Picked up my water report today

It's a bit limited, but the city said they will send someone out to take a sample and get a more detailed report at their next convenience. Probably after the Labor Day Holiday.

They have 4 wells in the area, and automatically switch between 2 pairs of wells every so often, so the only way to figure it out close is to add them up and average.

Sodium 10.5 ppm
Sulfate 18 ppm
Fluoride .049 ppm
Nitrate .2 ppm
Arsenic 2 ppb
Chloride 44.25 ppm
Hardness as CaCo3 220.75 ppm
Iron .175 ppm


The reason I started checking was a response of some astringency in some of my beer. I thought it was time I got a report and see where I stand with my water. How does it look?

That is some seriously hard water. Is the astringency mainly found in your lighter beers?

Do you know if all four wells are drawing from the same source?

The beers that I had tasted were an APA and an AIPA. The IPA was a bit young, but it also won 3rd place in a nearby homebrew competition, and although I didn't get any written feedback (more's the pity), one of the judges that I talked to said that it was a "clean-tasting beer". I didn't get to talk to any of the other judges, but the brewmaster said he could give me more feedback. Probably have to drive over there and discuss over a pint or two.

Anyway, I have been wanting to have my water checked for a while.

I have brewed a couple of blondes and Wits before and they always seem ok, but not quite right. Could be the hardness? I have usually used bottled water, but I'd like to cut back if I can, or eliminate it altogether if possible.

The 4 wells are located in different parts of our small town and mix together in the towers. The water supervisor said that an average would be very close to perfectly accurate, as they alternate the pumping from wells 2 and 4, then wells 3 and 5.

Meh. Yeah your water is really alkaline.

If I had your water I would dilute it down 2:1 RO to your water, and then treat it with gypsum per Palmer's spreadsheet. Since your water is extraordinarily low in sulfate content IMO you only need gypsum, I wouldn't bother using CaCl2. You may also want to consider using all RO water for sparging.

You need to know what the Ca, Mg, and pH is, but yeah, it's a lot like mine.

I found that if I dilute 50%, add 2 grams gypsum and 3 ml 34% HCl (muriatic acid) I am good to brew anything down to like 2 SRM, and have a balanced sulfate/Cl ratio.

When you get the rest of the numbers (Ward Labs, 16 bucks...) plug them into a spreadsheet and play with different additions to see how it works.

It's the only way to learn...

Well, I'm waiting on the Wards test until after I get the results back from the city. They said they do it for free. I might even get a Wards after the city's results, and see if they are close. I don't have any reason to suspect my city of doing anything unethical such as giving false information, but if they end up giving me a Wards report, then I won't have to pay for one myself.