Brewing with Creek Water?

[Reelale]

I read the 2010 thread about brewing with river water in TN. But that was 2010. Who knows what evils lurk in the waters today? Anyway, a buddy and I were thinking it would be pretty cool to set-up alongside a nearby creek and actually brew with the water. Bring some food, some beer, some more beer, and do like the old moonshiners did it, only legal. Now the creek does not travel through any type of pasture land. It's mostly piney woods. We would set-up very close to the headwaters, as the beavers really like the creek downstream. I'm certain there is giardia in the water, but I'm almost certain there are no serious levels of other contaminants this far upstream.

The EPA and CDC report that boiling, even for a short duration, will kill most all pathogens. I'm going to obtain the water chemistry report from a local impoundment to get an estimation of the water chemistry. Of course we would filter through a cloth to remove the particulates.

So anybody know of any good reasons not to try this? I think it would be a great experiment.

 

[argyle]

Sounds interesting. Make sure you do the chemical tests first. I'd hate to think of using water with dangerous levels of mercury, lead, herbicides, or pesticides.

I have considered doing something similar and am still am planning to do it. My source of water, after I get it tested, is a spring on my parents property. This spring is in a wooded area as well. My family used to fill empty milk jugs at the spring and use it for our drinking water. I'm only 36 and this was about 25 years ago. (WOW! 25 Years. Ha Ha! It has been a while. I just realized, as I wrote this, that is a quarter century ago! Where does the time go?) We used this water as our primary drinking source for a two year period after our well went bad. This was before we had access to "city water."

So good luck, I hope the water is in good condition and free of harmful toxins.

 

[Uziyahu]

Sounds like fun. I say go for it, but make sure the pollution level is very low. No amount of boiling can take out toxic chemicals.

 

[Reelale]

The metals kinda worry me. I think I can get those values from an adjacent creek in the same watershed. Should be the same, because it's the same landscape. No herbicides or pesticides. Seems like every water source in the state has fish advisories for mercury attached to it. I think it's becoming the norm in the US as a whole. Sad.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

If you want to get really outdoorsy you could try to brew up some old time birch or root beer. It's quick if you want to have something to drink while you are waiting for your beer.