hard water okay?

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nlegler

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So live out in rural Iowa always brewed at my buddies place finally going to fly solo. So deep well drilled hard water gets ran through a softner just seeing if it is okay to brew with. Or should I just buy distilled water? Also what about using water from an artesian well?
 
I'd think your best bet is to send out your water for analysis. I'm no water chemistry expert, but I understood that using a softener throws the chemistry all out of whack as far as brewing is concerned. I don't know about using artesian well water, but I'd assume the same- fork out the bucks to send a sample for analysis. Until then, I'd use distilled and build it up yourself.
 
How does the water taste? Lots of detectable minerals after the softner? If the water tastes good then it's probably ok to brew with. You might need to make some adjustments over time but until you get a handle on other things don't worry about the water chemistry. If the water is gross, don't use it for beer.
 
Hardness isn't aterrible thing..... Sulphur, hydrogen sulfidegas, and iron try to avoid. If youve ever tasted sulphur water you KNOW you don't want your beer to tase like that. Same for iron. I have about six times the staining threshold ofiron in my well and all the crap that has it's root in that. So I have a fifteen gallon barrel I filll at a neighbors palce.
 
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