Your opinions on my water please!

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kerant

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Oct 2, 2011
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Location
Belle River
Got this from my local waterworks engineer recently. What do you think as I know squat in this area. Is anything needed to improve my brews?

(Carbonate and bicarbonate: No direct measurement. Alkalinity - Average 107, Max 206, Min 72 – all mg/L CaCO3

Hardness- Average 125, Max 221, Min 81 – all mg/L CaCO3

Sodium 5 to 10 mg/L (2007 to 2009)

Chloride 10 to 30 mg/L (2007 to 2009)

Sulfate (Sulphate) 20 to 65 mg/L (2007 to 2009)

Calcium 20 to 60 mg/L (2007 to 2009)

Magnesium 8 to 12 mg/L (2007 to 2009)
Thanks
 
I'm just getting into fixing my water as well so I don't know much about this subject yet. I would think you would want to get it tested again. The last test was done in 2009 (if I'm reading that correctly). Water profiles can change with the seasons depending on your water source. A 3 year old report could have big changes....as you can see everything went up from 2007 to 2009.
 
In general that looks like pretty good water, med hardness. Should work for most styles except Pils or anything requiring very soft water. You can easily soften it with RO water when you need to.
 
I adjust water by style of beer, but with this water you can brew most of ales without significant modification.. just look to get right pH. IMO
 
The profile looks like its within range of most reasonable styles. Beware that things change monthly with public water systems. Temperatures, concentration of sanitizer, like chloramine. Where I live they push a load of chloramine through in the spring above the normal dose and it'll present itself in the beer. I really have to watch for it. I just toss a little extra campden in the HLT to break it down. Also I use beer alchemy for recipies and that program takes the my water profile and helps me add stuff if I want a specific style. Your profile looks simple enough. Unless you are trying to dial in a very specific style its a whole lot of chemistry that you otherwise dont nees to focus on. If however you cook dinner like you brew and like to add a dash of this or a pinch of that, you can add gypsum or soda to the boil and tinker with the flavor some. Beware, adding that stuff to the mash is a whole different animal. It'll start jackin with your mash efficiency. If thats what interest you, then try the product "5". It levels off the pH in the mash and makes some terrific beer. Good luck!
 
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