Chlorine Removal

[Danno]

I'm on that bandwagon Steve. Charcoal will remove some but not all chlorine. Obviously Jamil has success with beers in competition so what little is left must not detectable.

My challenge is for those that believe that charcoal filtering removes all of the chlorine is to get some silver nitrate, make a solution with distilled water and then drop a few drops in their filtered water. The presence of a white precipitate (silver chloride) will indicate the presence of chorine.

[Steve]

I'm on that bandwagon Steve. Charcoal will remove some but not all chlorine. Obviously Jamil has success with beers in competition so what little is left must not detectable.

My challenge is for those that believe that charcoal filtering removes all of the chlorine is to get some silver nitrate, make a solution with distilled water and then drop a few drops in their filtered water. The presence of a white precipitate (silver chloride) will indicate the presence of chorine.

Yes, thats correct! I think I remember that experiment in chemestry lab. But honestly, No disrespect to Jamil or his beer but I am on target with this. Many true experts will argue this issue under the point of "percieved taste". In addition I realize we may be splitting hairs here but this is a worthy area to expand on. I can only hope we can get a few of the lab rats in the group to chime in with their two cents.

Steve

[jamilz]

OK, I'll believe there might be some trace based on flow rate, but how is it the carbon only removes some of the chloramines? If it is able to remove some, it should remove all with enough contact time, right? If not, what is the process where some of the chloramine passes by while some gets bound in the carbon?

I'd think you'd get more detectable flavor/aroma from adding campden tablets to your water than you will from the chlorine left over after activated carbon filtration.

Would be an interesting side by side test.

[Speyedr]

I was an avid Reef Tank keeper a few years back, and at THAT time, using an RO/DI filter was the most people did. Even if there were some leftover Chloramines no one expressed concern about the level of toxicity to the critters.

Like Dan Gordon said, no home brewer (except maybe Doc and Jamil) is going to spend 40k to install a water treatment plant at their house. Lots of us brew without removing chlorine at all. I finally got off my ass and retrofitted my old filter for my brewery and will brew my first beer with carbon filtered water this weekend. I have really good municipal water, so I've been lucky and I won't strip out anything else this time. If I NEED to, I will use RO/DI water to remove the minerals and ions from my water to make, say, Burton water.

I understand that the carbon has a specific surface area, and not all the water can be in contact with the carbon, and therefore you will have leftover Chlorimies. However, unless you have really strong Chlorine stinky water, the level will be so low that you won't taste it.

[ragin_cajun]

All I want to hear is "that $30 filter from Home Depot will make your beer taste alot better"

[jamilz]

Versus non-filtered water? Probably, but then I haven't tasted your water or your beer.

[Speyedr]

:D All I want to hear is "that $30 filter from Home Depot will make your beer taste alot better"

That $30 filter from Home Depot will make your beer taste a lot better.

[Steve]

:D All I want to hear is "that $30 filter from Home Depot will make your beer taste alot better"

That $30 filter from Home Depot will make your beer taste a lot better.

Actually I use the most expensive one they,Home Depot has. It's the dual cartridge replacement set they have for $36.00 bucks, the one that fits into those removable canisters. There is a list on the label of all the things it removes but unfortunatly "chloramines" isn't in there. After speaking with one of the reps. on the phone I discovered how they do their best to cover their ass's by tip toeing around my question of "will this filter remove chloramines?" They just repeat themselves and say "thats not on the label". But I deal with contractors all day some of whom have actual certifications in water science, One in particular suggest to me alternate treatments beyond average filtration. These suggestions are far to costly for the average Joe. But the best cost effective method is to use the camden tablet which as I stated earlier combines with one of the componants of the chloramine compound making it large enough to capture with the undersink type filter. Hope this is helpful for the rest of you guys.

Steve