Well water

What do you guys do that have well water?

Mine pretty much sucks as it has quite a bit of iron and calcium. Not to mention the hardness really varies with the amount of water used with a softener.

For a while, I was buying bottled water, but that really boosted the cost of my brewing. Of late, I've been throwing a 5 gallon MWC in the back of the truck and filling it at my mothers house since she has city water.

Maybe I'll invest in an RO system in the future.

I've considered RO, but can't justify it yet.

For now, anything that goes through a boil is straight from the well. Any topping water goes through a Brita. Not the best solution, but I've got some other kinks to work out before I tackle water.

On the plus side, I can drop temp of a 5gal batch using a whirlpool and IC in no time!

EDIT: Have you sent your water out for testing? If you did, who did you use/where did you send? I'm overdue for a complete analysis.

Yeah, running a wort chiller on well water is a plus but brewing with what I have to work with is a nightmare, to say the least.

My well water is money. :shrug:

I'm on beautiful, wonderful Colorado well water. Love it, but the same rules apply to all water supplies. Well water just happens to be extremely variable, because you might have very different water than that of your neighbor. Here are my three rules:

1. Test your water. http://www.wardlab.com/ will do you the right test for $16. You MUST know what you're working with to create the best beer you can.

2. Filter for chlorine, if that's part of your system. This, to me, is a non-negotiable if you've got noticeable quantities of chlorine in your water. Phenols are nasty, except in Belgians.

3.Adjust your water for the style of brew you're creating. The best resource for this is Palmer's online book (http://howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15.html). Remember that water not only effects the mash ph, but also the finished character of the beer. Depending on your water supply, you can do everything else right and your finished beer may not just taste right. The Brewing Network recently did a four-part series on water that addresses many of these concerns. Palmer goes through his spreadsheet and it's very informative. http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/Page-2

Overall, you might have great water for one style, but not for another. Remember that quality in = quality out. If your water is crap, you're never going to make great beer. Better off buying RO water.

Forgot this edit: if you can, bypass your softener. As Palmer says, you probably need the calcium it removes and you don't need the added sodium.

I have a 220 gallon saltwater tank so I already have a RO/DI system feeding a 50 gallon food grade trashcan in the basement for top off water...(the tank uses about 4 gallons a day). I started brewing with springwater, then moved on to just using the well water. Noticed alot of my beers had the same aftertaste. Was going to send a sample off to be tested until I read a post on here where someone says they use a half/half mixture of well/RO water. Tried it a long time ago and it works great for me..... Someday my lazy butt will send off and get my water tested...but if it ain't broke....

My well is nasty and I wont even feed the dogs water from it. We have a nice super water store in town who is home brewer friendly and sells me water @ 25 cents a gallon for RO water then I build it up from there.

I love my well-water... love it love it love it.

I take it in gallon jugs to work for drinking water, clear as can be and tastes great. So ofcourse i brew with it. And no chlorine in it ofcourse.
Oh, and like PdBreen said, it's great for the chiller. I cool the wort down to 70* in a little over 10 mins in the summer in 95* weather.

I don't have well water, or a water softener, but my city water is extremely hard and has a lot of calcium in it and other minerals that makes the hops very strong in anything you brew. The problem with RO water for me is I am an all grain guy and some minerals are need for conversion in the mash. I solved my problem by using 1/2 distilled (RO would be just as fine) and 1/2 tap. Even for my lightest beers like the Kolsch that my buddies came over and brewed everything turns out supper nice and you don't have to fool with additives. By-pass the softener and give that a try and I bet you would be a very happy camper.

Good luck.

My well water is bad enough that the original owner of the house ran a water line from the street to tie into the co-op system. That's 3900 feet of 1 1/2" pipe! The co-op water is close to distilled.