Using Well Water

[beedude]

Looking for some insight before I begin brewing. I live in Central Florida and we have a well. The well water is hard and has a lot of iron. The water is somewhat alkaline (aquifer is limestone). We have a water softener installed. I have been told that the unprocessed well water will darken the beer and that softened water should not be used. May need to buy water which I prefer not to do. Any thoughts or experience with this issue?

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Bensiff]

You want to get rid of the iron for sure. How you do that depends on what type of iron is in your water, which could mean a multi step filtration process. Softening water adds a ton of salts which is something that might be bad depending on how much is added. You might consider getting an RO system, they are cheaper and much more efficient than they used to be and have the added benefit of letting you build the water profile from the ground up.

 

[AkTom]

I use well water and a water softener. I started out doing 4 extract kits. The first 2 I bypassed the water softener. The last 2 I didn't. I have have done ciders, Graff and many all grain without bypassing. I'd try a couple with using the softener and see how they turn out. My well water in Alaska will obviously be somewhat different than yours. You never know till you try. Brew on brother.

 

[bja]

I use well water and a water softener. I started out doing 4 extract kits. The first 2 I bypassed the water softener. The last 2 I didn't. I have have done ciders, Graff and many all grain without bypassing. I'd try a couple with using the softener and see how they turn out. My well water in Alaska will obviously be somewhat different than yours. You never know till you try. Brew on brother.

^^ This.

I have well water with a softener and have brewed with softened, unsoftened and purchased spring water. To be honest, I couldn't tell much, if any difference between them.

 

[Sunward33]

I also have a well and our water is full of iron and sulfur. We installed a Culligan Iron-Cleer filtration system that removes all of the iron and also clears out the rotten egg smell.
When I first started brewing I worried about my water and bought bottles of RO water which I adjusted with acid malt and calcium chloride. At about $2 per 2.5 gallons it really isn't that big of an expense.
For a great sticky about building up RO water check out https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460.
I've since bought a britta and now just use the double filtered water. My beer tastes fine. At some point I'll get my water tested.