Any brewers in the Boston area that use MWRA water for your all grain brews? I'm getting some bad batches and am thinking it's the water, I haven't done any water conditioning and just read through Palmer's article on it, and it looks like I've been brewing with a high chloride to sulfate ratio resulting in a too malty beer. What kind of treatments are you doing on your brew water for the mash and boil?
Boston Area All Grain Brewers?
- Thread starter HawkATP
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I'm on the North Shore, and we have a TON of chlorine and sitch in our water...have gotten that plastic/band aid taste in three batches (my first three).
Just brewed up my fourth and used spring water, even for rinsing/sanitizing.
We kind of figured that this was the issue, and even asked my LHBS and they said that the water was probably the cause of the taste.
I am kind of new at the whole home brew thing to start messing around with water conditioning; hopefully I'll get a few successful batches under my belt and then start to alter my tap water
Just brewed up my fourth and used spring water, even for rinsing/sanitizing.
We kind of figured that this was the issue, and even asked my LHBS and they said that the water was probably the cause of the taste.
I am kind of new at the whole home brew thing to start messing around with water conditioning; hopefully I'll get a few successful batches under my belt and then start to alter my tap water
I'm going to make a batch this weekend adding a combination of gypsum, calcium chloride, and epsom salt and see if I get better results. I used the ez water calculator using the most recent Boston area water analysis report. Hopefully I get better results!
South-shore here....
MWRA just published their annual water report... We received ours in the mail yesterday. Here's a link:
http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/water/html/awqr.htm
The general complaint that I have is the level of fluoride and it's impact on brewing....
I've always used bottled spring water; usually Poland Spring.
MWRA just published their annual water report... We received ours in the mail yesterday. Here's a link:
http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/water/html/awqr.htm
The general complaint that I have is the level of fluoride and it's impact on brewing....
I've always used bottled spring water; usually Poland Spring.
I've been using MWRA water for all-grain without a problem. I do have a house filter as well as undersink.
My last batch was in mid-May before things started to heat up, so it's possible the MWRA is increasing the chlorine now, which is going to mess things up if you don't filter.
My last batch was in mid-May before things started to heat up, so it's possible the MWRA is increasing the chlorine now, which is going to mess things up if you don't filter.
DakotaRules
Well-Known Member
Resurrecting an old thread but I live in Melrose and was wondering how you read the annual report to add into Beersmith...I think I have done it but always question the report...
Hey Dakota, I ended up sending my water into a lab to get the numbers to punch into the Bru'n Water spreadsheet. Haven't had a problem after that. Melrose has the same water as Wakefield, MWRA, here are the numbers I used:
pH 8.9
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 240
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.40
Cations / Anions, me/L 3.7 / 3.8
ppm
Sodium, Na 65
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 12
Magnesium, Mg 3
Total Hardness, CaCO3 43
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.2 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 4
Chloride, Cl 95
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 40
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 43
pH 8.9
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 240
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.40
Cations / Anions, me/L 3.7 / 3.8
ppm
Sodium, Na 65
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 12
Magnesium, Mg 3
Total Hardness, CaCO3 43
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.2 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 4
Chloride, Cl 95
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 40
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 43
DakotaRules
Well-Known Member
HawkATP said:
Thank you very much!
nicolebattaglia
Member
Anyone know the specifics on the water in Somerville? I brewed two batches over the last two weeks and I'm a little nervous now.
tprokop
Well-Known Member
There's some misinformation in this thread I want to try to correct.
First of all and maybe most important: that Wakefield report is not valid for ANY other community. It's really only valid for Wakefield at the moment of the test. Wakefield gets some water from another source (its own reservoir called Crystal Lake). Since the Town blends water, it is very difficult to know what's in that water at any given time. One day it might be 90% Crystal Lake water (especially in the winter when demand is low) and another day it might be 90% MRWA water. Here's the MassDEP document that describes Wakefield's system: http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/drinking/3305000.pdf
Also, there is no chlorine in MWRA water in the Boston area. MWRA uses Ozone for disinfection at its plant in Central Mass. MWRA uses chloramines for secondary disinfection. More here: http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/04water/html/watsys.htm (Note there is chlorine in the MWRA water in Western Mass, it is treated separately).
MRWA actually releases monthly reports (most water systems don't, so we're lucky with this): http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/monthly/wqupdate/qual3wq.htm
If you're brewing, especially all-grain, with MWRA water you should note that the ion levels are generally very low. You might note that the chloride to sulfate ratio heavily favors chloride, but both are probably too low to matter. Use one of the online calculators to figure out what you should be adding to the water and you can make great beer. MWRA water is an awesome resource because the water is a blank canvas, it's so soft you can make it into water you want.
Brewticus: In the 4-part water series for Brewstrong, Palmer and Jamil stating that there was no link between floride and taste in homebrew, at least at the levels of floride we see in tap water. Can you expand more on your floride concerns?
Good luck,
Todd
First of all and maybe most important: that Wakefield report is not valid for ANY other community. It's really only valid for Wakefield at the moment of the test. Wakefield gets some water from another source (its own reservoir called Crystal Lake). Since the Town blends water, it is very difficult to know what's in that water at any given time. One day it might be 90% Crystal Lake water (especially in the winter when demand is low) and another day it might be 90% MRWA water. Here's the MassDEP document that describes Wakefield's system: http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/drinking/3305000.pdf
Also, there is no chlorine in MWRA water in the Boston area. MWRA uses Ozone for disinfection at its plant in Central Mass. MWRA uses chloramines for secondary disinfection. More here: http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/04water/html/watsys.htm (Note there is chlorine in the MWRA water in Western Mass, it is treated separately).
MRWA actually releases monthly reports (most water systems don't, so we're lucky with this): http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/monthly/wqupdate/qual3wq.htm
If you're brewing, especially all-grain, with MWRA water you should note that the ion levels are generally very low. You might note that the chloride to sulfate ratio heavily favors chloride, but both are probably too low to matter. Use one of the online calculators to figure out what you should be adding to the water and you can make great beer. MWRA water is an awesome resource because the water is a blank canvas, it's so soft you can make it into water you want.
Brewticus: In the 4-part water series for Brewstrong, Palmer and Jamil stating that there was no link between floride and taste in homebrew, at least at the levels of floride we see in tap water. Can you expand more on your floride concerns?
Good luck,
Todd
DakotaRules
Well-Known Member
tprokop said:
Thanks Todd. I will revisit this and try to formulate my water based on the report. I just get confused looking at the report because the numbers don't always match up. Once I get the information plugged in I will post my results.
