Starting with Warm or Hot Water

[cramar]

Has there been any discussions on starting with warm or hot water in the brew kettle?
Were having a mean winter this year and waiting outside for cold water to boil is getting painful, do we have to start with cold or room temp water, can we start with hot water?
Something makes me thing no!

 

[Ski12568]

I wouldn't think it mattered. Hot or cold, it's still water. I use a bucket heater to heat my mash and sparge water indoors when take my hot wort to boil outside on a burner.

 

[cramar]

Poking around looking for insight and the main point mentioned is that water in the hot water tank sits for an indefinite period of time until used, nasties do collect in there....which I do see every time I flush the hot water tank.

Perhaps I'll just tough it out with warm or cold water....I've seen some nasty stuff come out of that hot water tank when I flush it.

 

[Curtis2010]

Even though I'm in the tropics, I use an instant propane hot water heater to pre-heat my water. Gets me started with water already at mash temps.

How you heat the water shouldnt matter as long as you dont introduce anything funky...like used hot tub water. ;-)

 

[histo320]

Poking around looking for insight and the main point mentioned is that water in the hot water tank sits for an indefinite period of time until used, nasties do collect in there....which I do see every time I flush the hot water tank.

Perhaps I'll just tough it out with warm or cold water....I've seen some nasty stuff come out of that hot water tank when I flush it.

I wouldn't suggest using hot water for this reason. I only to my boil outside and use my stove to heat up my strike and sparge water. If it is really cold, after my sparge I will begin to heat the kettle on my stove (if I have someone to help me carry it.) It also help to keep the lid on (not during the boil tho).

 

[Natdavis777]

All my water comes out of jugs that get filled from the RO station. So I always start with cold water...

 

[vincentAlpha]

I use the hot water here cause it comes out stupidly hot(could almost mash with it out of the tap!) and the cold water here is frigid. Haven't had any issues and honestly unless it tastes funny out of the tap I'd think your fine since you are boiling it for 60 min or so usually. That being said I'd not use it for top off water without bringing it to a boil first.

 

[MindenMan]

I don't know what your local utility puts into your water, but mine adds a noticeable amount of chlorine. In the cold tap water I filter it out, but every time I turn on the shower hot water, the chlorine fumes are terrible. As mentioned above, all the minerals in the water are concentrated in the hot water tank, as well as everything else in the water system collects in the bottom of the tank. If your hot water isn't crappy, then go for it.

 

[govner1]

I have both a cold and hot water hose bib in my brewery(garage) w/ beverage grade hose and filters for both hot & cold. I fill my HLT directly from the hot water outlet which starts my strike water @ 120°F avg to begin. I also put 3-4 gal of the same hot water in my MLT while the strike water heats (15-20 min). I save this water for later clean up.

 

[Curtis2010]

...nasties do collect in there....which I do see every time I flush the hot water tank.
...

Ah, missed that part the first time thru...depending on the nature of the funk could be an issue I suspect. No such problem with an on-demand system...maybe install one for brewing. I use one with beautiful soft well water so no funky tank or municipal water treatment issues.

 

[norcalhomebrewer]

When is the last time your hot water heater was cleaned. Never? Defiantly get some weird flavors in your final product by using water from your hot water heater. If you are striving for excellent homebrew do not use your hot water as a hot liquor tank.

 

[Spartan1979]

If stuff accumulates in a hot water heater, that means stuff is falling out of suspension. I'm just thinking out loud here, but I wouldn't expect hot water to then pick up stuff from the tank.

 

[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

I've seen some guys on here use a dedicated tankless heater, which I would think should be fine, but if you go through that much trouble might as well put a filter on the end anyway. For that matter you could just put a filter on the faucet you get your brew water from, then it doesn't matter what's in the tank.

 

[Bobcatbrewing42]

If you have a water softener and most homes do, I would not use hot water to do anything but clean with. Soft water is saltly and almost free of minerals so if you do use softened water, be sure that you know what you are doing. This is not to be confused with naturally soft water.
Most houses are plumbed so that the kitchen cold tap is hard water as are hose bibs or other outside water. Even bathroom cold or tub water is softened.
Where I live, the minerals in the water are pretty good for brewing so I wouldn't mess with brewing with softened water.

 

[giraffe]

Hot water is usually not considered potable, and is only supposed to be used for washing on most systems. I doubt your water report will be accurate if you use hot tap water, due to leeching.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/health/29real.html?_r=0

 

[whitehause]

So "they" say...as stated above, hot water tanks can have a lot of junk in them, and hot pulls more junk off the walls of the lines....will it be harmful...no...could it affect the taste, could be.
If your curious....smell a glass of cold vs hot tap water at your house...is there is a difference? If so it could be noticed in your final product also.

 

[norcalhomebrewer]

Turn your tap water as hot as it can go, pour a large glass of water, hold that next to a filtered class of water. It's probably not dangerous to drink, but it defiantly has a bunch of crap in it that you wouldn't want to brew with.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Take a look inside your water heater and tell me if you want any of that in your beer.

Always cold.

 

[Jetski]

So what are the opinions on running hot water though a dedicated filter before filling HLT? I use a home made filter system that uses a filter meant for showers and run all of my water through that before filling the tank.

Something like this - https://www.filtersfast.com/P-Culligan-WHR-140-Shower-Filter.asp

 

[TheHappyHopper]

I agree with what several people have said - I don't have any extra filtering systems, etc. for the hot water from my tap, so I just don't trust the hot water for brewing. I have lived in houses before where when you turned on the hot water first thing in the morning after it had been sitting overnight, the first ounce or so would come out with a brownish tint.

 

[thekraken]

There was a 3 part series on the basicbrewing.com podcast with a toxicologist. He briefly touched on using hot tap water and was of the opinion that older homes with older plumbing systems and water heaters could contribute undesirable junk to your brew water. But newer systems shouldn't really be a problem.

You could just fill a (clear) glass with your hot tap water, another glass with cold water, and set them aside to come up or down to the same temperatures, then taste test them and inspect them visually for any differences.