Need some help interpreting my water analysis....Any experts?

Following is my Ward report from my well water with softener. I basically want to know if it is suitable for brewing all styles of beer (with the understanding that I will use salts) as required.

pH - 7.6
TDS - 384
Elec conductivity - .64
Cation/anions me/L - 7.5/7.3

Na - 3
K - <1
Ca - 87
Mg - 36
CaCO3 - 368
NO3-N - .1
SO4-S - 26
Cl - 8
CO3 - <1
HCO3 - 334
CaCO3 - 274
P - .62
Fe - .95

Any help would be much appreciated.

This is not post softener. If it is, your softener is not working.

The main problem you face with this water is its high alkalinity (274 mg/L as CaCO3) but you also have a problem with iron at over three times the MCL of 0.3. If your softener is working properly it will remove the magnesium and calcium and replace them with 122 mg/L sodium which is pretty high. It will also remove the iron but it will not touch the alkalinity. There are heroic measures you can take to try to work with this water but many in your region throw up their hands and simply install an RO unit or obtain RO water from elsewhere. This is what I would recommend for you as it is surely the easiest path to good beer though not the least expensive.

+1 on AJ's comments. Time to punt and move to RO. Be sure to feed the RO unit with softened water for longest membrane life.

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking the same after I saw the sodium reading - sometimes the salt cakes up in the tank and the water flows under the salt bed, so I have to break it up. I'm guessing this was the case with this sample. In any event, it sounds like I will continue designing my own water using distilled. I have a reverse osmosis system in my kitchen, but with a 2.5 gallon tank, I don't have the patience to wait for it, so it looks like I will be spending an extra $10 per batch.

I did recently brew a pale ale using my well water. I will be kegging it this weekend - curious to see how it tastes. Wouldn't be the first batch I had to pitch

Brewhawk,

It sounds like we have similar situations, well water, softeners and lousy water profiles for brewing. I scoured the internet looking for deals and recommendations for a good RO system. I ordered on Thursday from http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1ED/Energy-Recovery-Reverse-Osmosis-System.html I also ordered a 20 gallon tank and a TDS meter. They were very knowledgeable about what I was looking for plus they have free shipping. Good luck with your quest for better water. Keep us posted on how you fare!

AJ - You were right. Just had the "water softerner guy" come out and he confirmed that I had a clog in one of the valves, thus the low Na.

Rickochet - what was your all-in cost for your RO system. I have one, but the tank is too small. I'm thinking about putting one in my basement brewery - at $10/batch in RO water, it would probably pay for itself in a couple years?

BrewHark said:

I have one, but the tank is too small. I'm thinking about putting one in my basement brewery - at $10/batch in RO water, it would probably pay for itself in a couple years?

Click to expand...

If your tank is too small, all you need to do is 'Tee' in another larger tank to add storage capacity. I have my original 3 gal plus a 20 gal tank and that is nearly sufficient for brewing a 10 gal batch. You have to have roughly twice as much pressure tank volume as your water demand since you don't actually get the full volume out of those tanks. If you can store water in an open tank, that would be better since the back pressure is reduced on the membrane.