Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

The annual water report is pretty useless. I had to call the water dept and they connected me w/ one of their engineers, who emailed me the report.

Does anyone have the CR detail report they could email to me? paul.rieff@gmail.com

Also, I have only done partial mash so far but going to all grain on next batch which is why I am wondering about water and trying to save some $ on buying water since it will require much more water. I can get water from a friend in CR from his tap. I know Fairfax is not on CR water... don't think I will ever use Fairfax water.

Here is another question:
If using tap water, would I use water through the softener? Or use water from an outside spigot (hard water)?

Paul

I would use the water that isn't softened. Water softeners add a lot of sodium and lowers calcium and magnesium. You don't want a lot of sodium in your water for brewing.

I agree with Randy, go with hard. I have been using CR water for several years with no softener. I don't even have one in the house. It is not near as hard as many other water sources in the area. I just throw in campden tablets for the Chlorine and Chloramines.