Getting into water adjustments with Brunwater- Is my ward lab report wrong???

So I starting to adjust water so I don't have to buy bottled water. I sent a sample to Ward labs and got my report back a few days ago. I have been reading through the Brunwater spreadsheet like it is the bible. Since inputing my numbers, my Ion Balance is at .9, which according to the spreadsheet is unbalanced and indicates that a error may have been made in the water report. What are the odds of this happening with a reputable place like Ward labs? Here is the report that ward sent me.

pH 7.9
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 359
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.60
Cations / Anions, me/L / 6.5/7.3

ppm
Sodium, Na 99
Potassium, K 8
Calcium, Ca 24
Magnesium, Mg 9
Total Hardness, CaCO3 98
Nitrate, NO3-N < 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 11
Chloride, Cl 11
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 384
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 315
Total Phosphorus, P 0.22
Total Iron, Fe 0.06

and below is what I put into the water report input spread sheet based on the little red arrows in the boxes

Calcium 24
Magnesium 9
Sodium 99
Potassium 8
Iron .1
Bicarbonate 384
Carbonate 1.4
Sulfate 33
Chloride 11
Nitrate .4
Nitrite 0
Floride 0

Reported Total Alkalinity 315
Reported water pH 7.9

Did I make an error somewhere that I am not smart enough to find? I do not want to have to spend another $38 on a second water analysis unless I absolutely have to. Any help would be appreciated.

No, you didn't do anything wrong. They tell you right at the top of the page that the imbalance is 7.3 - 6.5 = 0.8 mEq/L. Ward Labs does not calculate bicarbonate and carbonate properly. Your report says carbonate is < 1 when it is actually 1.8 and your bicarbonate, reported at 384 is actually 383.6 but these errors are small and do not explain an imbalance of 0.9. That comes from measurement error and I would call them on it. 0.2 - 0.4 is maybe excusable but 0.8 - 0.9 is pretty bad. I've suggested in other cases that people with imbalances this large contact them and ask politely if they think that this level of imbalance represents good work. In some of those cases they have agreed to re-run samples gratis.

I emailed their customer service and nicely described the situation and asked if they would redo it. I will let you know what their response is. I am hoping they make good with it. In the event that they don't, is there another place that does water analysis for brewers aside from Ward?

This is not typical for them which is why I think they should re-do it for you. You will find scores of Ward Labs reports posted here. Check them out. 4.5/4.8 would be a more typical imbalance (0.3) and that's why I think they may very well agree that 0.8 is too big. Of course you have pretty hefty alkalinity and hardness + sodium (IOW it's not great water) so that a small percentage error will amount to more mEq than at more nominal levels.

From what I have seen reported here Ward Labs is pretty much the only game in town. There are lots of people who will analyze water but Ward Labs' testing gives the brewer what he needs and many of the other services don't.

Just received contact from Ward labs already. They are re-running my water. Here is their response.

"I looked at your water report and am having the lab rerun the anions on your water. We do not run every cation and anion, just the major ones, so it is common for the cation/anion ratio to be slightly unbalanced. I should have results tomorrow and I will let you know what we find."

I am very happy with that as a response and think that they scored some customer service points with me. Although I am not sure why for the brewing test they would not run all Cations/Anions if they know that we as brewers need that proper ratio.

Hopefully I will have a balanced report so I can start properly adjusting my water.

Thanks for the input guys! I will post new results as soon as I get them.

They don't measure them all because you don't want to pay for that and you don't really care about cesium, aluminum, copper.... if they are small enough.

Here'e one I spotted in another thread: Cations / Anions, me/L 10.3 / 10.5
That is more like what I would expect.

ajdelange said:

They don't measure them all because you don't want to pay for that and you don't really care about cesium, aluminum, copper.... if they are small enough.

Here'e one I spotted in another thread: Cations / Anions, me/L 10.3 / 10.5
That is more like what I would expect.

Click to expand...

Makes sense. Well here is to hoping to good results tomorrow.