I have been using tap water, should I add anything to it?

Hey guys,

I have been brewing with my city's tap water for about two years and I haven't really been concerned about it. However I figure I might as well get into treating my water and trying to understand the science behind all of that. So can any of you guys point me in the right direction or make some suggestions?

Heres some info about my city's water:

2014 AVERAGE VALUES
Calcium (Ca) = 34.6 ppm
Magnesium (Mg) = 8.7 ppm
Sodium (Na) = 14.8 ppm
Sulphate (SO4) = 26.4 ppm
Chloride (Cl) = 25.8 ppm
Alkalinity = 89 ppm
pH = 7.6 pH

Here are the latest UNOFFICIAL results (Tested June 2015):

Calcium (Ca) = 34.1 ppm
Magnesium (Mg) = 8.78 ppm
Sodium (Na) = 13.7 ppm
Sulphate (SO4) = 28.0 ppm
Chloride (Cl) = 26.5 ppm
Alkalinity = 87.8 ppm
Jan 2015 to June 2015 pH range: 7.36 pH to 7.76 pH

Thanks guys

Does your water have chlorine or chloramines? The city can tell you and if it does you should be using campen tablets to get rid of it.

Bru'n Water is an excel sheet that using the numbers you have you can build your water profile for whatever style you are looking for. It is a little complicated at first but if you play with it for a couple hours it is a lot easier. It is preloaded with most style / water types and it is a pretty great tool.

you may also find there isn't all that much you need to do for many beer styles with your water.

oh yes i already do use a campden tablet on every brew! I forgot to mention that. I'll look up that spreadsheet now

Pwnshop. Looks like you got pretty decent water there. Lucky. Mine was total crap so since then I been using Brun to build up distilled water. For you...invest in some gypsum and calcium chloride I would say and you should be good. Gypsum addition if you're shooting for a hoppy bitter brew and calcium chloride if you're shooting for a malt forward brew. Want well balanced??...just a little of both?...maybe even none. You got good water there for a well balanced brew.

+1 for Bru'nwater. Great tool. Also, check out the Brew Science forum and particularly the water chemistry sticky. Lots of good info there. And pay attention to any you read by AJ and Martin (author of Bru'nwater). These guys have forgotten more chemistry than I will ever know.

Bru'nWater also runs in LibreOffice Calc if you don't have Excel.

Brew on