Help reading water report

http://www.mub.org/rep_consumer3.htm



What is most notable about my water report. I am in Monongahela, FYI.


Is my hardness average or something to worry about. 80% or more of my beers are on the hoppy end of the spectrum.

From what I understand, hardness = good whereas alkalinity = bad.

As Bob points out, alkalinity can be a bad thing. Looking at the report, it doesn't appear that the alkalinity level is very high. So, its likely that simple things like acid or acid malt additions may be useful for some brews.

The hardness level is not too bad, but that value does not provide information on what the calcium and magnesium content are. If the magnesium is high, this may still be a problematic brewing water. Overall, the water report is relatively incomplete. Sending a sample for testing would be a good way of filling in the blanks.

http://www.mub.org/rep_consumer5.htm

there are other pages, it looks like manganese is .098 ppm calcium carbonate is 101.3 ppm

Ive done some research about water in general, and filters. I this accurate...

Choice are:

use bottled spring water

purchase a filter

regular faucet carbon filter(or jug filter, brita) this removes most of the "bad" stuff and I'm left with what I started out as far as most other minerals.

RO filter, removes most everything and I have to add back the things that I want, namely calcium chloride and/or sauermalz.

Im tempted just to go RO, swmbo is interested in having this for reasons other than brewing, and will likely cover a good portion of the cost. What else do I need to add back to the water with this option, knowing that it depends on the style. Is it really as simple as RO, then adding amounts of just Calcium Chloride and/or sauermalz depending on the style?

Xpertskir said:

http://www.mub.org/rep_consumer5.htm
Is it really as simple as RO, then adding amounts of just Calcium Chloride and/or sauermalz depending on the style?

Click to expand...

In my experience, yes. My results have been consistently good to excellent doing this (more specifically, following the primer in the sticky). I do add a bit of gypsum to some beers where appropriate, but on the whole, I don't add much to the RO water and try to ensure the PH is as good as I can get it.

My goal is to keep it simple and repeatable.

mjohnson said:

In my experience, yes. My results have been consistently good to excellent doing this (more specifically, following the primer in the sticky). I do add a bit of gypsum to some beers where appropriate, but on the whole, I don't add much to the RO water and try to ensure the PH is as good as I can get it.

My goal is to keep it simple and repeatable.

Click to expand...

Ok, Considering I am still extract brewing, PH is somewhat less important for me, I suppose I am just trying not to screw up what was in the water the extract was created with by using ****ty water to rehydrate. I wish I could brew more than 3x a month, its too slow to grow with my quickly increasing knowledge base.

Oh, if you're brewing extract, I don't think you need to add anything to your RO water. Its even easier!