BeerBorg

last brew session I mixed up 2.5 gals of star san. I was pressed for time so I used garden hose water. I went to use it for bottling a week later and ack! on opening the lid a huge stink of rubber.. burnt rubber wafted up from the solution. cheap garden hose that sits in sun all day mustve started breaking down inside and made the water poopie.

good thing I noticed before starting... hate to drink beer if it had that taste. ick. ptooey. dumped, washed , started a new batch of star san.
also found a way around the mold growing in the starsan bucket from condensation over time. a sheet of plastic wrap over mouth of bucket. paper towel on top then lid. makes a great vapor barrier.

Garden hoses, unless designated for drinking water, contain lead and are unsuitable for drinking. If you made or bottled beer after using that batch of Starsan, especially if it was not flushed clean first, you should consider dumping it.

Better off using an empty gallon water jug or get a gallon of distilled water and mix 1/4 oz of Starsan into it. Picked up good quart spray bottles from BJ's Wholesale club, that gallon lasts about a month keeping the spray bottle filled too. Keep a gallon and a spray bottle for the brewing side and one of each in the fermenting/taproom.

This is how I get my water to my brewery.
https://smile.amazon.com/Camco-22853-Pr ... water+hose

light duty hose .. been used before.. doubtful it had any or much lead. I would rather drink the beer than dump it thanks. i'll take my chances. im over 50 and with all the food additives, exposure to asbestos in public school in Detroit for over a decade... lead based paint... lead miniatures that I used to paint.. hazardous chemicals that ive handled without gloves.. lol! it aint gonna kill me. it didn't start stinking til a week later so it was fine for sanitizing one batch of bottles. ppl are a bit extremist in their concerns. I remember using DDT bug killer without respirator or gloves in the 70s as a kid.

in 3rd grade I remember picking at the asbestos lined radiator pipes.. looked like a bad plaster cast around them for insulation in Detroit... and marveling at the dust in the sunlight from the window. my favorite play thing as a kid was a chemistry set which I used to mix a little of this and that , then burn it to see what it would do. i'll likely croak from cancer anyway by the time I hit 70 but dammit im gonna have beer!

Gymrat wrote:This is how I get my water to my brewery.
https://smile.amazon.com/Camco-22853-Pr ... water+hose

That to me is a very small price to pay for peace of mind. Our club used a stinky plastic garden hose that was left out in the sun to heat enough water for a a 55 gallon mash once. I swear the water had such a strong odor I can't believe it didn't affect the taste of the beer.

Just had to get a new water hose for the new camper, the old one sprung a leak after 15 years. Wallyworld has RV drinking water safe in 10', 25' and 50' for $25 or less, Camco brand. Other than the extra elbow I got growing out of my wrist they work great!!!

the hose water was only used for star san.. it only made brief contact with bottles, hoses etc. I would never brew with hose water. ever. that would be disgusting and cruel treatment of the yeast. for my beer I use only the finest grocery store mineral water.. that ive got the lab analysis for the current spring where it is drawn. they were nice enough each year to provide on request. I don't even subject my beer or yeast to tap water. ours is really icky. so really.. much ado about nothing. I thought it wouldn't hurt to use the hose to make starsan ... found out otherwise.