Fermenting with tap water

[yeshuaisiam]

I know it is "ideal" to use tap water that has been sitting out overnight to de-chlorinate the water. The thing I was thinking about was "why does it matter" if you are fermenting for 5 days anyway?

If I put feed into tap water and stir it daily, by approx 12 hours or so the chlorine will evaporate and the fermentation process will start anyway. Especially since I use a series of buckets and stir the oldest feed daily then use then stir the newest with the same spoon.

Wouldn't this work fine? They natural bacteria and yeast certainly will "spread" through the spoon and the chlorine will be gone wouldn't it?

This is about time for me, as I am filling 2 - 5 gallon buckets of feed a day.

 

[birds4kids]

you think the chlorine travels up through the mash as well as it does a plain open bucket of water?

 

[Chicken girl 15]

No the water does not dechlorinate once the feed is added. The chlorine holds to the feed. Boil your water first or let it sit. Or just use chlorinated water. I'm sure the water they drink is the same isn't it.

 

[lazy gardener]

I know it is "ideal" to use tap water that has been sitting out overnight to de-chlorinate the water. The thing I was thinking about was "why does it matter" if you are fermenting for 5 days anyway?

If I put feed into tap water and stir it daily, by approx 12 hours or so the chlorine will evaporate and the fermentation process will start anyway. Especially since I use a series of buckets and stir the oldest feed daily then use then stir the newest with the same spoon.

Wouldn't this work fine? They natural bacteria and yeast certainly will "spread" through the spoon and the chlorine will be gone wouldn't it?

This is about time for me, as I am filling 2 - 5 gallon buckets of feed a day.

If you're getting a good ferment, and are satisfied with it, you don't need to change anything about your process. If your ferment takes a while to get going, then you might try an experiment: Start 2 very small batches in a couple of qt jars in your kitchen. Use water at the same temp, one jar with fresh tap water, and an other jar with water that has had overnight to gas the chlorine off. Most treated water sources are now using chloramine, which is more stable and takes longer to gas off. Compare the time to process both batches as well as the quality of each batch. Are you holding back some of your ferment to "seed" your next batch each time??

 

[yeshuaisiam]

Yes, every day I stir the feed and use the same spoon for each bucket. I transfer like 3 tablespoons each time to other buckets so everything is slopped together.