Newest Threads

**schweaty** · 12-04-2009, 04:25 AM

So for the past six months I have been pestering my local water supply for an in depth report. Previously I was sent one that looked something like this:

Average Max Min

Hardness 134 210 94
Calcium 105 168 68
Chlorides 58 192 5
Alkalinity 91 150 62
pH 7.07 7.85 6.51
Mg/L Al3 0.94 2.31 0.12
Sodium 26 mg/L N/A N/A
Sulfate 28 mg/L N/A N/A

Unfortunately they don't measure sulfate or sodium on a regular basis because it doesn't concern their process. But of course sulfate is important to us homebrewers. I then noticed that there was a great fluctuation between the minimum and maximum values with no telling when they occurred because this report was for the year of 2008.

I got after the water department again for about 6 weeks until I got through and they are currently compiling an up to date daily report for each day through 2009. Not that it really matters because there are a few local factors that are working against me according to the person I spoke with.

#1 The cities water intake is on a lake and is 15 feet below normal water level. When strong winds and storms come in they can instantly change the water profile by kicking up debris from the lake floor. Cities that are lucky enough to have intakes 50-100 feet below water level are affected little by winds/storms.

#2 The city is surrounded by agriculture on all sides and farmers use a lot of chemicals that leach into the river, which empties into the lake right near the intake for the city water supply. Also, the salt used on the roads in winter months can wreak havoc on the water profile as well.

So I have finally decided to take matters into my own hands and use RO water and build water profiles on my own. At first it was very intimidating and I kept putting it off. Now I am starting to feel fairly confident about it after doing some research.

I guess the biggest question/concern that I have is for everyone else and their water sources. To me using the average isn't really accurate because there are such variations in the water profile. Getting a test from Ward labs in October doesn't guarantee that the water will be the same in March.

Maybe I'm overthinking this much like when I first started brewing, but it seems to me that after speaking personally to one of the chemists at the water plant that getting a water report with averages is as accurate as shooting a pistol blindfolded. Sometimes you hit the target but alot of times you miss.

david_42 · 12-04-2009, 01:52 PM

Compared to what I experienced in Las Vegas, those are minor variations. Sometimes I'd get lake water, sometimes well water. The well water had enough calcium you could use it to patch dry wall. I had an RO system for drinking water and filtered all of the water for the house.

**Bobby_M** · 12-04-2009, 02:20 PM

When you have a couple brewers on the same water supply, it makes ward lab testing a few times over the course of a year pretty darn economical. I have results from July and September so far and they varied only by 1-3ppm. I'll have the next guy send a sample in January and so on. It's still cheaper than RO.

If I brewed even 50% light beers, I'd already own an RO system but they cost about $125 minimum and that's a lot of store bought distilled to break even.