Question about lake water

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ElyIrishBrew

ElyIrishBrew

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First, the background. I guide for lake trout on Burntside Lake, a deep, cold, clear lake with very soft and pure water in NE Minnesota. It is my favorite lake by far, and I consider it a very special place. Our town gets its water from Burntside, as well.

So I want to take water from the lake for my first batches of home brew. My plan is to take it from the middle of the lake, not near shore. I've had water fresh from the lake several times, and it's really great. I'm interested in how it will shape the batches of beer I brew.

I also have helped organize and participated in an annual ice fishing event for lake trout called The Burntside Bash, and think it would be very cool to brew up a couple batches of pale ale and red ale and have my graphic designer wife come up with Burntside Bash Pale Ale and Burntside Bash Red Ale labels. And I could surprise the heck out of the guys who come to the bash.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else out there uses water like this for their beer, and what the considerations are.

Thanks!
 
If it's good to drink, it's fine for brewing!


That said, you could have all kinds of yuckies. I think I would boil extra long, 90 minutes plus, to help kill any of the bacteria that will be in the water.


If it's good to drink, it's fine for brewing!
 
Halbrust said:
If it's good to drink, it's fine for brewing!


That said, you could have all kinds of yuckies. I think I would boil extra long, 90 minutes plus, to help kill any of the bacteria that will be in the water.


If it's good to drink, it's fine for brewing!
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Would I just boil the water alone for 30 minutes and then add ingredients for the 60-minute boil?
 
I wouldn't do anything different, just brew with it as normal. A longer boil will have no more impact on "yuckies" than a regular 60 min boil. Go for it without worries ;)
 
There is nothing that will live through a 60 minute boil that an extra 30 minutes will change. You'll be perfectly fine. However, if you partial boil and top off in the fermenter you should make sure to boil the top off water first.
 
I think a 10 minute boil would kill anything. I am interested to hear how it tastes! Good ambition my friend.
 
ktblunden said:
There is nothing that will live through a 60 minute boil that an extra 30 minutes will change. You'll be perfectly fine. However, if you partial boil and top off in the fermenter you should make sure to boil the top off water first.
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Indeed.
 
Is it possible to get a sample into a clean container and send to a lab, like Wards? If the water is soft it may lack some minerals needed for yeast growth. However I would suspect that you may find agricultural chemicals in the lake water like nitrates and nitrites, so you may want to consider having it tested.
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
Our town gets its water from Burntside, as well.
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...if the town uses it, they may publish water reports, which may contain mineral profile, hardness, etc. Helpful to know as you fine-tune your recipes.

Brew on!
 
BrewerinBR said:
Is it possible to get a sample into a clean container and send to a lab, like Wards? If the water is soft it may lack some minerals needed for yeast growth. However I would suspect that you may find agricultural chemicals in the lake water like nitrates and nitrites, so you may want to consider having it tested.
Click to expand...

I can get all that info from our local city water treatment plant manager, since our tap water is Burntside water. Thanks for the tip, and thanks everyone for helping. :)

There is no agriculture up here at all, and Burntside is a Canadian Shield lake on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. There are quite a few lake properties along the south shore, but very, very few lawns that get fertilized. Butnside is about 7,000 acres.

I also keep discus fish, and testing the water right out of the tap with my aquarium testing gear shows no nitrates, nitrites or ammonia. Whether those are removed by the treatment plant or are absent naturally I don't know. The water's pH is about 6.5, and there is some mineralization. How much, and is it enough? Time will tell! :D

Come to think of it, I'm going to head to the lake and grab a sample and use my aquarium test kit to assess hardness. Thanks for the idea!
 
There are a lot of places far from agriculture and cities and they still have nitrate and nitrites in open lake water and still experience acid rain. If you can get the full mineral report from the plant that is cool, but I bet they only test the water going out, not whats coming in. Good Luck!

It is very special and beautiful place the boundary waters, one of the best canoe-camping experiences of my life was there. I met some very special people. I would like to do that again, if I was younger.
 
OK, so our public works guy Burntside water as it comes out of the lake is very soft, with a total hardness of about 20-25 ppm. There is no individual mineral breakdown available. By contrast, most well water in the area is 100-200 ppm. He said anything under 100 ppm is considered soft. Nitrates and nitrites are very low or not present in the lake's water, he said.

So do you guys know if I'm wasting my time trying to brew beer with water at 20-25 ppm, and will I have to wait longer for fermentation if it is viable?

If not, I reckon I'll use well water from a friend of mine's place along Burntside.
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
OK, so our public works guy Burntside water as it comes out of the lake is very soft, with a total hardness of about 20-25 ppm. There is no individual mineral breakdown available. By contrast, most well water in the area is 100-200 ppm. He said anything under 100 ppm is considered soft. Nitrates and nitrites are very low or not present in the lake's water, he said.

So do you guys know if I'm wasting my time trying to brew beer with water at 20-25 ppm, and will I have to wait longer for fermentation if it is viable?

If not, I reckon I'll use well water from a friend of mine's place along Burntside.
Click to expand...

Most people who brew have soft water out of the tap. You can harden the water by adding gypsum.
 
If you're looking at brewing water, Google the following:
EZ Water
Bru'n Water

Soft water is great. Most homebrew shops carry brewing salts...Calcium Chloride and Calcium Sulfate are usually all that's needed.
 
Soooooooooooo....................the lake water comes out of your tap, but you want to paddle out into the lake and fill a 5 gallon container and heft it home?;)

What does the treatment plant add?
 
I remember AJ Delange saying that for all intents and purposes, unless your water is riduclously soft (as in no mineral hardness), it's best not to futz around with it. He brews a lot of lager though, so that might explain a bit where he is coming from (prefering less mineral content in his water), but he still is an expert on brewing water. The important thing is hitting mash pH and the less buffering capabilities you have, the better imho. The old "adding chalk" to stouts, in order to keep the pH from getting too low is pretty much bogus unless you go to extremes.

I personally wouldn't mess around with adding salts. Just add yeast nutrients if you are worried about yeast health, but I wouldn't fret about it: you have some mineral content, that's fine.
 
cheezydemon3 said:
Soooooooooooo....................the lake water comes out of your tap, but you want to paddle out into the lake and fill a 5 gallon container and heft it home?;)

What does the treatment plant add?
Click to expand...

Ten gallons, actually, and from my moving guide boat, not a canoe. :mug:

I don't know what all they add, but some of it is flouride and chlorine. I know I can boil off the chlorine, but why not get the purest water I can? And if I want to name the brews after Burntside, I gots ta get actual Burntside water. :)

jfr1111 said:
I remember AJ Delange saying that for all intents and purposes, unless your water is riduclously soft (as in no mineral hardness), it's best not to futz around with it. He brews a lot of lager though, so that might explain a bit where he is coming from (prefering less mineral content in his water), but he still is an expert on brewing water. The important thing is hitting mash pH and the less buffering capabilities you have, the better imho. The old "adding chalk" to stouts, in order to keep the pH from getting too low is pretty much bogus unless you go to extremes.

I personally wouldn't mess around with adding salts. Just add yeast nutrients if you are worried about yeast health, but I wouldn't fret about it: you have some mineral content, that's fine.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the peace of mind. Does anyone think it'll take longer to ferment than with harder water?
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
Ten gallons, actually, and from my moving guide boat, not a canoe. :mug:

I don't know what all they add, but some of it is flouride and chlorine. I know I can boil off the chlorine, but why not get the purest water I can? And if I want to name the brews after Burntside, I gots ta get actual Burntside water. :)
Click to expand...

agreed! AWESOME project, just felt a little ribbing was appropriate!
 
If you've seen the documentary how beer saved the world, they brew with stagnate duck pond water and test it before and after with no treatments other than normal brewing procedures. Came out great.
 
cheezydemon3 said:
You know what.......he needs to find a friendly dock where he can "lager a lake brew in the actual lake over winter!

There was a thread around here somewhere about doing that...
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I know of just such a dock. :D

Honestly, I think it would come full circle when I'm out guiding lake trout anglers to pull out a few Burntside Red Ales after a day on the lake and explain about that brew. Or Burntside Laker Lager. Oh yeah! :)
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
I know of just such a dock. :D

Honestly, I think it would come full circle when I'm out guiding lake trout anglers to pull out a few Burntside Red Ales after a day on the lake and explain about that brew. Or Burntside Laker Lager. Oh yeah! :)
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hell yes.... but don't tell them until after they drink the beer that it is made from lake water, while you pee over the side:)
 
cheezydemon3 said:
hell yes.... but don't tell them until after they drink the beer that it is made from lake water, while you pee over the side:)
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Hahahaha! That's so how it has to be done.
 
Lol. Just a funny visual. Some clients would be freaked by lake water period, sans urine . Some would be freaked by Beer period. Not suggesting jeopardizing your livelihood!;)
 

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