hard vs soft water...

[justenoughforme]

i live very rural, have a small well,
and the water tastes great... it doesn't leave stains on anything (i have an iron filter)

the question is, is it better to run softened water (containing sodium/potassium) for my wort, or is it better to run raw well water (which has limestone, though not enough to taste).

it's not super hard water, but if i boil it, i do get scale residue.


... as i understand old english ales attribute the limestone water to adding to the taste of the beer (see the limestone squares that english breweries like Samual Smiths uses).


... so should i use my raw well water, or use my softened culligan water...


please don't tell me to buy bottled water. i know that's best, but the nearest walmart is half an hour, and i just cant bring myself to buy water.

 

[bja]

I also have a well and installed a water softener about 6 months ago. I've brewed with both and I honestly can't tell any difference between using the softened water vs. unsoftened.

 

[justenoughforme]

thanks bja !

i assume the difference is minuscule. just with seeing how many people put minerals into their water... i didn't know if it was something the yeast needed etc.

 

[JoshuaW]

Thes best thing to do would be to pay the $30 to send a sample of your water off to Ward Labs and find out exactly what is in your water, so that you can adjust it appropriately. Our entire state has relatively hard water, but a little bit of hard water isnt a bad thing. A lot of people say not to use soft water because of the sodium content, so if you do need to use the soft water for whatever reason, it might not be a bad idea to invest in an RO filter.

 

[justenoughforme]

thanks Josh !! a fellow indiana brewer !

i want a RO filter ... but ... money dictates all and those aren't cheap.

in the mean time it sounds like the ambient mildly hard water is better than the treated mildly sodium water.

 

[JackieTreehorn77]

Indiana brewer here too, just north of Indy! I've been buying water, but I only have a couple brews under my belt so for now I figure that's one less thing I'll have to worry about. Once I get everything else figured out I'll start looking into my water options.

 

[Mexibilly]

Lots of us Indianans on here.
Justenough, I'm around the corner and down the road in New Castle.
I'm bottling my first all grain this evening, brewed with New Castle city water treated only with campden. I'm anxious to taste how it turned out.
Please post an update.
Have you visited Noble Order and J & J winery west of Richmond on 40?
Good people, good food, good beer, good wine good times.
Maybe I'll see you there one of these days..,

 

[SC_Ryan]

i live very rural, have a small well,
and the water tastes great... it doesn't leave stains on anything (i have an iron filter)

the question is, is it better to run softened water (containing sodium/potassium) for my wort, or is it better to run raw well water (which has limestone, though not enough to taste).

it's not super hard water, but if i boil it, i do get scale residue.


... as i understand old english ales attribute the limestone water to adding to the taste of the beer (see the limestone squares that english breweries like Samual Smiths uses).


... so should i use my raw well water, or use my softened culligan water...


please don't tell me to buy bottled water. i know that's best, but the nearest walmart is half an hour, and i just cant bring myself to buy water.

Extract, Partial mash or all grain?

 

[justenoughforme]

extract right now, plans for partial grain BIAB of course.

 

[mabrungard]

If your iron filter is effective, there should be little problem in brewing many beer styles with hard water. The primary concern is with the alkalinity that accompanies that hardness. That is where knowing what is in your tap water and applying the appropriate amount of acid to the brewing water is important.

More than likely, you can brew with your water. Do get it tested and then you can start experimenting with calculators such as Bru'n Water to correct that alkalinity problem. That makes a big difference in the resulting beer.