Columbus Ohio Water Report

So this whole water chemistry with all grain brewing has been very daunting to me. I brewed an APA last week and used bottled spring water as I didn't really know if I should use my tap water (tastes great through my Britta pitcher and pretty good without.) I wasn't really sure if it would have been fine to actually brew with though. Below is the most current water report for my city. Per How To Brew I think it is missing a number of things that I would need to know in regards to all grain brewing, but I could be wrong. Please let me know what you guys think. Just not sure if I once I do start using my tap water ran through a charcoal filter if I should be adding anything. Thanks in advance.

http://utilities.columbus.gov/Water/PDFs/CCR2010.pdf

Here is the 2010 water report for the dublin rd plant. If you are not in this area call the lab at 614-645-7691 and ask for the report that includes Na, and Mg. They will probably realize you are brewing beer. The guy I talked to said he gets calls all the time for it.

as a follow up this profile is pretty good for brewing. Only real issue is the SO4 which is a bit high for malty beers like hefes but some CaCl would fix this real fast

I am thinking about brewing a nut brown ale, and I am serviced by this water plant. Any suggestions on treating the tap water, or should it be fine?

How is this profile for hoppy beers? It seems like my hop flavors don't really "pop" but that could be something else I'm doing wrong...

Edit: Your link doesn't work for me but here's another one, though it's from 2010. http://utilities.columbus.gov/uploa...y/Publications/Power_and_Water/CCR 2010v4.pdf

Any tips for improving the water quality for trying to brew northernbrewer nut brown ale?

This is excellent, thanks for posting. Been looking for a profile on the water here in Cbus for a while.

In general I just use straight up. If anything I dilute 1/2 with RO for really light beers. The one thing you must absolutely do is add campden tablets for the chlorine. Coulmbus uses lots of it. 1/2 tablet per 5 gals as you warm up water. I use to use all RO with addition of my own salts when i was troubleshooting but it was kind of a PITA. I finally traced it to the chlorine and after I started using campden alot of my troubles went away.

ekjohns said:

In general I just use straight up. If anything I dilute 1/2 with RO for really light beers. The one thing you must absolutely do is add campden tablets for the chlorine. Coulmbus uses lots of it. 1/2 tablet per 5 gals as you warm up water. I use to use all RO with addition of my own salts when i was troubleshooting but it was kind of a PITA. I finally traced it to the chlorine and after I started using campden alot of my troubles went away.

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This is good to hear, I recently started using campden but haven't tasted any of the beer yet.

ekjohns said:

The one thing you must absolutely do is add campden tablets for the chlorine. Coulmbus uses lots of it.

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This seems to be the case, regardless of which of the 3 plants serve your house. Oddly, I didn't notice it until I actually dechlorinated my water, and smelled the difference. Now that my nose has been attuned to it, my tap water smells strongly like a swimming pool. The difference (before and after the campden, and 1 tablet is good for roughly 20 gallons) is really astounding.

There's a thread in the Brew Science section where I've posted some recent measurements for the Hap Cremean plant, in case anyone's interested.

could you link us please?

ekjohns said:

could you link us please?

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Sure. Lots of good info in this thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/columbus-ohio-water-profile-134558/

sorry i know this is an old thread but does anyone know if the area around market district in U.A. is dublin road or not? All the maps are poorly detailed i feel like i'm right on the border?

I think it's Hap Cremean, but I could be wrong. You're right that the map is pretty tiny and it's very tough to tell where the borders are exactly.

That said, the differences in the three plants in Columbus are pretty small. If you're concerned, I would just call Public Utilities; they should be able to tell you which plant services your home. The number is (614) 645-8276.