Water Report - Need Help

I just got the below back from the Lab Manager at my city water.

From what I gather, mg/l is loosely equivalent to ppm. If this is the case, all of these numbers look really low (close to RO), I think?

Any suggested modifications to this profile? I typically brew IPAs, ESBs, and a few stouts/porters, if that matters. Thanks!


pH 8.5
Alkalinity mg/l 28
Total Chlorine Res. mg/l 3.3
Fluoride mg/l 0.68
Chloride mg/l 22
Ammonia (Total) mg/l 0.89
Ammonia (Free) mg/l 0.16
Ortho- phos. mg/l 1.2
Total Hardness mg/l 56
Ca Hardness mg/l 44
THM ug/l 16
TOC mg/l 2.2
Silica mg/l 5.8
Sulfate mg/l 32
Sodium mg/l 18
Aluminum mg/l 0.19
Copper mg/l 0.050
Iron mg/l 0.10
Lead mg/l 0.001
Manganese mg/l 0.05
Calcium mg/L 17
Magnesium mg/L 2.5

Not quite RO quality, but still pretty good. It is a very good starting point for brewing water.

sbb said:

From what I gather, mg/l is loosely equivalent to ppm.

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In most cases, yes. The exceptions are the hardness number and alkalinity numbers where the mg/L are the number of mg/L of calcium carbonate that would have to be dissolved with carbon dioxide to give the observed levels of hardness and alkalinity. Just accept that this is the way they do it for now.

sbb said:

If this is the case, all of these numbers look really low (close to RO), I think?

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Umm, no. With nominal feed water an RO system should produce permeate with a TDS (total dissolved solids) content of 2 -10 ppm. Your chloride, calcium, sulfate and sodium exceed that by themselves. You do have low mineral water - no question about that - and it should be fine for the beers you intend to brew. This water would not be suitable for lagers using noble hops because of the high sulfate - high for lagers that is, for some ales you will want to supplement it.

sbb said:

Any suggested modifications to this profile? I typically brew IPAs, ESBs, and a few stouts/porters, if that matters.

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My standard recommendations are found in the Primer at the head of this topic. They would include calcium supplementation as your calcium level is lower than most brewers are comfortable with for most beers. But you could certainly brew ales with this water without doing anything. A bit of acid would help though.