Really bad water?

I got my water report today and by comparing my water below to the "Target ranges for mineral levels in beer brewing"
from another site i find these values to be horrible. Is there something i am missing?


pH at 20 C 8.2
Ca 22 mg/l
MG 0.7 mg/l
SO4 3.9 mg/l
NA 17 mg/l
Cl 6.5 mg/l
HCO3 91 mg/l

Hardness 3.2 dH (German Grade?)

Thanks in advance!

Be wary of target ranges for mineral content of brewing water for various styles. If the style calls for soft water (low mineral content) then it's probably right because a large percentage error in the reported value doesn't amount to many mg/L. But the high mineral content ones are subject to lots of error for reasons which you will find stated over and over again in the posts here. Your water is in fact pretty decent. It's a little high in alkalinity and a little low in calcium and chloride but not bad. Because of the alkalinity you will need to add some acid for most beers (or dispose of the alkalinity by dilution with low ion water - 1:1 or 2:1 should be enough). Supplementation of the calcium and chloride with calcium chloride will be a good idea for most beers. See the Primer in the Stickies here.