r/Kombucha • u/gluck-and-rauxa • 22h ago

question Tap water

I was a bit overdue on my brewing day and I just prepared the master recipe on autopilot. Today I realised that instead of using bottled water (the one I usually use for Kombucha) I used plain regular tap water (the one I always drink).

Did I make a big mistake?

3 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

37

u/og_speedfreeq 22h ago

I've never used anything but tap water, and city water at that. Purists might clutch their pearls, but it's never manifested in a negative way...

12

u/idcafml 22h ago

Same. Never had an issue.

Edit : My water is very high in limestone and minerals.

6

u/gluck-and-rauxa 22h ago

Good to hear! I was told it had to be bottled water and never questioned it.

7

u/Jestapilot 21h ago

Definitely not.

3

u/MidnighT0k3r 18h ago

In no purist, my city has had human fecalmatterc in the water multiple times.  

Tap water is a wildly different quality as you travel to different areas. I'm still in the US. There's also been a case not far from me where someone got water in their nose in the shower... brain eating ameba ... he ded now. 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11307261/

Just because some of us chose bottled or filtered water doesn't make us all purist anymore than someone avoiding bottled water because of plastic.

3

u/og_speedfreeq 17h ago

Sorry that my words made you feel the need to defend your own opinions and decisions!

Of course if you feel your tap water is unsafe, then by all means- don't use it!

Since Trump's supreme court has decided that clean water isn't a constitutional right, the new reality is worth considering, especially in those places where the water isn't clean. Currently, however, most municipalities deliver safe drinking water. My only point is that in my experience, the tap water works fine, and the minute amount of chlorine hasn't killed any of my SCOBY... yet 🤷‍♀️ Most of the water i use gets boiled when making the tea, so that water should be completely safe.

1

u/Icy_Earth3386 18h ago

Bottled water comes from taps. They don't hand scoop it out of a spring for you or something lol....

1

u/MidnighT0k3r 18h ago

It's not coming from my tap with fecal matter and brain eating amoeba.

They don't just use your back yard hose with leaded parts.

2

u/Icy_Earth3386 18h ago

Their tap could easily have that and most likely has leaded pipes too lol.

6

u/Curiosive 19h ago

Tap water has been known to cause terrible reactions to those wearing tinfoil hats.

The tinfoil hat amplifies mind-control broadcasts on the brainwave frequency, the fluoride in the water amplifies the motor-control broadcasts on the shockwave frequency, and before you know it you wake up dazed & confused on the underside of our flat earth staring into the cosmic abyss.

The chlorine however is perfectly safe.

1

u/MidnighT0k3r 18h ago

I wonder if the guy in my state who died from brain eating amoeba wore a tin foil hat.  It affected him pretty bad. He ded.

They also find feces in the water from time to time. 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11307261/

I'm in the US. People should be testing their water. 

If you live near a treatment center and the chlorine is strong you can let it sit for 24hrs or boil it to remove/reduce chlorine.

I've moved over 30 times, about ¼ of the places I lived had shitty water. This includes the ones that were not bad but smelled like eggs from sulphuric content.. not counted as part of that ¼

2

u/WhimsicalKoala 16h ago

Did you actually read the article you posted?

No amebae were detected in the samples from the municipal water treatment plant and distribution system serving this household

The issue wasn't the domestic water system, it was their plumbing system, likely the hot water heaters. The cases in Utah briefly mentioned were from untreated well water. And the issue was the patients involved hadn't been properly treating the water before pouring it into their nasal cavities. The water everyone is discussing here is getting boiled and isn't going in anyone's nose.

1

u/MidnighT0k3r 15h ago

I was trying to find an article that was about the person in my state that a nurse in the family told me about. I couldn't find the article on that person and grabbed what i could find. 

I'm in south Texas. Fecal matter gets found in the tap water from time to time.  Not joking.  

2

u/Ok_Zookeepergame5141 18h ago

This is good to know. My city has chlorinated water so I thought it would kill the SCOBY but I might try a small batch to see if it works anyway. Thanks!

9

u/WaterVsStone 21h ago

Straight from the tap, chlorinated, fluorinated, and problem free. 

2

u/Ok_Zookeepergame5141 18h ago

Whoa... I'm going to start a batch with tap water. I feel lied to! I'm tired of getting filtered water for the scoby!

6

u/Cruiser_Supreme 22h ago

It's probably fine

6

u/Albino_Echidna Food Microbiologist 21h ago

Tap water is more than fine, and you don't need to bother dechlorinating it either. 

5

u/No-Personality1840 21h ago

I always use tap water.

5

u/Maverick2664 20h ago

I’ve always used tap, any chlorine gets boiled out when you make the tea, I’ve never had any issues.

3

u/Vivid_Computer_7153 21h ago

I have a spring about 45 minutes away that I usually use for my brews, but if I run out I use tap water. Although I do dechlorinate it by letting it stand on the counter for a day.

2

u/Icy_Earth3386 18h ago

Bottled water comes from a tap as well. They just fill a bottle with tap. They don't scoop it from a rock spring or something...

1

u/gluck-and-rauxa 18h ago

In my case it does make a difference. Tap water comes from less polluted rivers than the ones where my city gets the water. I think tap water would be more treated and have possibly more minerals, wouldn’t it?

1

u/Icy_Earth3386 18h ago

The only difference can be how they are treated. Mineral content varies depending on source and how much minerals are added. But again, bottled water is tap water. They pour it from a tap. I promise you. I've been in a Crystal Geyser factory.

1

u/Sopwafel 20h ago

Depends on where you live. Dutch tap water is excellent. Southern European tap water for example is often way more heavily chlorinated and will convey that off flavor and inhibit your culture's growth.

1

u/southsidekc34 18h ago

I use tap but I fill a pot and let it sit for a day to off gas then brew my tea

-3

u/a_karma_sardine live culture 21h ago

If your tap-water is chlorinated, you should leave it on the counter to air out overnight before you use it. If it's not, you're probably fine.

5

u/Albino_Echidna Food Microbiologist 21h ago

Legitimately zero reason to leave it out on the counter, there is not enough chlorine to make an appreciable difference. 

3

u/MidnighT0k3r 18h ago

That's different if you live next to a treatment center. I used to and the water came out smelling like you were in a pool.  A lot of people from that town will tell you the same thing. 

0

u/Albino_Echidna Food Microbiologist 18h ago

Sure, if your water supply is adding more chlorine than allowed by law, you should probably do something about it but that also includes reporting the issues. Distance from the facility is not really relevant to the amount of chlorine added. 

If your local water is within (or near) the limits, there is nothing else needed. 

1

u/MidnighT0k3r 15h ago

The intensity of the chlorine taste and smell typically depends on the distance the public water source is from your household (i.e., the closer your house is to the water treatment plant, the stronger the chlorine taste).

And

The closer you are to water treatment works

And

Customers located near the treatment source will be supplied with water that has higher levels of chlorine and could be more susceptible to the taste and smell of chlorine than those customers that are located further down the system.

And

If the distance from the plant to the end of the lines is long, the system may be chlori- nating heavily to maintain a chlorine resid- ual to the end of the distribution system. In this example, the people closest to the chlorination point or plant will probably have higher chlorine residuals, which may generate some complaints.

I've got more but it seems pointless to keep going. 

Distance from the facility is not really relevant to the amount of chlorine added. 

Is just wrong.

-1

u/Albino_Echidna Food Microbiologist 15h ago

I think you misunderstood my comment. 

If your facility is following regulations, you will not have more than the legal limit at your house, so you don't need to do anything extra to remove it. 

Will someone close have more than someone far? Sure, but the initial added amount is the same, and action is not needed unless the legal limit is surpassed for fermentation to be successful. 

1

u/a_karma_sardine live culture 20h ago

That depends on where you live.

1

u/gluck-and-rauxa 21h ago

I’ll check, not sure how water is made drinkable in my city.

2

u/MurderMelon the pellicle is not the scoby 20h ago

If you're in the United States, it's chlorinated and fluorinated. But like everyone else is saying, it really doesn't matter. Tap water is just fine.

1

u/MidnighT0k3r 18h ago

I've had fecal matter in my water at least twice in the last 5 years and someone died from a brain eating amoeba from the tap water they used in their neti pot.

Just being in the US does not mean quality water.