not knowing your tap water and the point on change and also enjoying your results why?? keep doing what your happy with til you feel you might want to try something diferent

"jctab,

Chances are you know as much (or more) about your own water as you do the water you're paying top dollar for. Some of those so-called ""spring"" water vendors would have you believe they're drawing from the fountain of youth which flows handsomely down natural waterfalls into a pristine pool etched out of solid rocks. Then when you do some investigation you find out they're just drawing from the same aquifer as everyone else. What's the worse that could happen? Your yeast get a little stressed ... so you end up drawing an extra 250 mL of heads with your PSII?

And those RO systems are getting less and less expensive. Depending on how often you put down a wash, it could pay for itself in short order.:)

Give your tap water a shot.

Regards,
--JB"

I have a sweet feed and a sugar wash cooking as we speak right from the tap. I will let you all know in about a week. Thanks for the feedback.

Roger that Farmin. It's business as usual with the ferment. The locks are steady poppin. I couldn't agree more with you,using the settled out tap water for cutting.ttys

Aerating for a few hours is interesting. I always was afraid that my 1 hour of aerating could cause a problem--- No idea what kind though-- ill increase my aerating time now--- I wish more folks would aerate not just stir vigorously. The better the oxygen supply at pitching the stronger the yeast populating will be.

"

An incantation can never hurt in this crazy hobby of ours :: In regard to such long aeration, I would also be inclined to put the wash under airlock right away. Then after a day or two rack off the lees into another fermenter under lock again. It should start making tiny bubbles in the wash in less than 2 hours with all that aerating available to allow yeast to start the population of the liquid."

"Then after a day or two rack off the lees into another fermenter under lock again. It should start making tiny bubbles in the wash in less than 2 hours with all that aerating available to allow yeast to start the population of the liquid."

Just to be clear, your saying you dont believe in fermenting on the grains? I've read pro and con, and have had mixed results, but I think it was an inferior grind of corn. I bought some once that was supposed to be ground finer than cracked and it was, but smelled like, and tasted like corn cob. (trust me on that, i grew up on the farm). I dumped the grain??, and dont buy their corn anymore.

Your thoughts please Scotty.

Farmin

I have no opinion about fermenting on the grain-- i never do it. Racking off the lees is racking off the yeast that has fallen to the bottom. But now let me contradict myself. I stir before transferring to a final fermenter and only rack off lees just before i add clarifying agents.

Sorry but i think i confused this thread instead of helping.

I'm on unfiltered well water, I use it for both washing and proofing, and love it. I don't bother boiling any of it, and all my friends that have been lucky enough to try my whiskey cant get over how much smoother it is and tastes over store bought. Somewhere I heard beer and wine brewers prefer hard water to soft for fermenting, as the minerals really improve on the taste. My two cents anyway.