Well water

[zippox]

Hey all,

I'll be starting my first brew next month but I have one concern I wanted to get figured out. The water source from the house I will be most likely be brewing at uses its own well. So when the water is hot it can smell like eggs and if I remember correctly, the water that is filtered through the fridge doesnt smell/doesnt smell as much. I am concerned that this would not be ideal for brewing or might even harbor some sort of bacteria.

What do you suggest? If need be I can brew at a different place that has nice city water, but it would be far less convenient.

Thanks all!

[jawbox]

dont use it. go buy reverse osmosis water at the grocery store.

[zippox]

Yeah I was thinking about it today and thought that running to the store and getting around 7 gallons of water brew and use for sanitizing would be a good idea. Thanks for the reply, I'll probably go that route.

[zippox]

If I use c-brite with the well water for sanitizing all of my equipment and beer bottles will this be just fine? Or do I need to steer clear completely from that water?

[slothrob]

I'd try using some of the water to rinse a bottle, then smell the bottle. If it doesn't stink, then it is probably fine to use to make up sanitizer. If it stinks, then you risk getting that stink into your beer. I don't know for sure that the sulfur won't react with that sanitizer in some way, and neutralize it, but I probably wouldn't worry too much about that.

I'd get some StarSan, though, then make up a gallon or two in distilled or RO water. That will be stable for a long time (weeks to months) and can be used over and over to sanitize already clean containers.