eppo

Recipes 

in the efforts to brew the best beer possible, i've been looking into my area's water chemistry. without getting a sample actually tested i found some info online:
Hardness - 40-85
Fluoride 0 mg/L
Sodium 6.0 – 14.0 mg/L
Iron ND – 0.75 mg/L
Manganese ND – 0.10 mg/L
Lead 3.0 ug/L
Copper 0.14 mg/L
Calcium 16.1-22.7 PPM
Nitrate ND – 0.05 mg/L
alkalinity 22.2-54.1 PPM
PH 7.0-8.5
i can get some more values if you need. I'm just wondering if this is good brewing water, or if i need to treat it somehow? I do filter my water.
thanks

Misplaced_Canuck

Recipes 

Those values are way too broad. But from the looks of it, you'll need to bring the pH down.

M_C

__________________

mabrungard

Recipes 

That range is too broad, but the water is generally soft with moderate alkalinity. The iron content looks like it gets a little too high at times.

The report still misses the chloride and sulfate content which is needed to assess how much you might want to bump up those ions for particular brews.

It doesn't look too bad, but you should seek out the missing information.

__________________
Martin Brungard, P.E. D.WRE
Carmel, IN
BJCP National
Foam Blowers of Indiana (FBI)

Brewing Water Information at:
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

eppo

Recipes 

chloride is 10-20ppm
sulfate is 7.8-48ppm

ThePearsonFam

Recipes 

I'd recommend 2 things;

1) Get TH's "EZ Water Calculator" from here: http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

2) Get a water report from your water district if you have city/public water. They're typically required to provide a water analyses report for you (by law).
- or -
Get a sample and send it in for analysis. I'd recommend Ward Labs. Go here: http://www.wardlab.com/FeeSchedule/WaterAnalysis.aspx and get test W-6 "Household Complete Mineral Test" done.

The folks that have responded are correct though, the information really isn't sufficient to give an accurate answer. My guess is, based on your information, that the water changes over the course of the year (possibly due to the area drawing water from more than one source). I say that because, like the others have stated, the values reported span a fairly large range. If your water does come from various sources, then you'll be dealing with different water all year long (PITA). I'm fortunate that Virginia Beach provides a quarterly water analysis report and it remains fairly consistent all year long (indicating a consistent water source and water standards).

Try googling "water analysis report for --insert your town/city name here--". See what comes up

flabyboy

Recipes 

this is what the results look like from my area. looks like its missing some needed values

http://www.rpu.org/pdfs/2009_water_quality_report.pdf