Call for NJ Water Chem Stats

With all the guys in NJ coming out of the woodwork, there's got to be some others that have sent their water off for testing. I'm trying to put together a database of actual test results on different NJ water systems.

First, I found a good website for pinpointing exactly which of the NJ systems you're on:

http://www.nj.gov/dep/swap/creport.htm

Two guys, myself included, have gotten recent results for at least one system (Elizabethtown water) and I've posted the results here:

Whales NJ water data

Look how many cities are on the same water system....

All the cities served by Elizabethtown Water system #2004002
Link to source data -click

Municipality County
Raritan Twp. Hunterdon
Readington Twp. Hunterdon
Tewksbury Twp. Hunterdon
Hopewell Twp. Mercer
Lawrence Twp. Mercer
Princeton Boro Mercer
Princeton Twp. Mercer
West Windsor Twp. Mercer
Cranbury Twp. Middlesex
Dunellen Boro Middlesex
Edison Twp. Middlesex
Middlesex Boro Middlesex
Piscataway Twp. Middlesex
Plainsboro Twp. Middlesex
South Brunswick Twp. Middlesex
South Plainfield Boro Middlesex
Chester Boro Morris
Bedminster Twp. Somerset
Bound Brook Boro Somerset
Branchburg Twp. Somerset
Bridgewater Twp. Somerset
Franklin Twp. Somerset
Green Brook Twp. Somerset
Hillsborough Twp. Somerset
Manville Boro Somerset
Millstone Boro Somerset
Montgomery Twp. Somerset
North Plainfield Boro Somerset
Peapack-Gladstone Somerset
Raritan Boro Somerset
So. Bound Brook Boro Somerset
Somerville Boro Somerset
Warren Twp. Somerset
Watchung Boro Somerset
Clark Twp. Union
Cranford Twp. Union
Fanwood Boro Union
Garwood Boro Union
Hillside Twp. Union
Kenilworth Boro Union
Linden City Union
Mountainside Boro Union
Plainfield City Union
Roselle Boro Union
Roselle Park Boro Union
Scotch Plains Twp. Union
Union Twp. Union
Westfield Town Union

wow some cool info.....too bad monmouth county isn't on the list!

That's why I'm posting this. It's also possible that two people that find they are on the same system can split the cost of a water test or "virtual handshake" that one will pay for the test now and the other will have a test done in the spring to track changes.

Here's the water profile for Monmouth County NJ American Water. I also had my RO water profiled as well to see the differences. BTW- I definitely need help on what to do with this info now....

Sample 1 - tap water
pH 7.7
TDS 187
Electrical conductivity .31
Cations/Anions 2.8/2.6

Below in ppm
Na 33
K 3
Ca 19
Mg 4
Total hardness 64
Nitrate 0.2
Sulfate 5
Chloride 53
Carbonate not detected or below detection limit
BiCarbonate 45
Total Alkalinity 37
Fluoride 1.4
Iron .01

Sample 2 RO water
pH 6.5
TDS 27
Elec. conductivity .05
Cations/Anions .4/.3

Below in ppm
Na 7
K below detection limit
Ca 1
Mg below detection limit
Total Hardness 3
Nitrate .1
Sulfate below detection limit
Chloride 7
Carbonate below detection limit
BiCarbonate 6
Total Alkalinity 5
Fluoride .38
Iron below detection limit

I knew I had soft water but it's amazing how much the RO membrane strips out. I recently changed the three pre carbon / sediment filters on my RO system and they were suprisingly clean, a major difference from when I lived in Hoboken. I hope that this helps

Flananuts

Nice info Flan...where in Monmouth County are you? I'm in Wall and am curious about my water...problem is I believe my water is like 57 varieties. Some well, some reservoir all feeding the grid??? Oh, just chlorine i believe and not chloramine correct???
Thanks
Mike

Went back and read from the top...Nice job bobby...again...what you never sleep.

I'm near Rumson

flananuts said:

Here's the water profile for Monmouth County NJ American Water. I also had my RO water profiled as well to see the differences. BTW- I definitely need help on what to do with this info now....

Flananuts

Click to expand...

You don't have to tell me your exact city, but could you go to this link and find out what your water system number is?

http://www.nj.gov/dep/swap/creport.htm

If it's Rumson Boro, all the cities on this list would be the same:

Municipality County Population Served - 2003
Aberdeen Twp Monmouth 8114
Allenhurst Boro Monmouth 1507
Asbury Park City Monmouth 6923
Bradley Beach Boro Monmouth 4293
Colts Neck Twp. Monmouth 6
Deal Boro Monmouth 2848
Eatontown Boro Monmouth 7696
Fair Haven Boro Monmouth 5507
Highlands Boro Monmouth 3523
Holmdel Twp. Monmouth 4524
Interlaken Boro Monmouth 1370
Little Silver Boro Monmouth
Little Silver Boro Monmouth 6617
Loch Arbour Village Monmouth 384
Long Branch City Monmouth 18917
Middletown Twp. Monmouth 54445
Monmouth Beach Boro Monmouth 2307
Neptune City Boro Monmouth 3648
Neptune Twp. Monmouth 25461
Ocean Twp. Monmouth 21049
Oceanport Boro Monmouth 5314
Red Bank Boro Monmouth 3359
Rumson Boro Monmouth 7207
Sea Bright Boro Monmouth 1384
Shrewsbury Boro Monmouth 4493
Shrewsbury Twp. Monmouth 279
Tinton Falls Monmouth 15059
Union Beach Boro Monmouth 6842
West Long Branch Boro Monmouth 6557

Na 33 - good
Ca 19 - too low
Mg 4 - too low
Sulfate 5 - too low compared to Chloride
Chloride 53
Total Alkalinity 37

Alkalinity is good for Ambers.

For lighter beers, you'd want some Gypsum and Epsom Salt to get calcium and magnesium up and lower residual alkalinity.

For darker beers, Chalk and Epsom and maybe a bit of baking soda.

Our water is pretty similar.

Thanks

I'm in Fair Haven 5507 which is on the list. Thanks for the details on my water profile. I've been reading about mash additions and boil additions. What amounts to you add to your mash and to your boil on 5 gallon batches? I'm not sure exactly how to calculate how much to add. My next two beers are a winter spiced ale with a 10lb grain bill and a peach wheat ale, both AG recipes from Northern Brewer. Suggestions on amounts to add?

Of all the tools, I like this one best: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/ez-water-adjustment-spreadsheet-135095/

Just a quick idea for the spiced ale (i'm assuming on the SRM here and that the mash water and sparge are about 4 gallons each:

Starting Water:
Ca: 19 ppm
Mg: 4 ppm
Na: 33 ppm
Cl: 53 ppm
SO4: 5 ppm
CaCO3: 37 ppm

Mash Vol: 4 gal
Dilution Rate: 0%

Adjustments mash:
CaCO3: 2 grams
MgSO4: 2 grams
NaHCO3: 1 grams

Add the same amount to the boil, but leave out the NaHCO3 (baking soda)

Results:
Ca: 72 ppm
Mg: 16 ppm
Na: 51 ppm
Cl: 53 ppm
SO4: 57 ppm
CaCO3: 164 ppm

RA: 103 (14 to 18 SRM)
Cl to SO4: 0.94 (Balanced)

For peach wheat, you want similar numbers but lower RA.

That Rocks, thanks! Since I need to get the replacement thrust washer from March for my pump I also have enough time to source the additives. I appreciate the help.

Get chalk and gypsum by the pound, it's cheap. Calcium Chloride will probably rarely be used with our water so a few ounces will last. Baking soda and epsom salt are grocery store items.

Bump. Any other Jersey folks out there get their Wardlab results back? Post em for good karma.

So Baking soda, Epsom Salts, Calcium Carbonate check. What would I need the chalk for? Gypsum is for protein coagulation right? I didn't see what the application would be used for. I know I've added gypsum to IPA recipes in the past.

Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) adds calcium and sulfate, duh, but also lowers alkalinity which helps the mash pH. Chalk has the opposite affect on alkalinity which makes it a better calcium choice for our dark beers. I have to use chalk in any beer that's darker than 16SRM or so.

Cool site Bobby. I live in Toms River water system ID 1507005. I am pretty new to brewing so I only do extract brews currently, but I plan on working my way up to all grain brews. When I do it seems this water info will be vital to making a good beer.

Sweet. Thanks Bobby! I'm sure one of these days I'll be advanced enough to really use this info. I'm right across the river from you so any test I do would be redundant. However, if in the future you need someone to go in on a test let me know.

I'm about to brew a similar to DFH 60 min with the pacman yeast. Based on my water profile on an earlier post in this thread, I'm not sure what adjustments I would need and what my target water profile would be. I'm brewing this Saturday so any feedback before then would be great. I do have all my salts and minerals ready to measure out now.

Did you see my video on using TH's spreadsheet for making a good pale ale profile? Since our water is similar, you'd do something very similar. It's going to be epsom salt and gypsum.

Thanks I will watch the video

I mailed out my sample Saturday and got my results via e-mail today! That's 3 working days.

Anyway, results from my well in Port Murray, NJ, Hunterdon County.


So what's that mean? Awesome beer for me? I'll punch it into a spreadsheet and see...

-Joe

I'm so lost when it comes to this, but I just received Sayreville's water analysis from last summer:

Contaminant Name - mg/L
Antimony - .002
Arsenic - .002
Barium - .026
Beryllium - .001
Cadmium - .002
Chromium - .003
Cyanide - .01
Fluoride - .2
Mercury - .0005
Nickel - .002
Sulfate - 41
Selenium - .01
Thalium - .002
Sodium - 13
ABS/L.A.S. - .1
Alkalinity - 66
Aluminum - .049
Chloride - 28
Color - 2
Copper - .013
Corrosivity - -.31
Hardness (CaCO3) - 130
Iron - .05
Manganese - .002
Odor - 1
pH - 7.8
Silver - .002
Total Dissolved Solids - 195
Zinc - .014


Now how to understand this and figure out what my filter is doing to it is a complete mystery to me.

drat said:

I'm so lost when it comes to this, but I just received Sayreville's water analysis from last summer:

Contaminant Name - mg/L


Sulfate - 41

Sodium - 13

Alkalinity - 66 (total alkalinity as CaCO3?)

Chloride - 28

Click to expand...

Missing Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg)

Bobby_M said:

Missing Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg)

Click to expand...

It's very limited report...

They list hardness as CaCO3 at 130

I guess I'll need to send some of my filtered water to the labs to get a real profile...

This is a great idea. But I would caution everyone on something. These big NJ water companies have multiple wells/sources of water. While someone in Princeton and someone in Cranford will be getting water from Elizabethtown, the sources of that water will be different. Many large towns (and most in NJ are large) will have 5-6 wells just for that town. I doubt all this water is being pumped to a central location to be blended and sent back out homogenized. So, call the water company and get their results for your house. You are paying for them to run the tests anyway.

We've found that when a city is listed as on the same system, the stats are VERY close. That's not all of "Elizabethtown", it's a subset on the same system. Of course the sample size is small so far but I've been urging fellow club members to pony up the $17 and get the test done.

Bobby_M said:

We've found that when a city is listed as on the same system, the stats are VERY close. That's not all of "Elizabethtown", it's a subset on the same system. Of course the sample size is small so far but I've been urging fellow club members to pony up the $17 and get the test done.

Click to expand...

Is the $17 for an outside test?

Yes, wardlab.com

Should we expect a seasonality component to the results, as well?

I suspect yes. Maybe I'll take one for the team and send another sample myself this month.

Here's the report I got back from Ward last July. This is tap water from Tenafly in Bergen County provided by United Water.

pH 7.7
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 314
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.52
Cations / Anions, me/L 5.0 / 5.0

ppm
Sodium, Na 57
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 38
Magnesium, Mg 7
Total Hardness, CaCO3 124
Nitrate, NO3-N 1.0 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 4
Chloride, Cl 104
Carbonate, CO3 <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 106
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 87
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

I got my Shamong well water tested. Pretty devoid of anything. Which I guess makes it easy to adjust. Someone should set up a Pilsner brewery here

pH 5.1
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 67
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.11
Cations / Anions, me/L 0.9 / 1.0

ppm
Sodium, Na 16
Potassium, K 1
Calcium, Ca 2
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 13
Nitrate, NO3-N 1.0 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S <1
Chloride, Cl 29
Carbonate, CO3 <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 3
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 2
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

I don't suppose anyone has gotten a water profile for New Brunswick proper have they? Or could at least tell me if they use chlorine or chloramines?

Which water analysis is what a homebrewer cares about?

http://wardlab.com/FeeSchedule/WaterAnalysis.aspx

The W5 Complete mineral test seems to be what most people go for but for $10 less the W6 gives you everything except fluoride and iron. The first is a "don't care" unless it gets to the point where it might harm yeast and with the second, if you've got it you probably already know that because you can taste it.

My main reason for posting here it to call people's attention to the fact that if you look at a Ward Labs report you will find that the sulfate is labeled "SO4 -S". This means that sulfate is being reported in terms of the weight of the sulfur in the sulfate ions, not in terms of the weight of the sulfate ions. This is significant if you use one of the popular spread sheets as they assume you are entering data "as sulfate" and list results from additions of gypsum and epsom salts "as sulfate". To use Ward labs data convert to "as sulfate" by multiplying by 3.

So you mean to tell me that I've been compensating for a low sulfate level based on my ward lab results and I've been overcompensating a factor of three? GREAT!

Not quite that bad. If, for example, your Ward Labs report said you had 10 mg/L and you wanted 60 you would conclude, without the conversion, that you need to add 50. But the 10 is really 30 so you would have 30 + 50 = 80. More than you wanted but not 3 times more.

WOW...you all have to pay to have your water tested? Our town has to run regular tests and the results are free to anyone who wants them. Odd how the laws are different from state to state.

I just moved to wallington, nj from houston, tx a few months ago. I have been extract brewing since christmas 09 when I got my first set of brewing gear and I've been preparing to take the plunge into all grain. I just got my W-5 results back from ward last week. Now I just have to do a bit more research on what these numbers mean and how I need to compensate (or not) for various styles. I hope this info can be of help to somebody else.

Water System #: 0265001

• pH 8.3
• Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 502
• Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.84
• Cations / Anions, me/L 7.9 / 7.7
  
  ppm
• Sodium, Na 105
• Potassium, K 5
• Calcium, Ca 41
• Magnesium, Mg 14
• Total Hardness, CaCO3 161
• Nitrate, NO3-N 3.6 (SAFE)
• Sulfate, SO4-S 29
• Chloride, Cl 141
• Carbonate, CO3 6
• Bicarbonate, HCO3 90
• Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 84
• Fluoride, F 0.21
• Total Iron, Fe 0.02

Just remember, following AJDelang's keen observation, your SO4 level is actually 87ppm. SO4-S isn't what the utilities/spreadsheets are looking for.

In a nutshell, your water is well suited for amber/brown beers right down the middle. Cutting with a % of RO/distilled would be good for lighter beer.