Rusty Water

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hlumbard

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I'm brewing tomorrow (hopefully) and I'm preparing my water and it's rusty. We've had some serious rain here lately and I'm thinking that's the reason.

Anyone ever brewed with rusty water? It doesn't taste bad it just looks bad.

Here's a shot looking in to a full 5 gallons.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/henrylumbard/5646735710/
 
I have water like that. Filter it for sure. There will most likely be a metallic aftertaste.
 
Just my .02, I wouldn't use it. I have well water with a high iron content and never brew with it. I buy RO water from the .25 cents a gallon machine then build from there.
 
Ughhh. I don't have a filter so I've gotta run to the store and buy 10 gallons of water. I wish we had one of those pay by the gallon machines near me...
 
I brewed two batches of beer with water that had a minimal amount of iron in it and it gave the beers I made (Weizenbock & Belgian Dubbel) a very funky off-flavor. Admittedly, the funk went away after about 6 months, but again, the iron in my water was minimal, and did not look anything like yours. I would not use it ...
 
Excessive iron is bad for you. In any case I would not brew with water that looked like that. Is it from a well?

Here in Chicago the water tastes funny for a day or two if it rains hard after a dry spell. Don't know why, but I don't brew until it returns to normal.
 
If it looks like that, at least some of the iron is probably dissolved, too- a regular filter won't touch it. You'd need a resin unit to remove it. Our well water is loaded with iron (& calcium), can't use it. I just use the RO water.
 
I don't know WTF it was in there. It's municipal supply, never seen it like that though. I just picked up 10G of Stop & Shop's finest spring water....
 
I use distilled water for every brew, and add back some minerals to provide the ions.
 
I don't know WTF it was in there. It's municipal supply, never seen it like that though. I just picked up 10G of Stop & Shop's finest spring water....

If it's muny water, they might have been doing some hydrant flushing in your area. They usually tend to put up some temp signs or post a notice ahead of time so they don't have hundreds of angry housewives complaining about orange laundry. :D
 
I don't know WTF it was in there. It's municipal supply, never seen it like that though. I just picked up 10G of Stop & Shop's finest spring water....

We get that when the fire department flushes out the hydrants a couple of times a year. I have always caught it in time and ran the tap for a few minutes until it clears. I wouldn't even think about brewing with water that looks like that.

Bob
 
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