Artesian well suitability

[catdad]

Hi all, I live in Salt Lake City very close to an artesian well where anyone can go to fill water jugs, and am trying to figure out whether it might be reasonable to try this water for brewing. Luckily, the city tests this water frequently and publishes the water chemistry in some detail.

The city website with a link is here: Artesian Well Park | Public Lands Department
Link directly to the water report: https://www.slcdocs.com/parks/Artesian Well/Artesian Well - 2022 Data.pdf

My usual method is to buy RO and do very simple additions tailored to beer style. And from my basic understanding of water chemistry, both the alkalinity and hardness of this water look like they are probably too high to be worth while. The sulfate, chloride, calcium, and magnesium are also quite high. All that said, the water tastes fantastic and has great mouthfeel, so I don't want to rule it out prematurely. So I'm curious if any experts on here think it could be worth giving this a go or maybe using diluted with RO. Thanks!

 

[huckdavidson]

The mineral content is fairly high making it good drinking water.

The high alkalinity and mineral content would be OK for darker beers like stouts and porters.

For practical brewing purposes, you'll want to cut it with RO water, filter it with a RO system or just save the hassle and just use RO water.

 

[day_trippr]

A hard pass is softer than that water and that's what I recommend. Woof!

Cheers!

 

[mabrungard]

This is another example of the insanity that people place on “spring water”. That word is absolutely no indicator that the water is suitable for anything, including drinking. Thankfully, there’s a water report that confirms that it would make a poor candidate for brewing.

Stick with a less mineralized water.