bottled water

Hello, Can a store bought 5gal glass carboy of spring water be considered sanitary as is, to use for brewing a batch of beer?

Thanks BC

Reply to
BCS
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IMHO:

I wouldn't consider 'sanitary as is'. Always clean your equipment.

later,

tom @

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Reply to
Tom The Great

considered

I use bottled water always with no problems. If you're worried at all, before pouring from the container, flame it (sanitize).

Good luck, Wild

Reply to
wild

I got the impression that the 5 gal carboy was full of water when purchased. Bottled water at least in the US is almost Sterile. (that is better than sanitized). I wouldn't contaminate the bottle by trying to sanitize it. If this was an empty bottle then it depends. If the bottle was capped when you bought it, this would suggest that it was already sanitized, I bought one like this and sanitized again just as a precaution. If the empty bottle was not capped I would suggest that you wash and sanitize it. (Probably more information than you really wanted)

Reply to
dave

I've had some bottled "spring" water - 2.54gal in plastic bottles with the spigot for the fridge. They had an expiration date. I didn't have enough use for them to empty them before the date (they were left-overs from a Century -

100mile bike ride). After the expiration date they were quite foul! That water isn't totally dead! I use bottled water for my brew, but it goes into the brewpot and is boiled as wort. I don't think I'd want to use it straight, not even for n/a Root Beer that'll be gone in a week or so.
Reply to
mike vore

Reply to
dave

Good info. The more the better. Thanks. My issue is I can't deal with the thought of using a sanitizer and just letting it drain (no rinse). On my first batch I used an iodine sanitizer (B.E.S.T). Carefully followed directions to make a 12-15ppm solution. Let everything drain and dry but I could still smell the faint oder of the iodine.

Yes, my plan is to use a new bottle of water. Brew the wort and pour it back in the same, newly opened glass carboy. I always buy Mountain Valley Spring water in class 5 gal sealed bottles. I figured they had to meet some kind of health rules these days and I'm close to the source so it's got to be pretty fresh. Maybe it's worth a chance.

After all my well made plans on the first batch, it couldn't be any worse than having my clean kitchen turn in to a 3 ring circus in the middle of my brew when my son and friends show up to watch a football came and make snacks and chaos all around me :-o

Thanks bc

Reply to
BuddyC

I did! I was just pointing out that bottled water might not be absolutely sterile. So from that experience I recommend boiling it no matter how new it is.

Reply to
mike vore

Those bottles of water are not sterile, but they are usually free of the common minerals like iron that frequently spoil an otherwise good batch. If you are going to use bottled water you have to boil it to kill everything. If you are going to use the container that it came in for wort than you have to sterlize it. I prefer Iodophor and if you're concerned about the taste of iodine then empty the sanitizer and rinse it with boiled water (cooled of course).

Reply to
sadams13

Sterilize? NO. You would be very hard pressed to sterilize plastic at home, without ending up with a big puddle of plastic.

Sanitize? YES.

They aren't the same thing. Sterile is sanitary, but sanitary is NOT sterile. Please don't use the two terms interchangably.

Reply to
Bryan

I didn't say bottled water was sterile, but then neither is boiled water. The bottled water company I inspected had a very efficient filtration system and then disenfected with ozonation. Of the 2000 samples I have tested in the laboratory the only ones that I found any bacteria at all were the ones that had a problem (came from a lot that was not processed correctly "rare"). In almost all of those there was a green slime, or sediment or some other visible signs that there was a problem. I just think you should direct your efforts toward keeping your work area clean and disinfected.

Reply to
dave

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