River Water

[gcobb74]

Not sure if anyone has tried to do this one before,

We have a river about 1 hour from my place that is awesome to kayak and canoe down with several big rapids. I had the thought as we were kayaking this weekend to gather 7 gallons of water for a 5 gallon batch. I would want to purify the water etc but don't know the best way to get started or if this would even be worth the effort.... has anyone done anything like this and has it worked?

Thanks! :rockin:

 

[JDGator]

you could do a few things, boil, UV filter, carbon filters, etc.

Id be tempted to do nothing with it. just get brewing with it. i don't want natural water (river, spring etc) that has been played with. may as well just drink city water full of chemicals and chlorine.

Might not be the safest, but i'd go for it.

 

[kh54s10]

For me it would depend on the river. I would never use water in any rivers around my neck of the woods, even if I did purify it in some fashion.

I have no experience in this, the only way I would do it would be to distill the water, then it would be easier and maybe even cheaper to just go buy some.

 

[gcobb74]

I think I will just try to boil the water and roll with it. I'll prob do a simple 5 gallon batch so if it tastes bad no worries.

Thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

Have you tasted your river water? Let that be your guide. Also consider the sources of that water. Some fresh water may be high in minerals, which could be what you're looking for, or just not.

Your 60 minute boil will kill most micro organisms, so you should be safe on that end. Worth a try.

 

[daksin]

Yea, since you'll be boiling the wort for 60m, there's no need to do anything else to it.

 

[Ramitt]

I'd probably run it through a filter to remove sediment

 

[Msbeer]

Why not just boil a Gallon for a hour put some in a bottle and refrigerate it over night and see how it tastes the next day?

If it tastes like fish urine you won't have wasted the ingredients on bad water.

 

[Pratzie]

U gonna brew extract or All Grain? filtering would be smart as there could be any type of mineral/element/heavy metal in the water.

I live in an area known for mining and our river water is very acidic, i'd never consider using it for home brewing.

Have you looked into the DEP to see if they have any water sample numbers posted?

 

[Ramitt]

That seems like a wise idea Pratzie