hey bawls (just had to say that)...this may or may not apply to your situation. There's already been some very good advice posted in this thread. I just have to stand up on my soap box for a minute:
Here's a recent report on Sacto Water - it of course depends on where you live in the Sacramento area but generally the water here is quite soft.
There's some variability in water sources. You'll have seasonal variations that depending on the whim of the district and their needs/forecast, etc. My water changes between two different sources which happen to be well water or surface water. The Well water is a little harder (165ppm vs ~90pmm). I sometimes build water for special brews (stouts or dark brews) but haven't noticed much difference in the results between the two sources...
Tested 1/20/2010
Sacramento, CA 95820
pH 8.0
TDS 165
Sodium (Na) 12
Potassium (K) 1
Calcium (Ca) 15
Total Hardness (CaC03) 71
Nitrate 0.2
Sulfate (S04-S) 6
Chloride (Cl) 11
Carbonate (C03) 6
Bicarbonate (HC03) 78
Total Alkalinity (CaC03) 74
(all measurements ppm)
BTW, I live a few miles south-east of midtown (
not too far from Brew Ferment Distill, which is a great LHBS btw. check them out if you haven't already). <
http://brewfermentdistill.com/ >
Two bit's of advice that I might offer:
Make sure to treat all of your brewing water with something like Campden tablets. This will add some sulfates to your water (probably a little low anyhow, shouldn't affect the flavor) but it will also remove any chlorine or chloramine. Chloramine will cause off flavors even when in the parts-per-billion range! This is my personal soap box because I quit brewing for a few years due to the off flavor this crap creates - HBT finally drove the point home for me. I quit topping off with tap water and started using 1/4 campden tablet per 5gal brewing water. Off flavors gone, friends will now ask me for samples of homebrew (where they used to just say 'oh, more beer').
Check out this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/campden-tablets-253747/
Now regarding the water quality (not flavor) - Sacramento water is just ok IMO. There's been problems, er.. 'challenges' with everything from elevated perchlorates to cryptosporidium. If you compare sacto water with other areas of the nation, it might rank pretty high - but still, this doesn't mean that you
won't get organisms in your tap water. If you're getting water from a surface-source, who knows what kind of bacteria and spores might be present*. Keep in mind that the water testing is based on levels of these organisms, not whether or not they are present.. I think that's because they are
expected to be present but in low quantities.
Your newly born beer is like a playground for all kinds of bacteria and yeasts, it's your job to help the desired yeast to be the bully and kick all those other kid's asses. Do everything you can to give your preferred yeast a head start.
$0.02
- Mike
ps. It's safe to drink I'm sure (hell I drink it all the time).
pps - If you'd like to know more read this, see section on Coliform bacteria MCL's
http://tinyurl.com/3ar2lfb