I am trying to understand the water chemistry in my area. My water has two annoying problems.
Soduim: 200 ppm
Bicarbonate: 459 ppm
The rest of it is quite low in minearals:
Calcium: 3 ppm
Chloride: 54 ppm
Hardness (Ca/Mg): 8.14 ppm
pH: 7.8
Magnesium: 0.7 ppm
Sulfate: 9 ppm
Total Alkalinity: 376 ppm
Reading Palmer's book I figure dilution with reverse osmosis water is the easiest way to alleviate the bicarbonate problem. A dilution of about 8:1 RO to tap water will get bicarbonate down around 50 ppm where I can brew pale beers. 4:1 will get me in the dark beer range. However, with this technique the pH might not fall to 5.1-5.5 during mashing.
How am I doing here?
Thanks for the input,
--Dean
Soduim: 200 ppm
Bicarbonate: 459 ppm
The rest of it is quite low in minearals:
Calcium: 3 ppm
Chloride: 54 ppm
Hardness (Ca/Mg): 8.14 ppm
pH: 7.8
Magnesium: 0.7 ppm
Sulfate: 9 ppm
Total Alkalinity: 376 ppm
Reading Palmer's book I figure dilution with reverse osmosis water is the easiest way to alleviate the bicarbonate problem. A dilution of about 8:1 RO to tap water will get bicarbonate down around 50 ppm where I can brew pale beers. 4:1 will get me in the dark beer range. However, with this technique the pH might not fall to 5.1-5.5 during mashing.
How am I doing here?
Thanks for the input,
--Dean