Just Got My Water Report From Ward, What Now?

Alright fellas,

I just got my well water analysis from Ward Laboratories, which I learned about here on HBT, thanks...

Here it is:

pH 6.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 46
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.08
Cations / Anions, me/L 0.6 / 0.5

Sodium, Na 8
Potassium, K 1
Calcium, Ca 3
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 12
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.9 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S < 1
Chloride, Cl 2
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 22
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 18
Fluoride, F 0.39
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01

"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

So, in my limited understanding, my water looks softer than Pilsen.

What would you do with my water... I know a lot depends on style but what would be a good middle of the road "house" addition to brew most beers on the lighter end of the spectrum.

Thanks guys

Move this to the technical forum, where everyone else is putting their report. There is a ton of info in there if you can manage to decipher it all.

HA ha ha! I just looked at total alkalinity. Mine was 225, and yours is like 18. Yeah. Pretty soft.

That is pretty damn soft. If I were you, I'd start reading the threads about building water from distilled/RO, since you're not far off of that.

where are you, if you don't mind me asking?

looks like a whole lotta nothin!

Can a moderator move this to the technical forum for me, or tell he how to do it... please

motobrewer said:

where are you, if you don't mind me asking?

looks like a whole lotta nothin!

Click to expand...

Southern Virginia

I think you would be well served by browsing the technical forums for information. There's tons of it, and water chemistry is one of the hardest things to get a grasp on.

There are various calculators out there that can help you adjust your water by adding salts. You are really looking at starting with distilled water. Not a bad place to be, as it makes it easy to get the water chemistry you want, without having to cut your water.

The technical forums has links to these spreadsheets, and software.