Water

[Harold]

I am new to this forum and very reluctant to post questions after having seen considerable criticism citing others for not having "done their research". I have read several books (research) in which water quality was discussed. More specifically it was stated that the presence of iron in one's water could/would destroy enzymes necessary for converting starch to sugar thus water needs to be tested for the presence of iron.

I recently visited our local brewing supply establishment (pro-active research) seeking a means of testing for the presence of iron in my water source (well water). They had no test kit and knew of no test kit that one could purchase. So with great trepidation I ask, where can I purchase a test kit that might be used to test for the presence of iron in my water supply?

[Tater]

Check with county health dept in your area they should be able to hook ya up with where you can have a sample checked.

[astronomical]

In my neck of the woods you can find the water reports for the year.

Things like chlorine wont help either, and, the makeup of your water will have many nutrients which may be beneficial. I used R/O water for a long time until one day I decided, "Frack it, I'm gonna try tap water". It worked like a charm and I never turned back. I'd suggest just giving it a try or looking for a water report for your area.

Regardless of the iron content, it still may not be optimal.


Google : "your town" water quality report.... maybe youll get lucky. works for me

[BigPa]

You can do a search on "water test kits". There are tons of them on the net and you can test the water yourself...

[Prairiepiss]

Di you need to filter it to drink it? Does your sinks and stuff have brown stains from the water? Does it stink? If you say yes to one of those I would have It tested. If you said no to all of them run with it.

I have gone to county health departments and had tests done in the past. Usually for free.

[junkyard dawg]

Unless there is some reason to believe you have excessive iron in your water then I doubt there is a problem. And its already been said. You'll know if you have too much iron from the stains it leaves on everything...

Sounds to me like if the brewers didn't know anything about it then its not an issue. Did you ask them if they mash with that water?

waterfiltersonline.com

I get filters from them.

[rad14701]

Geez, Harold, for the sake of sounding cynical, it sounds like you're being told to do some research...

But, seriously... Have you tried using your water as-is before being alarmed about iron or is that merely something that came to mind during your research...??? If you're not easily finding anything about it here in the forums, on the parent site, or by talking with a brewing supply company, then it may not be as big of a problem as you read about...

I've used water with a known high iron content without issue but if you're concerned you could try using a filter... I've seen whole house filters rated for three months trip the bypass in half that time due to iron deposits...

[cooperville]

Harold if you contact your water department and ask for a water analysis this will give you the content of your water.

The need to check your water is to check PH and other minerals in your water,there are differnet water types around the world and beers are atributed to their location and the source of the water.
I doubt water flavours have anything to do with distilling, you would more than likely lose the flavours after distilling but it is more to help the ensymes and nutrients during the conversion of starch to sugars and in the fermentor. there are programs on the net to fix water problems check 'you tube' unless you have serious problems with your water i would do a run and see how it goes but for all grain you will need to know you water to get the maximum conversion!

A must read for all grain is john plamers" how to brew"and this also contains water treatment!


cooperville

[Old MacDonald]

Have you tried a magnet? (jk!)

Seriously, unless you know of an obvious local problem with excessive iron in your water supply, then chlorine & alkalinity (hardness) are much bigger 'issues'.

+1 to recommending John Palmers website for further info... >>START HERE<<

[Harold]

Have you tried a magnet? (jk!)

Seriously, unless you know of an obvious local problem with excessive iron in your water supply, then chlorine & alkalinity (hardness) are much bigger 'issues'.

+1 to recommending John Palmers website for further info... >>START HERE<<

I will attempt to clarify the conundrum with which I am faced:

1. I do not live within a township or city limits thus I have no access to "city water". I reside on the fringes of the wilds of Alaska 30 miles from the nearest town (which is Wasilla, Alaska). Well water supplies my home.
2. I live in a very seismically active area (Cook Inlet of Mat-Su Valley). Just today we had 14 earthquakes. This is an everyday event that can be better appreciated by visiting our Alaska University Earthquake Information Center and viewing the map showing our recent seismic events (today) http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/recent/macsub/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. The earth in our area is terribly fractured thus water supplies (quality & quantity) to our homes is not consistent as one would expect to appreciate in local areas of the Lower 48 or other parts of the world. The depths of wells and the quality of water varies dramatically in a very small radius.
3. My home is a newly built home (less than a year old) and if iron is present in our water supply then I suspect that discoloration of sinks, tubs, and toilet bowls will require a bit more time.
4. I have tested the pH of our water and it's a bit on the acidic side (ph 6.5). I was hoping it would be a little toward the basic side with a presence of calcium (like that of the water around my childhood home in Caldwell County, Kentucky). I have ordered a test kit. I suspect that our ground water will harbor some calcium as I live right at the ocean's edge of Cook Inlet. Additionally we have several large glaciers near my home (only a few miles away) and these present-day glaciers deposited "rich crunched up soil from old oceans and lakes" over the last umpteen million years shaping the vast valley in which we currently reside. There is no telling what minerals are present in our ground water. Mat-Su Valley is the richest in all of Alaska and this is where giant heads of cabbage and grape fruit size radishes are grown along with various other vegetables.
5. I have not seen sediment in glasses of standing water. Nor have I detected a reddish color to the water or experienced an unusual smell or taste in my well water. I have no filtration system on my water supply.

So I am doing my best to "cover my bases". This is the reason I join forums, ask questions, and seek advice from those with hopefully more experience than I. When "things" are avoidable, then why not capitalize on others' knowledge and make a conscious effort to thwart, or better yet, avoid conditions that are known (or reportedly known) to have negative effects on desired outcomes?

[NineInchNails]

A reverse osmosis unit would clean most any water up to 2 ppm (parts per million). You could collect rain water. I hear that's great for this hobby.

I'd just give you tap water a shot with a basic sugar wash. If all goes well then I imagine you don't have any serious water problems.

[sparky marky]

If water looks ok, smells ok and tastes ok then it is probably good enough for brewing. It might not be textbook perfect water but alot of commercial breweries/distilleries brag about the unique characteristic they get from their well water. But to be sure it's ok for brewing with grains I would set aside an hour or two to try a small mash.
Take 1kg malted barley and mix it up with 2.5 liters of water at 70 degrees C.
Resulting temp should be 65. Wrap it up warm to keep it at this temp for an hour.
By this time the liquid should be pretty sugary and will give a hydrometer reading somewhere between 1060-1080.
That's how you know it worked

[Harold]

If water looks ok, smells ok and tastes ok then it is probably good enough for brewing. It might not be textbook perfect water but alot of commercial breweries/distilleries brag about the unique characteristic they get from their well water. But to be sure it's ok for brewing with grains I would set aside an hour or two to try a small mash.
Take 1kg malted barley and mix it up with 2.5 liters of water at 70 degrees C.
Resulting temp should be 65. Wrap it up warm to keep it at this temp for an hour.
By this time the liquid should be pretty sugary and will give a hydrometer reading somewhere between 1060-1080.
That's how you know it worked

Sparky: I really like the idea of using Barley (small quanity) as a test. Thanks for that idea.

NineInchNails: When Spring arrives, I will give rainwater a try. It is currently quite frozen where I live.

[Tater]

Maybe use melted snow or ice then.

[Bearcat]

If you are set on getting your water tested. This is a popular source.

http://www.wardlab.com/FeeSchedule/WaterAnalysis.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Get the W6 or which ever you see the benefit. They email you your results with in 3 day of receipt of sample.

[junkyard dawg]

ya know,

Sounds like Harold is in an enviable position as far as water goes. I wouldn't be worried about anything... I'd be taking advantage of all the diverse sources of clean water...

[thump keg]

Hey Harold,
I'm just a ol country boy but you would think well water in Alaska would be about as good as it gets.
Now this may be a silly question, have you tried a batch to see how it converts?

[Harold]

Hey Harold,
I'm just a ol country boy but you would think well water in Alaska would be about as good as it gets.
Now this may be a silly question, have you tried a batch to see how it converts?

ya know,
Sounds like Harold is in an enviable position as far as water goes. I wouldn't be worried about anything... I'd be taking advantage of all the diverse sources of clean water...

Hi Guys,
The following was written on 25 JAN 12 as an attempt to describe how dynamic the earth is in my area. Just on the 25th, we had 14 earthquakes. Numerous quakes are an everyday event. I live in a very seismically active area (Cook Inlet of Mat-Su Valley). These events can be better appreciated by visiting our Alaska University Earthquake Information Center and viewing the map showing our recent seismic events http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/recent/macsub/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. The earth in our area is terribly fractured thus water supplies (quality & quantity) to our homes is neither consistent nor dependable as one would expect in local areas of the Lower 48. The depths of wells and the quality of water varies dramatically in a very small radius.

I spent my formative years in Eastern Kentucky ...... Coal Country. Coal Companies would mine coal under our homes or have strip mines just on the other side of the hill. Which ever the case, blasting would frequently collapse our wells or fracture our wells in which case mud seams would open and leak into an otherwise sweet water well. It's not too much different here. To a certain point, the quality of our water is better and the supply more dependable if we live above the valley floor. Currently, I don't think I have a water problem.

I recently mashed with flaked corn and Barley malt. It seems that everything went well though I would have expected a higher SG than what I got; my SG was 1.042 and I would have thought I would have at least reached 1.060. I suppose this may be the result of poor technique or lack of attention to detail or any number of things. But the fact remains that conversion occurred. From this I should assume that my water supply is OK for the time being. No blasting is going on here but the earth shimmies so much that we can't keep our lathes and milling machines level and our new concrete shop floors look like road maps as all these cracks are due to numerous and frequent tremors.

Harold

[rad14701]

Overall, I think we all take the quality of our drinking water for granted by thinking it will always be there and always be clean... Unfortunately, our potable water supplies are dwindling and becoming less and less potable... The water around here started getting bad some 30 years ago due to uncontrolled fracking during the gas well boon of the late 70's through early 80's... Now they'd like to come through and do more fracking but a lot of people are still dealing with the effects of the last go-round... We used to have great water at my mothers house but now it is full of sulphur and iron no mater which water table you drill into - all due to fracking... Natural occurrences aside, some things are best left un-fucked-around-with...

[thump keg]

For me 1.040 SG is normal before I pitch yeast. I don't know what your looking for in your finish product or what type rig your planing on using. If I had any advise for you it would be don't sweat the small stuff. If what your doing doesn't work then it's time to try something different. Id hate to say how many gallons of mash Ive poured out until i got it right so it sounds like your on the right track.