Another Water Report Opinion Request

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chaserchap

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Feb 12, 2011
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Location
Charleston
I've been reading How to Brew and some threads in here, but my water report (from the company itself) was a little light in general.

Here are the numbers I found that seemed to relate:
Chloramines: 4 ppm
Alkalinity: 18.92 ppm
Total Hardness: 23.58 ppm

Also listed was:
pH: 7.78
Conductivity: 114 micromhos/cm
Total Dissolved Solids: 78.5 ppm

It didn't really give any info on sodium content, unfortunately.

As I said, I'm really new to looking into water for my brewing, but from what I can tell it looks like my water is really soft. If that's the case would that mean that I could benefit a lot from adding Calcium Chloride and sauermalz to the water? Is there anything else I should be concerned about or aware of in my water?

Thanks in advance!
 
Alkalinity and hardness are, arguably, the two most important parameters and sodium really isn't that important unless it is excessive so you need more data. Send a sample off to Ward Labs for analysis. That seems to be what most folks here do.
 
I'd call the water company and try to get more info from them. Worth a call before paying for a water report. If you tell the right person you are a brewer they often will give you the extra info.
 
Looks like city tap water.

Its not hard, but not super soft either (to clarify, in terms of my occupation, super soft is less than 5)

I am guessing, water source is a river?
 
I'll prolly give my water provider a call first. I'm only here for a year, so I don't want to pay for labs.
 
Pistols, I got an email from Santee Cooper (the water supplier) with their findings and it's different from the above. Maybe charleston has a different water supplier than goose creek? I'll post what I found when I get home.
 
Here are the relevant values they sent me:

Calcium: 8.04
Magnesium: 3
Alkalinity (as CaCO3): 20
Sodium: 15
Chloride: 17
Sulfate: 22
pH: 7.71

So there are a few differences, though pretty similar overall.
 
Interesting. There probably is a water supply difference. And also how nice that they didn't ignore you. Me and a buddy each sent an email to CWS and got no response. I'd curse government employees, but both my buddy and I are employed by the state, so...

Charleston Water Systems gets their water from the Edisto River and the Bushy Park Reservoir. I can't say I know anything about the water in Goooooooose Creek (are you as tired of that damned commercial as I am??).

Either way, I don't think the measurements are different enough to make any appreciable difference. I'm going to adjust up for calcium to bring the pH down just a bit, but otherwise, I may not monkey with too much for most brews.
 
That's pretty much my plan, though I need to get some chemicals. I didn't have too much trouble, I live on base so I had to make a few calls to figure out who actually supplies our water, but once I figured that out (Sante Cooper) I just had to call them.

And yes...my wife and I both hate that commercial haha!
 
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