a lot of energy.
Yes, chlorine (which is actually a very low concentration in the form of hypochlorite which degrades to form chlorine gas) will evaporate out of water to non-detectable levels at standard temperature and pressure if left overnight prior to brewing.
;D
Indeed. I crush my tablets to powder and throw the appropriate amount in the brewing liquor when it is heating up.
Thanks. I thought I had read that about Campden tablets, and I do the same (light burner, crush Campden, toss in…).
Thanks for all the info! Since I didn’t have and campden tablets I just went with my usual routine, but I plan on picking up some tablets from the LHBS and giving them a try.
I tend to do the “belt and suspenders” thing with chlorine. For convenience, I fill my pots and buckets the night before and crush and add campden just in case. 8^)
Having all the water standing ready in the morning saves me time and makes me think about the recipe the night before. Sometimes it makes me realize I missed something on the shopping list.
Paul