Water test = bad news

[Dfinnegan]

My story in a nut shell... home brewer for 10+ years. Trying to go pro. I moved my equipment to a new location that has well water as its main source . Brewed a batch of beer that came out pretty good but not great. I thought, ummm maybe it's the water? I should have done this earlier in the process but I just had a water sample sent to a local water testing lab and it came back showing E. coli present, arsenic above normal levels, as well as iron and Maganese present at above EPA standards.
Any fixes for this? Does reverse osmosis help here? Should I have water delivered from ABC water delivery truck? Not sure what to do...

 

[sillbeer]

I think a gravity fed charcoal filter would filter everything out. They are usually slow though.

 

[55x11]

My story in a nut shell... home brewer for 10+ years. Trying to go pro. I moved my equipment to a new location that has well water as its main source . Brewed a batch of beer that came out pretty good but not great. I thought, ummm maybe it's the water? I should have done this earlier in the process but I just had a water sample sent to a local water testing lab and it came back showing E. coli present, arsenic above normal levels, as well as iron and Maganese present at above EPA standards.
Any fixes for this? Does reverse osmosis help here? Should I have water delivered from ABC water delivery truck? Not sure what to do...

invest in industrial level RO filtering machine?

 

[Qhrumphf]

I think a gravity fed charcoal filter would filter everything out. They are usually slow though.

I didn't think carbon filters were particularly good at any of them. Research suggests that coliform bacteria can slip through, although in brewing that'd be destroyed by the process and there's likely some present on the grain anyway. I'd be more concerned about the iron, manganese, and arsenic. Research also suggests that carbon CAN remove iron and manganese in a high quality filter but other methods are better. It's not very effective against arsenic though.

 

[MidAtlanticBrew]

There are solutions out there, check local water treatment companies who likely have experience with the minerals in your area. Also iron and Arsenic like each other ... Could be the pipes,

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/fs_arsenic_dist_sys_factsheet_final.pdf

 

[sillbeer]

I was thinking specifically like our Berkley filter we have for drinking water at home but they are too small for someone that brews often.

Here's their filtration specs.

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkey-answers/performance/filtration-specifications/

 

[ajdelange]

Yes, RO will take care of all that stuff but if some of them are above action levels I don't see how you are going to get a permit to use that well for residential let alone commercial use. Confirmed E coli would cause the health department to require the well be shocked and if that doesn't cure the problem they would probably condemn it. Local regs may vary but if RO is an acceptable solution then you should be able to come up with something fairly easily. 500 - 1000 GPD skids are a few $K and while you will need some other stuff with the skid it should be feasible for even a small operation. There are, of course, lots of other advantages to RO.

 

[Dfinnegan]

Thanks for the input fellas.... This is one of those examples of the saying,"budget your brewery build than double it for incidentals" guess I will need a serious filtration system

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Yes - all that is treatable, but you'll want to consult a pro

Russ