The water in my town is no good!

[mjh]

Hi all:

I haven't even purchased any home brewing equipment yet becuase there is a potential hang up that has prevented me from getting started. The water in my town, in North East Montana has terrible water. Everyone here buys water at the grocery store. I don't have a problem buying water to actually brew with, but how do I sanitize?

The water here has high amounts of dissolved minerals in it - mainly calcium and/or lime. When my dishes dry in the drying rack, they are covered in white spots that can be removed by rubbing your finger over the dish.

So my concern is that the sanitation process for brewing will not be totally clean, so I have held off on brewing on my own until I could get some input from the experts.

I have brewed with my next door neighbor, all the equip was his. And then I moved to Montana and I need this as a hobby to get me through the long winters.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[KevinW]

You may want to get a water analysis from your water department. You may be limited in the type of beer you can brew with the local water supply, look at Burton-on-Trent's water analysis.

I have read where a lot of brewers here on HBT will dilute their water with store bought water or distilled/RO water too!

There are a lot of resources on the internet I personally use my Beersmith software but I have also used the water chemistry calculator on the Brewers friend website!

Good luck and I hope you can find a low cost solution, it would be sad to lose a potentially great brewer due to water issues

 

[buffalobrewer]

if you do a full boil the water will all get sanitized. Mineral content in the water is different from "bug" content.

I guess I don't see where your concern is coming from.

 

[Legin]

All grain or extract brewing? If you are doing extract, water is not nearly as important. Usually if it tastes good, you can brew with it, after removing any chlorine or chloramine. Boiling will take care of the sanitization issues.
Edit: If you decide on using your water, I suggest you buy campden tablets, as they remove chlorine and the much more difficult to remove chloramine.

All-grain is a different matter. You would have to get a water analysis, and even then, as Kevin has mentioned, you may be limited with which beers you can produce, even with knowledge of water chemistry.

Usually store-bought water is safe to use and has been sterilized via filters or RO. You might want to ask them about it. If not, and you are doing extract brew, you can always boil the water previously to adding it to your carboy to top-off.

 

[Nurmey]

Welcome to HBT!

Buy a couple jugs of distilled water, add Star San to the distilled water and use those for sanitizing. Using distilled water, since it is mineral free, will allow the Star San to stay at the right pH for months. Buy a spray bottle to fill the Star San and use it to sanitize your brewing equipment. When I sanitize my buckets and carboys, I use the mix in the jug, sanitize, and using a funnel refill the storage jug. I also keep a tube of pH test strips so I can check the strength of the Star San with every use.

Buying water to brew with is a pain but very doable.

 

[the_bird]

If the water's that hard, if and when you get into AG you may want to make an investment in a RO system and get yourself smart about water chemistry. Probably want to start by spending the what, $20, to get a good water report from Ward Labs.

It may be as simple for brewing purposes as cutting your brew water with 50% RO (or maybe even just distilled) water.

I'm assuming that because people buy water, it *is* a taste issue?

 

[mjh]

Thanks everyone for your input. The water here is soft water, and the taste is awful. I am still considering my options and I will take all of this into consideration.

cheers

 

[buffalobrewer]

if the taste is bad i'd probably end up buying water or getting a good filter. How does it taste after out of a brita filter, after a boil, etc?