Basic Water use question/opinion needed!

Need to know info:
A) I'm brewing an OB today/tomorrow.
B) I moved and this is the first time I will brew with my "new" water.
C) My water here is slightly hard, best I can tell without a test/water report. We've got quite a bit of limestone in the area & there has been the slightest hint of lime/scale build-up on an old faucet from before we moved in. Have no idea how long it took to get like that, but it's not that hard... I don't think!

I'm thinking for simplicity sake I'll maybe go with like gallons of bottled drinking water (moderately soft), and mix in my 2.5 gallons to make up my brew water. Is this a good place to start?

My follow-up question is what styles do well with hard water? Stouts, porters, & dark styles I assume... does it go deeper than that? Oh yea, does hard water effect your hop utilization?

Schlante,
Phillip

Ps fwiw I'm a fan of the 'just brew it' mentality to see how things turn out. That's what I did with my first AG batch at my old place/old water & it turned out to be good stuff (slightly soft & I mostly made ambers, blondes, APA's etc).

anyone??? bump

My local water authority/utilities were a lot of help. If you call up the same in Oprah's Home Town, USA they should help out with all the info you need. They have to test the water on a regular basis and know exactly whats in it even if the water report does not list. Did you move to another city or just another location in Oprah's Home Town? If you are still in Oprah's Home Town why do you think the water source would change?

LeeF said:

My local water authority/utilities were a lot of help. If you call up the same in Oprah's Home Town, USA they should help out with all the info you need. They have to test the water on a regular basis and know exactly whats in it even if the water report does not list. Did you move to another city or just another location in Oprah's Home Town? If you are still in Oprah's Home Town why do you think the water source would change?

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Oprah's Home Town aka Kosciusko MS is a new place to live so the water has changed. I also realize what you're saying is correct about a water report and possibly getting more info from them. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. Was hoping for a general guideline or approval of my plan to use 4 gallons moderately soft bottled water with my moderately hard water.

Schlante,
Phillip

Sorry for the abundance of Oprah's Home Town in the response. I didn't feel like looking up Oprah's Home Town and I really like the way it sounds. Could make a good name for a brew.

Do you know if your water comes from the same source as Jackson's? If so, they may have more information online.

Or if you're brewing soon you could go the R/O water route and build the mineral content.