water profile analysis

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williec30

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need some help with understanding my water profile report... any insight would be greatly appreciated. my tap water is drinkable, but definitely has a chlorine smell.

inorganic chemicals:
fluoride - (.920) ppm
nitrate - (.21) ppm

disinfectant residuals:
tthm - (7.5-43.4) ppb
haloacetic acids - (4.9-19.0) ppb
chlorine - (.61-.72) ppm

lead and copper:
lead - (4.5) ppb
copper - (.091) ppm

other:
turbidity - (.21) NTU
sodium - (4.65) ppm
 
Of these, sodium is the only one that matters for brewing (unless any of the others violate state or federal standards). And you know that they use chlorine rather than chloramine to disinfect, so you can get rid of it by boiling.

Look in my signature for a thread on water reports that contain the kinds of variables that are important.
 
thanks for the help... after changing my search criteria a few times, i was able to find more information. i seem to fall into the range that palmer suggests as well.
 
Of these, sodium is the only one that matters for brewing (unless any of the others violate state or federal standards). And you know that they use chlorine rather than chloramine to disinfect, so you can get rid of it by boiling.

Look in my signature for a thread on water reports that contain the kinds of variables that are important.


I have been using only bottled water to brew with because I don't know what is in my tap water. I just now went to the City of Houston Water Dept. website and found a report for my water. It seems they use Chloramine to disinfect so I guess that eliminates that as a potential water source for brewing?

Dennis
 
Our water is WAY WAY hard and automatically softened (we have no choice) so I use a filter. Then if I'm brewing a lighter brew I use a thing called 5.2 buffer. It gets the mash ph down to close to ideal.
 
It seems they use Chloramine to disinfect so I guess that eliminates that as a potential water source for brewing?

You can use it, but you'll have to remove the chloramine chemically. Campden tablets should do the trick.
 
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