Beginner question about water

I contacted my local water provider and got a report, but a couple of the values seem really high.

I just moved and have at this new location only made a couple batches. Both have been less than average to downright bad. It's mostly partial mash/extract at this point in time, but eventually I'd like to go all grain. Is there anything I can do about these values both in the short and long term?

Total Dissolved Solids...681
Sodium........................79
Potassium....................5
Calcium........................115
Magnesium...................41
Total Hardness, CaCO3...456
Nitrate, NO3..................2
Sulfate, SO4..................196
Chloride.........................85
Carbonate. CaCO3.........Not Detected
Bicarbonate, HCO3.........410
Total Alkilinity, CaCO3.....336


Thanks for the help. I've been reading some, but still know nothing about water pretty much.

Do some research on modifying your water. You can do a reverse osmosis process and then add back the salts that you want for each brew.

WOW.... man, with water like that, you will likely have to start from scratch (for all intents and purposes)

Either use RO or distilled water.

sjlammer said:

WOW.... man, with water like that, you will likely have to start from scratch (for all intents and purposes)

Either use RO or distilled water.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Only Mg is outside the recommended brewing range. Some of the other values are quite high though. Go to www.ezwatercalculator.com and you can see if you can modify you water to whatever style you are brewing. Based on what you have now your water is suitable for a very bitter 24-29 SRM beer...if there is such an animal.