[denny]

Sounds like my first car haha. Any advice on easy ways to control fermentation temps without breaking the bank? I've heard of people using towels and some types of insulation.

The easiest way is to get a large plastic tub and fill it with water and set the carboy or bucket into it.  You can also add frozen 2 liter bottles to get the temp lower than room temp if needed.

Unfortunately that won't work with a Fast Ferment fermenter.

[toby]

Sounds like my first car haha. Any advice on easy ways to control fermentation temps without breaking the bank? I've heard of people using towels and some types of insulation.

The easiest way is to get a large plastic tub and fill it with water and set the carboy or bucket into it.  You can also add frozen 2 liter bottles to get the temp lower than room temp if needed.

Unfortunately that won't work with a Fast Ferment fermenter.

Oops, missed that part.  Yeah, that won't work.  It'll have to be wet towels with an AC vent (or fan) pointing at it or rigging some sort of ice pack solution.

[hopfenundmalz]

Wow, im blown away by all the advice! Im away on business right now so it will probably be a couple of weeks before I give it a go but I want to see what I'm getting myself into. I have well water so I don't think chlorine is going to be a problem. Would it be worth it to treat anyways?

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I'm on a well also and I only need to do minimal treatment, but it depends on your water.  Go to wardlab.com and get test W-6.  Skip the homebrewer test...it has info you don't need and costs more.

The Homebrew test from Ward might be worth it in the Great Lakes area, where the well water has a lot of iron. One could guess that from the stains it leaves on plumbing fixtures. My towns tap water is from wells, but they have a green sand facility that removes the iron.

[codeslee]

I live in the north east. Any one have experience with Maine well water?

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[evil_morty]

I live in the north east. Any one have experience with Maine well water?

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could be great but it's tough to tell.  do a lot of people around you have water softeners?

[neddles]

Wow, im blown away by all the advice! Im away on business right now so it will probably be a couple of weeks before I give it a go but I want to see what I'm getting myself into. I have well water so I don't think chlorine is going to be a problem. Would it be worth it to treat anyways?

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I'm on a well also and I only need to do minimal treatment, but it depends on your water.  Go to wardlab.com and get test W-6.  Skip the homebrewer test...it has info you don't need and costs more.

The Homebrew test from Ward might be worth it in the Great Lakes area, where the well water has a lot of iron. One could guess that from the stains it leaves on plumbing fixtures. My towns tap water is from wells, but they have a green sand facility that removes the iron.

Yeah thats a common problem. My well water is actually very low TDS except there is a low amount of iron in it. I have never found anything definitive about how much is too is too much iron or how to remove it so I just use RO.

[Wort-H.O.G.]

and I live in midwest where iron can be an issue- yet its not in my well.  my issue is the sodium and alkalinity. had to use tons of lactic acid to drop PH.

once you feel like it-get the water report.

my well water:

pH                                            8.0
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 283
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.47
Cations / Anions, me/L 5.3 / 5.4
ppm
Sodium, Na           114
Potassium, K          2
Calcium, Ca            4
Magnesium, Mg       1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 14
Nitrate, NO3-N          0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S          3
Chloride, Cl              3
Carbonate,CO3         6
Bicarbonate, HCO3      297
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3   253

[pete b]

I live in the north east. Any one have experience with Maine well water?

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My Massachusetts well requires a water softener. Fortunately my softened water does not test high for sodium so I still use it.

[denny]

The Homebrew test from Ward might be worth it in the Great Lakes area, where the well water has a lot of iron. One could guess that from the stains it leaves on plumbing fixtures. My towns tap water is from wells, but they have a green sand facility that removes the iron.

Good advice.  Since I don't have the problem, I never think of that.

[denny]

I live in the north east. Any one have experience with Maine well water?

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Who knows?  Yours could be totally different from your neighbors.  Get a test to know for certain.

[hopfenundmalz]

The Homebrew test from Ward might be worth it in the Great Lakes area, where the well water has a lot of iron. One could guess that from the stains it leaves on plumbing fixtures. My towns tap water is from wells, but they have a green sand facility that removes the iron.

Good advice.  Since I don't have the problem, I never think of that.

The water out there tastes wet to me. No mineral character.

[denny]

The Homebrew test from Ward might be worth it in the Great Lakes area, where the well water has a lot of iron. One could guess that from the stains it leaves on plumbing fixtures. My towns tap water is from wells, but they have a green sand facility that removes the iron.

Good advice.  Since I don't have the problem, I never think of that.

The water out there tastes wet to me. No mineral character.
[/quote

Tastes wet...OK....

[S. cerevisiae]

my well water:

pH                                            8.0
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 283
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.47
Cations / Anions, me/L 5.3 / 5.4
ppm
Sodium, Na           114
Potassium, K          2
Calcium, Ca            4
Magnesium, Mg       1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 14
Nitrate, NO3-N          0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S          3
Chloride, Cl              3
Carbonate,CO3         6
Bicarbonate, HCO3      297
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3   253

I looks like someone dumped a ton of sodium bicarbonate into your well.


For those on wells, the U.S. Geological Survey sites contains a wealth of information with respect to one's soil and the rock formation that underlies one's house.  Knowing the rock formation under one's house will tell one what minerals may be in one's water without having to send a sample off Ward Labs.  For example, my house lies on metamorphic rock.  Metamorphic rocks do not contribute much in the way of minerals to one's water.  My water is soft and acidic coming out of the ground.  Now, properties a few miles to the Northwest of me are on a dolamite formation.  Their water is alkaline with a good amount of Ca and Mg.

Ken:

Here is everything that you ever wanted to know about rock formations and sediments in Ohio: http://geosurvey.ohiodnr.gov/portals/geosurvey/PDFs/Misc_State_Maps&Pubs/OH_SurfaceRocks_Sediments.pdf

[S. cerevisiae]

Ken:

I looks like you may be sitting on an oil shale formation.  Sodium bicarbonate is found in nature as the mineral nahcolite.  Nahcolite and oil shale appear to go together like peanut butter and jelly.  

[Wort-H.O.G.]

Ken:

I looks like you may be sitting on an oil shale formation.  Sodium bicarbonate is found in nature as the mineral nahcolite.  Nahcolite and oil shale appear to go together like peanut butter and jelly.

interesting. my well is 375 feet deep. almost no iron and super good water to drink and stays nice an cold in summer....not so good for beer.