need help understanding this

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

Okay, so I live in Savannah where we have ground water as our main water source. I was looking through John Palmers book where he talks about ppm this and ppm that. I pulled Savannah water report and neither calcium or magnesium is listed. He said that along with mash pH, having correct ppm this and that makes great beer. But if no one has a listing of what the levels are in the water here how do I know what I have?

Also, lets just say I have water that is hmm 15ppm calcium. According to Mr. Palmer 50ppm is a minimum for good beer. How do I know exactly how much to add and what to add? Can anyone brake this down into non super master degree chemist lingo and explain to me the process of this in average jo smo talk?

 

[LesIsMore]

The best way to know what's in your water is to send out for a water report from a place like Ward Labs. They'll tell you everything you need to know that's in your water. As far as what to add to reach 50ppm Ca, etc, there are online water calculators that you can plug your water report info into. The water book goes into calculating the numbers, but these spreadsheets may be easier to work with.

http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

 

[riceral]

Here's another site that gives lots of good information. Start with the "Water Knowledge" link.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

Thank you. That helped a lot.