Critique on water wanted

[Geigon]

Hi Folks:

I got my Ward Labs report on my well water and I'd like some critiques on the quality. In the past (before I got into treating my water) I found my stouts came out better than any other styles. I thought my water was pretty hard, but was surprised to find the report showing it softer than I thought. I like to brew a lot of different beer styles so I'm hoping this water will be good to tune to a wide range of styles. Thoughts? Are my desires here realistic with this water? Here's what I got:


Total Dissolved Solids......................285
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm...........0.47
Cations/Anions, me/L....................4.4/4.6

ppm
Sodium, Na...................................19
Potassium, K..................................1
Calcium, Ca..................................52
Magnesium, Mg................................12
Total Hardness, CaCO3.......................180
Nitrate, NO3-N..............................0.2 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S................................7
Chloride, Cl.................................56
Carbonate, CO3...............................<1
Bicarbonate, HCO3...........................157
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3.....................129
Fluoride, F................................0.15
Total Iron, Fe............................<0.01

Cheers,
-Brad

 

[Nateo]

You'll definitely need to acidify your mash for lighter beers. I'd recommend using a pH meter, or precision test strips if you want something a little cheaper. Beers with roasted malts should mash fine, but anything with lighter grains will most likely need to be acidified.

Here's a good primer on water treatment:
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2008/09/i-think-that-water-treatment-has-made.html

For brewing hoppier beers, I'd increase the SO4. Your Mg is already at a good level, so I'd probably use gypsum or you could use sulfuric acid to acidify your mash.

 

[BigEd]

Hi Folks:

I got my Ward Labs report on my well water and I'd like some critiques on the quality. In the past (before I got into treating my water) I found my stouts came out better than any other styles. I thought my water was pretty hard, but was surprised to find the report showing it softer than I thought. I like to brew a lot of different beer styles so I'm hoping this water will be good to tune to a wide range of styles. Thoughts? Are my desires here realistic with this water? Here's what I got:


Total Dissolved Solids......................285
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm...........0.47
Cations/Anions, me/L....................4.4/4.6

ppm
Sodium, Na...................................19
Potassium, K..................................1
Calcium, Ca..................................52
Magnesium, Mg................................12
Total Hardness, CaCO3.......................180
Nitrate, NO3-N..............................0.2 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S................................7
Chloride, Cl.................................56
Carbonate, CO3...............................<1
Bicarbonate, HCO3...........................157
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3.....................129
Fluoride, F................................0.15
Total Iron, Fe............................<0.01

Cheers,
-Brad

I think you are confusing hardness with alkalinity. Your water's Calcium content is above average but modest so it's not terribly hard although it does have moderately high alkalinity which generally lends itself to dark beers. You should tour and read the posts and stickys in the Water section of "Brew Science" for more complete information. The alkalinity is mostly of the temporary type as bicarbonate so there are simple techniques to reduce that making the water more suitable for light colored brews. Again there are lots of posts and links in the Water section to help you out.

 

[Geigon]

Thanks for the tips. I made a Singha Clone over the weekend and corrected that acidity level for that, hopefully this will come out well. I was pleased with the pH measurements that I took using the strips that I had (hit 5.2 in the mash). This is the lightest beer that I've made and it looked great in the glass as I was taking pre-boil and post-boil SG measures. This next weekend I'll be brewing a Duvel clone so I'll definitely want to do some research on the right water for that.

I had it in my head that hard water was good for stouts, but didn't realize that it was the alkalinity that was the more important factor here. When I had an aquarium I always had a lot of calcium build up I had on my filter, so I was surprised to see the Calcium reading wasn't off the charts but in the mid range.

Cheers,
-Brad