Well water

[Tworude]

I'm 80 miles from the nearest road and about to get started distilling. My well water has about 3.3 ppm iron which is just high enough to turn a rusty color after it sits a while. It tastes like iron. For drinking we run it through a berkey carbon filter system and it's great after that. I assumed that I'd have to go through that time consuming process to have water for spirits but I'm thinking that there is a possibility that the minerals in the water will distill out and never reach the top of my column. I mean, you make distilled water that way, right? What do you guys think? Thanks

[tjsc5f]

The iron will definitely get left behind in the boiler, it won't make it up the column and into the distillate. I'm not sure if it will effect the yeast during the ferment or not though.

[hawkwing]

Try a test run and see what happens. The minerals won’t pass through the still unless it pukes.

Is iron your only concern or do you have sulfur compounds? You might want to boil the water to sterilize it if you won’t be during the mash.

[still_stirrin]

The iron will definitely get left behind in the boiler, it won't make it up the column and into the distillate. I'm not sure if it will effect the yeast during the ferment or not though.

But, the iron is not good for yeast. It will make fermentation slow, if not impossible, depending on the other “hardness” you have besides the iron.

I would definitely filter it out with a good whole house filter. It doesn’t have to be an R.O. filter (which would be destroyed by the iron anyway). Just use a good 10 micron fiber filter. But, chances are you’ll need to replace it if you filter a lot of water, although your iron content isn’t as bad as some wells produce.

As a side note, I recently had to replace my irrigation (down hole) pump because it became iron-fouled after 10 years of service. Dang thing looked like a rusty chunk of metal and it was a stainless steel housing. Expensive replacement too.
ss

[bunny]

What do you guys think? Thanks

Start collecting rain water.

[Salt Must Flow]

You could use a Reverse Osmosis unit to filter the water. I install a mini float valve in a 55 gal poly drum along with a 1-1/2" ball valve as a bottom drain. I run the RO unit the night before I know I'm doing to do a wash/mash.

[Yummyrum]

What do you guys think? Thanks

Start collecting rain water.

What he said also IMO , the best stuff for cutting down proof

[Archee72]

What do you guys think? Thanks

Start collecting rain water.

As long as he has a reasonable average rainfall where he lives?

[bunny]

What do you guys think? Thanks

It's difficult to help without more info of your part of AK.
Did you happen to be there when your well was sunk?
Do you know if you past any water at a lesser depth?
It might be possible to sink a shallow well by hand and find a reasonable supply of water unless you are on bed rock.
Any small creeks or streams in your neighborhood?
A lot of possibilities there.

Good Luck

[cob]

You could use a Reverse Osmosis unit to filter the water. I install a mini float valve in a 55 gal poly drum along with a 1-1/2" ball valve as a bottom drain. I run the RO unit the night before I know I'm doing to do a wash/mash.

80 miles from the end of the road makes RO unlikely. But living on a lake why not ditch the well water,

and use filtered lake water? The real question is how the hell you gitting on the internet???

[shadylane]

I'm 80 miles from the nearest road and about to get started distilling. My well water has about 3.3 ppm iron which is just high enough to turn a rusty color after it sits a while. It tastes like iron. For drinking we run it through a berkey carbon filter system and it's great after that. I assumed that I'd have to go through that time consuming process to have water for spirits but I'm thinking that there is a possibility that the minerals in the water will distill out and never reach the top of my column. I mean, you make distilled water that way, right? What do you guys think? Thanks

My thoughts.
You might want another source of water for diluting to drinking strength.
Distilleries brag about their iron free limestone water being the best.
But I think your well water will work good enough.

https://books.google.com/books?id=n0kjE ... pm&f=false

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/29824677.pdf

[Tworude]

You could use a Reverse Osmosis unit to filter the water. I install a mini float valve in a 55 gal poly drum along with a 1-1/2" ball valve as a bottom drain. I run the RO unit the night before I know I'm doing to do a wash/mash.

80 miles from the end of the road makes RO unlikely. But living on a lake why not ditch the well water,

and use filtered lake water? The real question is how the hell you gitting on the internet???

There is a cell tower on Shell Hill so I have Verizon. RO isn't going to happen. We did lake water for a long time but the ice gets so deep at times it's inaccessible.
Thanks

[Tworude]

The iron will definitely get left behind in the boiler, it won't make it up the column and into the distillate. I'm not sure if it will effect the yeast during the ferment or not though.

I'll be attempting a fermentation later this week. If it goes, I'll not worry about the iron. Thanks

[Tworude]

Thanks for the input gentlemen. I'll filter the water for wine and not worry about the slightly high iron, as long as the yeast agrees. Appreciate the input.

[shadylane]

Yeast is "bull frog tough"
It's not too worried about 3.3 ppm iron.
What it's looking for, is all the other minerals the well water has.

[Saltbush Bill]

Start collecting rain water.

What he said also IMO , the best stuff for cutting down proof

Seeing as how tworude lives in the Skwentna Alaska area Id say theres a pretty good chance that water tanks would freeze solid for a good part of the year. '
Photos I googled up of the place dont show much that looks warm to me.......might be a nice place for a holiday , but think I'll stay right here in subtropical AU.

[Saltbush Bill]

Start collecting rain water.

What he said also IMO , the best stuff for cutting down proof

Seeing as how tworude lives in the Skwentna Alaska area Id say theres a pretty good chance that water tanks would freeze solid for a good part of the year. '
Photos I googled up of the place dont show much that looks warm to me.......might be a nice place for a holiday , but think I'll stay right here in subtropical AU.

But, the iron is not good for yeast. It will make fermentation slow, if not impossible, depending on the other “hardness” you have besides the iron.

Thats the beer brewer coming out SS.

Yeast is "bull frog tough"
It's not too worried about 3.3 ppm iron.
What it's looking for, is all the other minerals the well water has.

The Moonshiners angle on the same thing....

I say put together a couple of ferments , see what happens.
Do keep them warm though........warm yeast..or yeast thats at least in its happy temp zone can deal with a lot of other shit that it doesnt desire.

[The Baker]

Use a yeast that likes cool conditions!
Maybe one used for ale (not beer).

Geoff

[Salt Must Flow]

You could use a Reverse Osmosis unit to filter the water. I install a mini float valve in a 55 gal poly drum along with a 1-1/2" ball valve as a bottom drain. I run the RO unit the night before I know I'm doing to do a wash/mash.

80 miles from the end of the road makes RO unlikely. But living on a lake why not ditch the well water,

and use filtered lake water? The real question is how the hell you gitting on the internet???

I assumed that if he has "well water" that he has a steady source of water on tap like most people who have "well water". I have well water and I use a RO unit for everything distilling related other than my condensers. I just don't know exactly what the OP's water situation is other than the fact that he has "well water".

Lake water is typically much dirtier than well water. LOTS of organic matter, high in bacteria and who knows how much pesticides/herbicides from runoff. Well water is filtered through the soil which typically makes it cleaner, but can be higher in minerals. RO units remove nearly everything and comes out 0-2 ppm. Distilled water is 0 ppm.

[cob]

I would wager that if Tworude even has electricity it is very precious (intermittent solar or fuel) 80 miles is a long walk.

[captainshooch]

I use my deep well water and filter with a KDF85 filter and it does really well with iron concentration.

[Tworude]

Start collecting rain water.

What he said also IMO , the best stuff for cutting down proof

Seeing as how tworude lives in the Skwentna Alaska area Id say theres a pretty good chance that water tanks would freeze solid for a good part of the year. '
Photos I googled up of the place dont show much that looks warm to me.......might be a nice place for a holiday , but think I'll stay right here in subtropical AU.

Great fishing, no snakes, downwind from nothing worse than a moose fart. You think I'd let my water freeze? No!

[Tworude]

I would wager that if Tworude even has electricity it is very precious (intermittent solar or fuel) 80 miles is a long walk.

Abundant solar in the summer, not good November - January, I run a generator every few days those months.

[Tworude]

I use my deep well water and filter with a KDF85 filter and it does really well with iron concentration.

I use a Kdf filter as well but I'm not satisfied. Drinking water goes through a carbon filter and it's perfect.

[Tworude]

You could use a Reverse Osmosis unit to filter the water. I install a mini float valve in a 55 gal poly drum along with a 1-1/2" ball valve as a bottom drain. I run the RO unit the night before I know I'm doing to do a wash/mash.

80 miles from the end of the road makes RO unlikely. But living on a lake why not ditch the well water,

and use filtered lake water? The real question is how the hell you gitting on the internet???

I assumed that if he has "well water" that he has a steady source of water on tap like most people who have "well water". I have well water and I use a RO unit for everything distilling related other than my condensers. I just don't know exactly what the OP's water situation is other than the fact that he has "well water".

Lake water is typically much dirtier than well water. LOTS of organic matter, high in bacteria and who knows how much pesticides/herbicides from runoff. Well water is filtered through the soil which typically makes it cleaner, but can be higher in minerals. RO units remove nearly everything and comes out 0-2 ppm. Distilled water is 0 ppm.

No herbicide or pesticides, my wife and I are the only ones on the lake. The owners of the other 6 cabins are seldom here. Fish and duck shit though.

[shadylane]

No herbicide or pesticides, my wife and I are the only ones on the lake. The owners of the other 6 cabins are seldom here. Fish and duck shit though.

Sounds like good water for making shine.
Maybe not so much for brewing beer.
Are you going to use wood to fire the boiler?

[Ben]

Maybe not so much for brewing beer.

Perfect for brewing beer, if it tastes good the boil and ferment will kill anything that could hurt you. Brewing was used as a way to process undrinkable water for thousands of years before water treatment plants became a thing. Still is in places that have less.

[hawkwing]

You can always distill water for beer and wine.

[Bushman]

The iron will definitely get left behind in the boiler, it won't make it up the column and into the distillate. I'm not sure if it will effect the yeast during the ferment or not though.

But, the iron is not good for yeast. It will make fermentation slow, if not impossible, depending on the other “hardness” you have besides the iron.

I would definitely filter it out with a good whole house filter. It doesn’t have to be an R.O. filter (which would be destroyed by the iron anyway). Just use a good 10 micron fiber filter. But, chances are you’ll need to replace it if you filter a lot of water, although your iron content isn’t as bad as some wells produce.

As a side note, I recently had to replace my irrigation (down hole) pump because it became iron-fouled after 10 years of service. Dang thing looked like a rusty chunk of metal and it was a stainless steel housing. Expensive replacement too.
ss

This is exactly what I do, I am on a well that we filter to soften and rid the water of extra iron. Before adding a filter system you could see it on the dishes that went through the dishwasher. My filtered water works great on my fermentation.

[captainshooch]

I should have been more specific. The KDF filter I use is the KDF85-GAC, it has activated carbon as well.

"Our FI-KDF85 filter cartridges have superior taste and odor reduction capabilities. There are two types of media in these types of filters: the KDF media in this cartridge specializes in the reduction of iron and hydrogen sulfide and the activated carbon is effective against chlorine, odor and taste"

From ebay for +/- $30.00.