Being frugal (or 'cheap') I don't want to spend money on a water analysis unless I need to. We're on a well and the water is hard but is wonderful to drink - but as for brewing, that's where it gets interesting as I want to cut from my current extract & grains approach to all grain BIAB.
When we bought our current house we got a water report but it was a standard house one (though for the price it should have been handwritten on gilt-edged velum). The report does give Hardness (256 mg/l but doesn't state if 'as CaCO3'), Sulfate (10.2 mg/l), Chloride (7.63 mg/l), and pH (7.45) and a few others like iron (all very low) but no Calcium, Magnesium, or Bicarbonate.
I'm not looking to emulate Pilsen, Munich, Burton, etc. but I would like to be able to brew a stout or pilsner or anything in between. Is this enough information to at least be able to baseline the water? Can I get something as simple as add x and y to get a middle of the road water, add more x for a pale beer or more y for a darker beer? Or should I just send a sample off and get a full bells and whistles report?
When we bought our current house we got a water report but it was a standard house one (though for the price it should have been handwritten on gilt-edged velum). The report does give Hardness (256 mg/l but doesn't state if 'as CaCO3'), Sulfate (10.2 mg/l), Chloride (7.63 mg/l), and pH (7.45) and a few others like iron (all very low) but no Calcium, Magnesium, or Bicarbonate.
I'm not looking to emulate Pilsen, Munich, Burton, etc. but I would like to be able to brew a stout or pilsner or anything in between. Is this enough information to at least be able to baseline the water? Can I get something as simple as add x and y to get a middle of the road water, add more x for a pale beer or more y for a darker beer? Or should I just send a sample off and get a full bells and whistles report?