My Water Report

Hello all,

I've been brewing for 1-year using RO water from the grocery store with good results but I'd like to start using city water if possible to save time and money.

I sent a sample of our city water to Ward Labs and they provided the results below.

I tried using the various water calculators out there (and the beersmith water tool) but so far they seem to want to make my water match other water profiles from around the world and I'm not sure which one to try to match, if that makes sense. I'm still researching brewing water chemistry but I thought I would post this water report to see if anyone has any feedback.

I mainly brew IPAs, stouts, porters, red ales, Belgians.

Thanks for any advice!

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pH 7.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 373
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.62
Cations / Anions, me/L 7.3 / 6.4

ppm

Sodium, Na 15
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 69
Magnesium, Mg 37
Total Hardness, CaCO3 327
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 68
Chloride, Cl 17
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 103
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 84

"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

First off I have to say I think Ward Labs has a nerve taking your money and furnishing you with a report that is imbalanced by 0.9 meq/L! That amounts to 18 mg/L calcium or 45 ppm alkalinity so you need to keep in mind that these numbers are approximate.

The thing that sticks out here is sulfate. It is 68 as sulfur. As sulfate it is 204 and while that is suitable for many styles of beer for many others it will be your main problem. Diluted 1:1 you would have calcium at 35 with alkalinity of 42 and sulfate of 102. At 2:1 you would have calcium at 23, Mg down to 12, sulfate at 60 and alkalinty 28. Not a bad water if you can live with the sulfate which you should for most everything except some pilsners. Given what you like to brew either of these dilutions should work out well for you.

Trying to match profiles is generally a wast of time (and materials). Most profiles are bad (not physically realizable), the good ones require the use of carbon dioxide to prepare them, aren't meaningful unless you know how the brewers whose style you are trying to match used them, are a lot of trouble and often a waste of time. Most of the calculators and spreadsheets don't correctly handle the synthesis. Profile matching is for advanced brewers but if you poll advanced brewers you will find few, if any, who try to match profiles. They have learned over the years that they will make better beers by using water that has the general characteristics of the water used to brew the style rather than by trying to match a particular style.

There is a Primer in the stickies here that tries to set out starting points for broad style groups. It works by starting with low ion water which yours is definitely not. You'd have to dilute 5:1 or more to get your water to the point where it could be considered low mineral in the terms of the Primer. Might as well use straight RO.

Sulfate - reports from WARD LABS for Sulfate should always be tripled correct? And water reports are always variable (especially in Scotland I see LOL)

Trying to match profiles is generally a wast of time

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Unless you are actually trying to learn something. Figuring out sales tax is a waste of time also . . . unless you don't have a clue how it's done.

I believe ajdelange means trying to "exactly" match a profile. And since profiles are a moving target, just like your water report it's better to understand the main differences between your water and the style of beer you are brewing.

I agree with ajdelange in that there is no need to try to have the exact water profile for an area.

Read ajdelange's Primer it's pretty good (but could use some rewording).

Grinder12000 said:

Sulfate - reports from WARD LABS for Sulfate should always be tripled correct?

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Yes.

Grinder12000 said:

I believe ajdelange means trying to "exactly" match a profile.

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Clearly very soft water is an important part of what makes a Bohemian Pilsner and Bohemian Pilsner and high sulfate is an important part of what makes a Burton ale a Burton ale. But "soft" and "high sulfate" are pretty broad terms. Convolve that with general principals like softer water makes better beers, chloride improves most beers and lower mash pH brightens flavors (the phrase "up to a point" needs to be appended to all three of those) and you can see that matching a particular water report is not the whole story. By all means, find out what the water of Munich is like but use that knowledge to guide you - don't blindly set it as a target you must hit.

Grinder12000 said:

Read ajdelange's Primer it's pretty good (but could use some rewording).

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And some updating too but as Yooper posted it for me I can't edit it.

I see the OP has not used Bru'n Water. It includes beer color-based water profiles that were created to provide low mineralization and modest flavor contributions. Try that out.

As AJ says, that tap water will be tough to brew with. The OP is probably better off with straight RO water, but Bru'n Water gives the tools needed to accomplish proper blending with that tap water.

Enjoy!

but use that knowledge to guide you - don't blindly set it as a target you must hit.

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Exactly! That is the key right there! as a guide and not as the gospel. I was reading in Brewing Classic Styles how and why Scottish water is of variable.

ajdelange said:

The thing that sticks out here is sulfate. It is 68 as sulfur. As sulfate it is 204 and while that is suitable for many styles of beer for many others it will be your main problem. Diluted 1:1 you would have calcium at 35 with alkalinity of 42 and sulfate of 102. At 2:1 you would have calcium at 23, Mg down to 12, sulfate at 60 and alkalinty 28. Not a bad water if you can live with the sulfate which you should for most everything except some pilsners. Given what you like to brew either of these dilutions should work out well for you.

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Thank you for the response.

Should I use RO water or distilled water when diluting?

mabrungard said:

I see the OP has not used Bru'n Water. It includes beer color-based water profiles that were created to provide low mineralization and modest flavor contributions. Try that out.

As AJ says, that tap water will be tough to brew with. The OP is probably better off with straight RO water, but Bru'n Water gives the tools needed to accomplish proper blending with that tap water.

Enjoy!

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You are correct; I haven't tried Bru'n Water but I will give it a try.

I did brew a test batch with 100% tap water (a brown porter) and I blindly added 1 crushed campden tablet without knowing much about my water chemistry... the porter turned out very well but I can taste a slight difference compared to beers I've made with RO water. It's doesn't taste bad, just different. If beers made with our tap water taste OK can I continue to use this tap water or are there other possible (health?) concerns related to the amount of sulfates in our water?

Thanks a lot for your help.