Northamptonshire Water - Nasty bug causing sickness :(

[BrewStew]

Hi folks! yet again i've been away from the forum and away from brewing for too long

life is getting in the way of this wonderful hobby yet again. New job, and i'm moving house this coming tuesday.

If any of you have listened to the news recently, Anglian Water have asked all residents of Northampton to boil their drinking water before consumption as a nasty bug that'll give you the trots has gotten into it. and this could be the case for a few weeks.

This is a bit of a bugger as i'm moving from Rushden (where the water is fine) and into Northampton. Talk about a kick in the nuts when your down

So my question is, While obviously a 60-90 boil is required for my AG brewing, is it worth boiling my liquor before I mash to get rid of the nasties? or do you guys think it'll be ok to just continue as normal with the hop boil killing them off.

cheers in advance folks


EDIT - On a side note for all whom are curious, yes i did choose the house based on it's brewery capabilities hehe the garage is longer than normal, and a perfect fit for stepping up my brew house (and i'm already eyeing up bits for a 100L brew length )

[richard_senior]

Fermentation will kill anything that's in the water stone dead.
In fact fermentation was used for this exact purpose without knowledge of germ theory in the middle ages..

[delboy]

The boil will kill everything so i wouldn't worry about it.

[Aleman]

Fermentation will kill anything that's in the water stone dead.
In fact fermentation was used for this exact purpose without knowledge of germ theory in the middle ages..

No it won't . . . . However the beer production process (the 90 minute boil in particular) will

[richard_senior]

Interesting..
I've always thought that the conditions of fermentation were lethal to pretty much all bacteria (no oxygen, high alchohol and large quantities of yeast).
But it seems you're right... you live and learn.
I must have misheard adam hart davies when he spoke about small beer.

[Graham]

I must have misheard adam hart davies when he spoke about small beer.

If it's the programme I remember, he got most of it wrong. I just hope he doesn't write his own material, otherwise he's gone down a few points in my estimation.