dfohio

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I just got my water report back after being suspicious about my water.

pH 7.3
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 780
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 1.30
Cations / Anions, me/L 15.2 / 15.3
ppm
Sodium, Na 22
Potassium, K 16
Calcium, Ca 137
Magnesium, Mg 84
Total Hardness, CaCO3 693
Nitrate, NO3-N < 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 64
Chloride, Cl 3
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 687
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 563
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

I keep getting harsh bitterness if I had a late hop addition. I like to brew Altbier and German lagers. Any suggestions? Is dilution my only option?

Kaiser

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That is very hard water indeed. Your options are dillution (for light beers you'll need a lot of distilled or reverse osmosis water) or a reverse osmosis filtration system. The latter will be cheaper in the long run but has higher investment costs.

Even if you lower the alkalinity with acids or by precipitating chalk you are left with a rather high magnesium content that you can't lower with these means.

Kai

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BigEd

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Wow, that is interesting to say the least. Is that water actually still liquid?

For brewing German lager styles I think you might as well buy bottled water and start from scratch.

david_42

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Not the worst I've seen, but +1 on a RO system, nothing else will do the trick.

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dfohio

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Thanks for the responses. An RO system is probably in my future, but for now I will use 23% of my water and dilute the rest with distilled and add back Chalk and Calcium Chloride.

This water is from a well in Midwest Ohio for those who are curious.

jkarp

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Christ. Does a spoon stand straight up in a cup of it?

HenryHill

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At least it's not real high on pH....

If you are into mainly light beers, you should just plan in building your own water from scratch. The small amount of water you use of your tap probably isn't worth the hassle of adding the correct ratio-just start with RO/distilled and build up to something akin to Pilsen.

But OTOH, you still need to cut 75/25 to make a stout. :/

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salad 419

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Is that Delco water?

If so, I've used it in a few batches with decent results. I was at a buddy's house and he has some type of filter that he uses, but I'm not sure what type. I'll inquire.

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dfohio

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No, It is from a private well in the Sidney area. The water went through a RV KDF/Carbon filter before being tested.