How shall I start treating this water if the water works gave totally dubious info?

[Elysium]

I have been living and brewing in Madrid.
The waterworks here are simply horrible when it comes to giving information out.

What happens is that they gave me a min and max amount of salts that can be present in the water. This doesnt really help me since the difference between min and max is relatively high.

I give you guys a detailed description of what kind of water I'd like to have and have available.

My plan is to brew APAs, AAAs. Mainly APAs...and after a chat with Yooper (god bless her ) I decided to use this profile (expressed in ppm):
Cl:57
Mg:10
Na:1
Cl:42
So4:80
Bicarbonate (HCO3): 14

So, this is actually a pretty good water profile for me when it comes to brewing an APA.

Now...the water profile for the water in Madrid looks like this (expressed in Mg/L...which is ppm too):

min-max Cl: 8-24
min-max Mg: 1-6
min-max Na: 0.5-40
min-max Cl: 10-30
min-max So4: 5-49
Hardness (mg/L Co3Ca): 25-85

There are other factors that make this water difficult to tweak.....well, the main factor is that it comes from the mountains and it is said to change according to the season.....so, I dont know what to do. Regularly ask for a list from the water works?

Anway.....can you guys help me learn how to treat this water to hit the desired salt composition in it? I actually have no clue as to how to start working on it. I know how to use salts, the ez water calculator....but with fix numbers, not ones that fluctuate like this.

An important thing to mention is that bottled water and RO water in Spain cost quiet a lot. For a 6 gallon batch...I normally spend 10 dollars on water. So, I'd like to use tap water in order to reduce my expenses when it comes to brewing. Having said that.....I think we would all agree that bottled or mineral water for brewing is not an option.

 

[Doctor_M]

My advice is to send a sample of your water to a laboratory (most use ward labs in the USA I don't know about Spain) to find out more precise information on your water, but as you said it will still fluctuate.

If you were to buy a ro water setup you would eliminate the issue of fluctuating levels of minerals.

 

[ajdelange]

There are two approaches to variable water. One is to measure it before each brew and adjust accordingly and the other is to remove the variability by removing the minerals i.e. by using RO water instead of municipal water. For example, by diluting 1 part of the city water with 2 parts RO your chloride span becomes 3-8 (first time it is listed), Mg: 1/3 - 2; Na .2 - 13 etc.

 

[mabrungard]

All of the flavor ions (Na, Cl, SO4) are at relatively minor concentrations, so the main concerns are the hardness and alkalinity values. Hardness and alkalinity are the major impacts on mashing pH. Relatively inexpensive water test kits used for fish aquariums are a good tool for assessing those concentrations. With actual test results from those kits, you can then make a much better estimate of your current water conditions and plan your water adjustments properly.

As you mention, RO and distilled water can be costly. I don't think that the water quality mentioned above REQUIRES dilution or replacement. Those concentrations are well within the desirable limits for brewing water. If you are willing to work with minor descrepancies in your ACTUAL water ion concentrations and utilize current test results for the hardness and alkalinity, you will be quite successful in managing your brewing results.