Water Report...Help me out
 

Hey y'all. I just got my water report from Ward Labs. I don't know much about water chemistry. I did some reading on it a year ago, but it didn't really sink in since I had no way of knowing what was in my water. Now that I have a report I plan to do some reading, but I wanted to post my results here to see if some of the gurus could give me some quick thoughts like what kind of beer my water is best suited for brewing, and what kinds of additions I should consider. This was after I ran the water through a filter. Thanks in advance. :mug:

pH = 7.7
dissolved solids = 312 ppm
Na = 54 ppm
K = 3 ppm
Ca = 44 ppm
Mg = 7 ppm
CaCO3 = 139 ppm
Nitrate = 0.1 ppm
Sulfate = 6 ppm
Chloride = 48 ppm
CO3 = < 1 ppm
HCO3 = 221 ppm
Total Alkalinity CaCO3 = 181 ppm
P = 0.78 ppm
Fe = < 0.01 ppm

Its not too bad. The alkalinity is too high for most styles and would require acidification to neutralize. You definitely will want to use phosphoric acid since the amount of acid needed may be high. Lactic acid and acid malt might leave the beer with a lactate ion flavor. The sodium is a little high, but tolerable.

I would recommend looking at brunwater which has some pretty good info on it. To get some of these levels down you could dilute with distilled water. It makes it a but easier to work with. As for actic acid and acid malt you need to put a bit in to get the sour flavor. I think if you keep the acid malt in the 3 to 5% range of the grain bill you won't notice it and a couple ml's of lactic acid aren't that noticable I dont think.

Thanks for the feedback. I checked out that Bru'n Water page. Lots of good info there. Looks like I have some homework to do this weekend.