Made my first full grain brew and after leaving it to mature it has a funny after taste, its from the water in our area, my tea and coffee have the same taste. Its not overpowering but it does detract from the taste i'm after.
Any suggestions how to get rid of this effect from crap water?
Funny taste
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crow_flies
- Hollow Legs
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:51 am
- Location: Winterton-on-Sea
I do both (tablet and filter) and I found that my supply must have a lot of chlorine, chloromine as throught trial and error I need nearer 1 whole tab to remove the taste. I've also taken to preparing the water the day before and leaving overnight - seems to completely remove after tastes.
/CF
/CF
Drinking:Bottled Hobgoblin clone
Drinking:Bottled Black sheep clone
Drinking:Casked Amarillo ale
In the FV: nought
Drinking:Bottled Black sheep clone
Drinking:Casked Amarillo ale
In the FV: nought
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shiny beast
I use tap water conditioner from the pet shop(aquarium section). It's basically sodium thiosulphate. Gets rid of chlorine instantly and breaks the chloramine bond. Chloramines are combined chlorines. They are combined with amonia to make them more stable. Unfortunately this makes them more difficult to get rid of from water.
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Totem
If you also notice the taste in tea and coffee, then its prob a common problem called tcp. Do you have a washing machine and or dishwasher in your kitchen? The problem is where you dont have a non return valve fitted to either of them, the chlorine reacts with the rubber to form phenols and therefore this taste.
Sometimes the water can be sitting in the pipe for a while and when you turn your tap on this standing water can be back syphoned into the water that comes through your tap. The chlorine shouldn't react with food grade plastics so make sure you always use them, the taste can also come from new washers in taps too.
It cant be the chlorine causing the problem as its more than always boiled off in the water.
Sometimes the water can be sitting in the pipe for a while and when you turn your tap on this standing water can be back syphoned into the water that comes through your tap. The chlorine shouldn't react with food grade plastics so make sure you always use them, the taste can also come from new washers in taps too.
It cant be the chlorine causing the problem as its more than always boiled off in the water.
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SteveD
Yes it can. Water companies have been adding chloramines which you cannot boil off.Totem wrote:If you also notice the taste in tea and coffee, then its prob a common problem called tcp. Do you have a washing machine and or dishwasher in your kitchen? The problem is where you dont have a non return valve fitted to either of them, the chlorine reacts with the rubber to form phenols and therefore this taste.
Sometimes the water can be sitting in the pipe for a while and when you turn your tap on this standing water can be back syphoned into the water that comes through your tap. The chlorine shouldn't react with food grade plastics so make sure you always use them, the taste can also come from new washers in taps too.
It cant be the chlorine causing the problem as its more than always boiled off in the water.
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Boo Boo
Yeah, chlorine can be evaporated from solution by leaving it uncovered overnight, boiled or chemicialy removed, but chlorimine must be chemicialy removed. It isn't boiled off from the wort if the wort contacts the chlorine AFAIK. It then causes a reaction with the wort before the chlorine is boiled off.
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louthepoo
[quote="Totem"]If you also notice the taste in tea and coffee, then its prob a common problem called tcp. Do you have a washing machine and or dishwasher in your kitchen? The problem is where you dont have a non return valve fitted to either of them, the chlorine reacts with the rubber to form phenols and therefore this taste.
Sometimes the water can be sitting in the pipe for a while and when you turn your tap on this standing water can be back syphoned into the water that comes through your tap. The chlorine shouldn't react with food grade plastics so make sure you always use them, the taste can also come from new washers in taps too.
Haven't got a washing machine or dishwasher and i always run off the water for a bit before using it as its been sitting there getting stale in the pipes!
Brewing tommorow and using campden tablets, see what its like!
Sometimes the water can be sitting in the pipe for a while and when you turn your tap on this standing water can be back syphoned into the water that comes through your tap. The chlorine shouldn't react with food grade plastics so make sure you always use them, the taste can also come from new washers in taps too.
Haven't got a washing machine or dishwasher and i always run off the water for a bit before using it as its been sitting there getting stale in the pipes!
Brewing tommorow and using campden tablets, see what its like!
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EasyBrew
We have a lot of chlorine in our area and I find that filtering removes most of it. You can also use Dry Liquor Salts and Carbonate Reducing Solution to improve the quality of your water. Below are the instructions for using it. All you need to know is the hardness/calcium level of your local water which you can find out from your local water company and some even put the info on their websites.
WATER TREATMENT
As water is by far the main ingredient of beer, it is important that it is suitable for the purpose. Historically, beers were brewed to suit the water available, e.g. Stouts and Porters were produced primarily in London and Dublin where the water is high in carbonates, Pale Ales and Bitters, however, were far more suited to the gypseous water of Burton-On-Trent.
With the advance of science it is now possible to brew most beer styles with any type of water providing it is correctly treated. To illustrate this we have broken down the procedure into three operations.
1. Adjustment of Carbonate Levels
In order to produce quality pale beers, the brewing liquor must be low in carbonates as they prevent the correct mash pH from being achieved. Quality Pale Ales, Bitters and Lagers cannot be made with such water, so appropriate measures must be taken to correct its composition. Brupaks CRS (Carbonate Reducing Solution) is an acid blend which, when added to brewing liquor, reduces the level of carbonate without the need to boil. Darker beers can tolerate higher levels of carbonate.
2. Adjustment of Calcium Levels
Calcium is a very important mineral in the brewing process for its effect on mash and wort pH. Calcium chloride and Calcium sulphate (gypsum) are used to lower the pH (increase the acidity), whereas, when brewing dark beers with soft water, calcium carbonate is sometimes added to balance the inherent acidity of the roasted grains. Brupaks Dry Liquor Salts (DLS)is a carefully controlled blend of inorganic salts designed to increase calcium levels and lower pH. When brewing Pale Ales and Bitters it is usual to use both CRS and DLS to treat the liquor, as most water supplies have an excess of carbonate and insufficient calcium. For Lager it is recommended that CRS is used in the mashing liquor to reduce carbonate, followed by careful additions of lactic acid to the mash tun for lowering the pH. An alternative to lactic acid is to incorporate some German acid malt in the grist. This special malt is used extensively in Germany in the production of high class lagers.
USING BRUPAKS WATER TREATMENTS – YOUR LEVEL OF TOTAL ALKALINITY IS - 95 PPM
Before you can start to treat your water you should first contact your water supply company and request its total alkalinity in p.p.m. From this figure it is possible to determine the required amounts of CRS and DLS to be added for all styles of beer.
An average Bitter or Pale Ale requires the water to have a total alkalinity of 30 - 50 p.p.m. and a calcium content of 180 - 220 p.p.m. If the total alkalinity of your water is below 50 p.p.m. you will not need to use CRS but will most probably need to increase the calcium with DLS.
Example: You are brewing a Bitter and the total alkalinity of your water is 195 p.p.m. In order to bring it within the target range of 30 - 50 p.p.m. you will need to reduce the alkalinity by 145 - 165 p.p.m. From the following table you can calculate the amount of CRS to be added. N.B. All brewing liquor should be treated with CRS, not just that used for mashing.
CRS millilitres per litre
CRS 0.35 0.52 0.70 0.87 1.05 1.22 1.40 1.57 1.75
Alkalinity -64 -96 -128 -160 -192 -224 -256 -288 -320
The table shows that to reduce the alkalinity by 160 p.p.m. CRS should be added at a rate of 0.87 mls per litre. Thus for a standard 25 litre brew, which will probably require 30 litres of liquor, 30 x 0.87 = 26mls of CRS should be added. After adding CRS, several minutes standing time should be allowed to release the carbon dioxide produced by the neutralisation of the excess acid.
Now that the carbonate level has been adjusted, you now have to correct the calcium content. Fortunately a close approximation of the amount of calcium present can be obtained by a simple piece of arithmetic.
Original alkalinity in ppm x 0.4 = Calcium in ppm
In the above example you have an alkalinity of 195 p.p.m.
195 x 0.4 = 78 p.p.m.
A typical Bitter requires a calcium content of 180 - 220 p.p.m. If you already have
78 p.p.m. you need an extra 102 - 142 p.p.m. The quantity of DLS required can be obtained from the table below.
DLS grams per litre
0.1 0.2 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1
Calcium 16 31 63 94 109 125 141 156 172 188
The table shows that in order to increase the calcium content by 125 p.p.m you will need to add 0.7 grams of DLS per litre.
When making a full mash brew, DLS should be added in two stages:
Stage 1.
Weigh sufficient DLS to treat your mashing liquor (e.g. 10 litres x 0.7 = 7 grams). Mix DLS into the dry grains. This is most important as adding it to raw liquor will not affect the mash pH.
Stage 2.
Weigh sufficient DLS to treat the balance of the total brewing liquor (e.g. 20 litres x 0.7 = 14 grams). Add to the wort at the commencement of the boil.
Extract brewers should add the total amount of DLS to the wort at the commencement of the boil.
WATER TREATMENT
As water is by far the main ingredient of beer, it is important that it is suitable for the purpose. Historically, beers were brewed to suit the water available, e.g. Stouts and Porters were produced primarily in London and Dublin where the water is high in carbonates, Pale Ales and Bitters, however, were far more suited to the gypseous water of Burton-On-Trent.
With the advance of science it is now possible to brew most beer styles with any type of water providing it is correctly treated. To illustrate this we have broken down the procedure into three operations.
1. Adjustment of Carbonate Levels
In order to produce quality pale beers, the brewing liquor must be low in carbonates as they prevent the correct mash pH from being achieved. Quality Pale Ales, Bitters and Lagers cannot be made with such water, so appropriate measures must be taken to correct its composition. Brupaks CRS (Carbonate Reducing Solution) is an acid blend which, when added to brewing liquor, reduces the level of carbonate without the need to boil. Darker beers can tolerate higher levels of carbonate.
2. Adjustment of Calcium Levels
Calcium is a very important mineral in the brewing process for its effect on mash and wort pH. Calcium chloride and Calcium sulphate (gypsum) are used to lower the pH (increase the acidity), whereas, when brewing dark beers with soft water, calcium carbonate is sometimes added to balance the inherent acidity of the roasted grains. Brupaks Dry Liquor Salts (DLS)is a carefully controlled blend of inorganic salts designed to increase calcium levels and lower pH. When brewing Pale Ales and Bitters it is usual to use both CRS and DLS to treat the liquor, as most water supplies have an excess of carbonate and insufficient calcium. For Lager it is recommended that CRS is used in the mashing liquor to reduce carbonate, followed by careful additions of lactic acid to the mash tun for lowering the pH. An alternative to lactic acid is to incorporate some German acid malt in the grist. This special malt is used extensively in Germany in the production of high class lagers.
USING BRUPAKS WATER TREATMENTS – YOUR LEVEL OF TOTAL ALKALINITY IS - 95 PPM
Before you can start to treat your water you should first contact your water supply company and request its total alkalinity in p.p.m. From this figure it is possible to determine the required amounts of CRS and DLS to be added for all styles of beer.
An average Bitter or Pale Ale requires the water to have a total alkalinity of 30 - 50 p.p.m. and a calcium content of 180 - 220 p.p.m. If the total alkalinity of your water is below 50 p.p.m. you will not need to use CRS but will most probably need to increase the calcium with DLS.
Example: You are brewing a Bitter and the total alkalinity of your water is 195 p.p.m. In order to bring it within the target range of 30 - 50 p.p.m. you will need to reduce the alkalinity by 145 - 165 p.p.m. From the following table you can calculate the amount of CRS to be added. N.B. All brewing liquor should be treated with CRS, not just that used for mashing.
CRS millilitres per litre
CRS 0.35 0.52 0.70 0.87 1.05 1.22 1.40 1.57 1.75
Alkalinity -64 -96 -128 -160 -192 -224 -256 -288 -320
The table shows that to reduce the alkalinity by 160 p.p.m. CRS should be added at a rate of 0.87 mls per litre. Thus for a standard 25 litre brew, which will probably require 30 litres of liquor, 30 x 0.87 = 26mls of CRS should be added. After adding CRS, several minutes standing time should be allowed to release the carbon dioxide produced by the neutralisation of the excess acid.
Now that the carbonate level has been adjusted, you now have to correct the calcium content. Fortunately a close approximation of the amount of calcium present can be obtained by a simple piece of arithmetic.
Original alkalinity in ppm x 0.4 = Calcium in ppm
In the above example you have an alkalinity of 195 p.p.m.
195 x 0.4 = 78 p.p.m.
A typical Bitter requires a calcium content of 180 - 220 p.p.m. If you already have
78 p.p.m. you need an extra 102 - 142 p.p.m. The quantity of DLS required can be obtained from the table below.
DLS grams per litre
0.1 0.2 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1
Calcium 16 31 63 94 109 125 141 156 172 188
The table shows that in order to increase the calcium content by 125 p.p.m you will need to add 0.7 grams of DLS per litre.
When making a full mash brew, DLS should be added in two stages:
Stage 1.
Weigh sufficient DLS to treat your mashing liquor (e.g. 10 litres x 0.7 = 7 grams). Mix DLS into the dry grains. This is most important as adding it to raw liquor will not affect the mash pH.
Stage 2.
Weigh sufficient DLS to treat the balance of the total brewing liquor (e.g. 20 litres x 0.7 = 14 grams). Add to the wort at the commencement of the boil.
Extract brewers should add the total amount of DLS to the wort at the commencement of the boil.
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Totem