How To Figure Out My Water Compsition

[7brew]

I was just reading a thread about homebrewer opinions, and was surprised that a significant portion of people think water adjustments are important. http://brulosophy.com/2019/11/07/2019-general-homebrewer-survey-results/

I have tried a few times to figure out what my local water is comprised of, but always get stuck somewhere. I use water from the local SaveMart, or water kiosk - the places where you refill 5-gallon jugs. I thought for a while that those were RO water, but I have never added any mineral additions, and never had any of the issues related to using RO water, such as cloudiness resulting from the removal of calcium.

I can find water quality reports for my local tap water, but nothing so far about mineral composition.

Basically, I'm having a hard time figuring out what my base level of minerals in my water is, so I can't accurately start adding anything. Not sure where to start.

 

[balrog]

One suggestion: send a sample to Ward Labs for a Brewers Report.

 

[Jag75]

+1 on Ward labs. However I quickly went to just using RO water . Sometimes i dilute my tap with RO so the info Ward labs sends is perfect. Well worth the $ .