Iron in water

[InYerMouth]

I recently moved into a new residence and had my water tested since I am on a well. I ran two samples, one straight from the pipe and one after the water softener. The soft water obviously comes back with hardly any minerals but very high in sodium. The hard water minerals look better balanced but the iron is at 1.523 ppm. Couple question:

Is this to much iron to brew with?
What potential affect could this have on my final flavor profile?
If it's too much, what is the best way to filter it out and save my minerals? I read somewhere carbon filters don't work well on iron?

Thanks for any help!

 

[mabrungard]

Go to the Water Knowledge page of the Bru'n Water website to get your answer.

 

[ajdelange]

I recently moved into a new residence and had my water tested since I am on a well. I ran two samples, one straight from the pipe and one after the water softener. The soft water obviously comes back with hardly any minerals but very high in sodium. The hard water minerals look better balanced but the iron is at 1.523 ppm. Couple question:

Is this to much iron to brew with?

About 15 times too much.

What potential affect could this have on my final flavor profile?

Doesn't the water taste pretty metallic? Same flavors will come through in the beer.

If it's too much, what is the best way to filter it out and save my minerals? I read somewhere carbon filters don't work well on iron?

For occasional brewing oxidize the Fe(II) iron (clear) to Fe(III) by sparging with air, by pouring back and forth between buckets or by spraying. Then filter through clean sand. An ugly brown sludge should collect on the top surface of the sand. Backflush away when finished and save the sand for subsequent use. That's a lot of iron and it may take multiple oxidation/filtration cycles to get it down to the point where you can't taste it any more. Though the EPA SMCL is 0.3 mg/L for drinking water brewers usually want 0.1 or less.

If you don't want the trouble of messing with the sand every time you brew then your well supplier will be happy to sell you an iron reduction filter. These work on the same principle - Fe(II) is oxidized but they often use an oxidizing agent such as KMnO4 rfather than air and the sand is usually a special sand called 'greensand' which is easily oxidized by the permanganate and, in turn, readily oxidizes the iron.