Would mountain stream water make good beer?

[Beerbeque]

I have always made beer with my tap water which comes from a well. I've never had it analysed but it makes good beer. I've been thinking about brewing with some stream water from high up in my local mountains which of course is snowmelt. I know that the stream water will be soft compared to the hard water I have been using so I don't know how it will affect the beer. Have any of you guys tried brewing with soft stream water?

 

[benbradford]

You would probably have high mineral content. Mountain water picks up all kinds of things as it runs accross the rocks. You would also have to worry about contamination from old mining. Spring water is different everywhere.

 

[sniperd]

I would give it a try. I have well water and it does seem to come out a little different then when I have brewed with city water. I suspect you'll make it and it will be awesome due to the story that comes with it, but in a side by side with well water it would be about the same. Just a guess, but half of brewing and drinking is great stories!

 

[Mojzis]

I've brewed with the creek water behind my apartment several times now. I enjoy it. I don't analyze my water (I move every few months) so I wanted to give it a go. So far I've run into zero issues. It's a pain to lug ten gallons of near freezing water uphill though. Down hill might be a pain too.

 

[JR_Brewer]

It will likely be ok, however if you want to be sure, you could mail a water sample in for analysis at a place like this: Ward Labs

Check the results for nasty stuff that won't boil out (I'm thinking mercury, but I'm sure there's other stuff out there). Then, for brewing purposes, see how good the water is using this primer from Kaiser.

Good luck, hope it works out for you!

 

[Tinhorn]

I have always made beer with my tap water which comes from a well. I've never had it analysed but it makes good beer. I've been thinking about brewing with some stream water from high up in my local mountains which of course is snowmelt. I know that the stream water will be soft compared to the hard water I have been using so I don't know how it will affect the beer. Have any of you guys tried brewing with soft stream water?

I think it's been done before

 

[DSorenson]

^^^^ lol... if beer brewed with mountain water becomes coors, I'm advocating giving up on the idea.

 

[mabrungard]

The water quality in the stream is dependent upon the geology upstream of you. If the geology is largely igneous rock, then the water might not be very mineralized at all. But if the geology is sedimentary rock or largely soil, then the water has a higher likelihood of mineralization.

If the water has only flowed a few (or tens) miles, then its also unlikely to have picked up much mineralization. Go for it.

 

[Keith66]

The water quality in the stream is dependent upon the geology upstream of you. If the geology is largely igneous rock, then the water might not be very mineralized at all. But if the geology is sedimentary rock or largely soil, then the water has a higher likelihood of mineralization.

If the water has only flowed a few (or tens) miles, then its also unlikely to have picked up much mineralization. Go for it.

What are you, a geologist or sump'n?! I am, and you're dead on! Geology has a lot to do with it. I live in California's Sierra Nevada mountains which are all granite, ie. silicate minerals; and my water comes from a water company whose source is higher up in the mountains and is largely snowpack. Based on their annual water quality report, their water (my tap water) is very soft (low in minerals/ions). Much of Europe, where good beer comes from, sits on limestone. I don't know, but I would expect their natural water to be fairly hard, ie. lots of Ca and Mg ions. I also don't know if they treat their water in any way before brewing. They probably didn't hundreds of years ago. As a rookie brewer, I've just started asking these questions myself, which is how I found this thread.

Here's more interesting geology (to me anyway): Coor's "Pure Rocky Mountain Spring Water" comes from the Rockies, obviously, which are sedimentary, and therefore have lots of limestone. Budweiser comes from St. Louis, originally, which also sits on limestone, and is right next to the Mississippi River ("Too thick to drink, too thin to plow"). Bud also has a brewery close to me, in Fairfield, CA, which sits on valley sediments and coastal silicate bedrock, and doesn't have any significant limestone anywhere near it.

All that said, it sounds to me like soft water is preferred by folks on HBT and hard water isn't. I'd be curious to know what they use in Bavaria, which is all limestone. I'm sure all this trivia didn't help anyone decide what to brew with, but your idea, Beerbeque, to brew with mountain spring water sounds like a good one. Benbradford's mention of mining or other contamination is obviously something to watch out for. My beers taste pretty good with my mountain stream-sourced tap water. So which mountains do you live near anyway?