2011 Cincinnati Water Report

Here's my report for 2011 from Cincinnati. There are two water providers, Miller (east/central) and Bolton (north/northwest).
Bicarbonate is calculated based on Palmer's documentation.

Hopefully this is helpful. I'm very new to water chemistry and still trying to figure it out. Did I miss anything?

Any tips on the perfect beer that would be within this range? I imagine that with Cincinnati's huge German heritage, there were several from the 1800s that were brewed and delicious without water modifications (although technically the water they used would likely have not been treated...)



See attached document for full report.

View attachment CWQ Annual Report 2011.pdf

A beer is only a perfect beer after you have tweaked ingredients and process to optimize under you particular and personal optimization criterion whatever it may be. I'm quite confident that you could brew a perfect beer with this water but I cannot say what it would be. For Bohemian style lagers the sulfate would be too high. For British ales it would be too low to many peoples' tastes and to high to others.

As the possibilities are endless (this is by and large good water) the only thing I can do is make the general recommendation that I always do and that is to start out with the suggestions of the Primer and move on from there.

Cool. Thanks. I've made a tasty amber ale and black IPA without knowing about the water profile, but my hoppy beers always come out with a bit to be desired. I think the water profile has something to do with it.

With information on the water profile, you can now move forward on assessing what the current water does for you and what you might consider modifying. In the case of this water, the recommendations of the Water Primer might be overkill for many styles. There is very good chance that this water is easily amenable to many styles. Please read the Water Knowledge page on the Bru'n Water website. It will help you understand what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Its no surprise that the hoppy beers are coming out lacking with this water. The sulfate content is a bit low in my experience. A suggested minimum sulfate for hoppy beers is around 100 ppm and I prefer a level of 300 ppm in my beers. Adding gypsum would be an easy addition for these beers.

Here are my Ward Lab results dated 11/05/2012. I live just inside Clermont County about a mile east of Beechmont Ford off of rt. 125.

pH 8.1
Total Dissilved Solids 305
Sodium, Na 31
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 55
Magnesium, Mg 13
Total Hardness, CaCO3 192
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.3
Sulfate, SO4-S 28
Chloride, Cl 36
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 138
Total Alkalinity CaCO3 123
Total Phosphorus, P 0.49
Total Iron, Fe <0.01

All are in ppm. Now I need to put these numbers to good use. I think my water is the last piece to the brewing puzzle as I am positive I am doing everything else right, just not getting the results I would like. Now to find a good water calculator. Any suggestions mabrungard?

So, I'm near Downtown. Say I wanted to brew an IPA. How much gypsum would you want to add?

Rerun, that is a perfectly usable water. It has some limitations, but many can be worked around. Acid will be a valuable commodity for your brewing. Do recognize that the sulfate is a little high for lighter tasting or malty styles. Dilution may be desirable in those cases. Otherwise, that water is similar to the water in Tallahassee where I made many a good beer.

Rerun said:

Now to find a good water calculator.

Click to expand...

You may want to try this one as well: http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/