Brewing with Lake Water

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mjdonnelly68

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Good afternoon guys.

First of all, as someone who is new to home brewing I'd like to thank everyone who takes the time and effort to participate in this forum. Your insight and information has really helped me as I toe in to home brewing. Danke and Slainte!

Now my question: Is there any reason that I should not use lake water (taken directly from the lake) to brew? For kicks, I'd like to source some water from my favorite Adirondack lake and use it in a batch.

I intend to charcoal filter and boil it before use. Any other prohibitions or suggestions?
 
If you boil and filter there is not issues.
I use distilled water from the store just because I dont want any minerals in my beer unless said minerals are going to benefit the taste.
 
well, boiling it will kill all the baddies.

more importantly you should taste it - after boiling of course to make sure the water doesn't taste like swass or something. bad water in equals bad beer out.

other than that there is no reason not to use it. then come up with some nice lake themed name.
 
+1 on judging by taste. the rule of thumb is "if it tastes good to drink, then it is generally ok to brew with".

i if you are doing all grain beer, you may need to think about the mineral content in the lake water.
 
There is a homebrew club about an hour from me that sponsors an Ice Brew every February. Guys drive their trucks loaded with their gear onto the frozen lake and brew away. They cut holes in the ice and use the lake water. Not everyone uses it for brewing, but it works great for chilling. I have been meaning to do this for some time, but haven't made it up there yet.
 
+1 on judging by taste. the rule of thumb is "if it tastes good to drink, then it is generally ok to brew with".

i if you are doing all grain beer, you may need to think about the mineral content in the lake water.

+1

If you're doing extract, boiling and filtering should be fine as long as the water tastes ok. If you want to get into all-grain with it, I'd recommend sending out a sample for water chemistry testing.
 
If you're dealing with one of the Adirondack lakes, they are typically pretty soft and have low alkalinity. Similar to Pilsen water in some cases. If the water is clear, it should be good for brewing. The carbon filtering will remove any off flavors. Additional calcium may be warranted if the lake water is soft like typical for the region's lakes.
 
I use artesian well water. It's chemically pure and I checked the pH last night, it's slightly alkaline; so far it's done well.

For a lake, I'd boil the living hell out of it before using it; that means a full minute at a rolling boil. That's before you start using it as your wort, of course.
 
If the source is pure (get the docs on what's in the water), I'd say you have a better source than many. Go for it, but maybe don't add any after boil.
 
Aren't the Adirondack Lakes pretty badly eff'd up from acid rain? I know the fishing is bad in a lot of them, especially if they aren't stocked. I'd look into your particular source to be sure.
 
Thanks for all of the great feedback.

Many of the Adirondack lakes have had issues with acid rain - definitely something to look in to.

The lake I'm thinking of is Long Lake in the central Adirondacks. It's actually formed by a widening of the Raquette River, so I'm hoping that acid rain is less of an issue (as it's not land locked and static).

I'm going to give it a whirl and see how it comes out.
 
Here's a link with some info and there is a contact at the bottom for more information:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8418.html

I've been wanting to brew at my cousin's cabin in Schroon Lake, using snow as my only source of water, for awhile now. My plan was to then lager the beer in his basement in between visits.

I like your idea too and would love to try it. Maybe contact one of the Adirondack breweries for more info about the water sources up there.
 
With respect to brewing water quality, acid rain won't really have an effect. It's pretty bad for aquatic environments with very little buffering capacity like the adirondacks. But its not a real detriment to brewing.
 
Thanks to everyone for the help and advice.

Ran up to Long Lake today and drew ten+ gallons of lake water. Pumped it through a water filter and boiled the living bejessus out of it.

Just finished a batch of American Brown Ale with it (Long Lake Brown). It's in primary fermentation and hopes are high.

The lake water has a very high mineral content (thus it's copper brown hue). With any luck that will not negatively impact the brew.

Time will tell - can't wait to find out.

Have a great weekend.
 
I doubt it was high mineral content causing the color in the water. Haloacetic compounds (including tannins) are more likely the cause of the color. A very slow filtering through an activated carbon filter might have taken some of the compounds and color out. If this is a typical Adirondack lake, the mineralization of the water should be low.

Good luck with the brew.
 
Why would you have to boil it ahead of time? Wouldn't boiling your wort take care of that? Unless you are using it as top off water I don't see why you need to boil ahead of time, I would filter it though.
 
Well, thanks to all of you for your comments, this is a great thread.

I grew up at Lake Tahoe (California/Nevada border) and always drank the water with no ill effects (other than a few mental issues). I am going to use it for a batch of brew but I sure will take it far away from any EPA approved "treated" sewage discharge points.

Back in the day, they made beer from whatever water they had.
 
Well, thanks to all of you for your comments, this is a great thread.

I grew up at Lake Tahoe (California/Nevada border) and always drank the water with no ill effects (other than a few mental issues). I am going to use it for a batch of brew but I sure will take it far away from any EPA approved "treated" sewage discharge points.

Back in the day, they made beer from whatever water they had.

Be careful about the EPA treated sewage discharge points. I work in the wastewater industry and I can assure just because it has been treated doesn't mean it is ok to drink. I am sure the EPA doesn't mean that either.
 
Hey all, very helpfull thread here as i live in the adirondacks as well. I have a natural spring that runs close to my house and i get drinking water there all the time. drink it straight from the tap. I was thinking about using this but was a little unsure. I used ro/di water for my first batch. still witing to see how it vomes out.
 
Victory! My Long Lake Brown is brewed, bottled and ready for gifting.

Thanks to everyone for your advice and support. Your generous interest made my project both possible and fun.

Can Lake Placid Lager be far behind?

image-4290826177.jpg
 
To close the circle:

My Long Lake Brown turned out very well. No problems with any off-flavors or funkiness. Very enjoyable.

I think the lake water worked well with the recipe I chose (A Newcastle style brown). I think some water additions might have be necessary if you are brewing another style (to keep the beer from turning out thin).

Get yourself a hiking water purifier and allow for an extra hour or so of pumping (it's a slow process).

If you are bottle conditioning, use a little more sugar than you normally would. Carbonation was a little light in my batch.

If you are bottling, work the lake into the label. From my experience, the water source and the story greatly enhanced folks enjoyment of the beer.
 
Not sure if someone has mentioned it yet(I'm too lazy to read through all the comments), but on the documentary "How beer saved the world" they did this. At Oregon State they used pond water and brewed a beer with it, and it yielded good results. Beer is how they made it through the Medieval times after all! Boil the unsafe drinking water, and turn it into beer :)

As far as making good beer, as others have said, you would want to consider the mineral content/ph of the water..who knows what it is.
 
I can't believe this wasn't posted!
 
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