Now Location, Water Profile Questions

Wow, and I can't edit the subject. Typo anyone?

I recently moved to a new home (Wooster, OH) and I'm having some trouble with my beers that leads me to believe it may be time to start taking water into consideration.

I'm an accomplished AG brewer of 3 years, all at the same place until now. Now that I've moved, my beers come out "soft", with a slight residual sweetness they never have had before. Other variables such as process, fermentation, etc remain unchanged. I also notice when I take a shower here that the water seems a little softer, but that's purely impression.

I contacted the city for an up-to-date water report, and was provided the following values:


I tried to put together a water profile in Beer Tools Pro, and found it requesting values for Sodium (Na+), Sulfate (SO4--), and Bicarbonate (HCO3-), all of which are not provided (I think?). I really am a neophyte when it comes to water, so I hope the numbers are not right in front of me, simply missed.

My beers are generally on the pale end of the scale, I pretty much never brew anything over 18 SRM.

Should I ask the city for more values, or can I extrapolate what I need from what I have here? Thanks so much for any input!

That water is moderately soft and your perception is valid. Please be aware that many municipalities in the Midwest soften their very hard water source using ion-exchange softening technology. This is the same salt-based softening that you can get for your house.

It would not surprise me that your utility did not provide the sodium content on purpose. It may be sky high. For instance, in my city of Carmel, IN, they soften this way and the sodium content is up to 250 ppm. That is way too high for brewing use and really shouldn't be used for drinking water either. Interestingly, EPA does not have a maximum allowable sodium concentration for drinking water. That is because there are too many places like Carmel that have stone hard water and they use this water softening technology that leaves a bunch of sodium in the softened water.

Do download Bru'n Water to help you understand what your doing with your water. It has a nice section on Water Knowledge that should help in your quest. The link in my signature line leads you to Bru'n Water.