New to water calculations, don't want to get very deep

[BHowe]

Okay, so as the rest of us here, I'm working to improve my beers. So far all of my beers turn out fine and seem to ferment just fine, however I have not been paying any attention to my pH level's or water.

Order the Ward labs report and have done enough research over the last month to be to the point of confusion.

Here's what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm a hop head, I want my hops to shine. Almost all my beers brewed are West Coast style IPA's and Pales. Throw in an Amber sometimes, an odd porter or stout and all sorts of Saison Farmhousy things. I use approx. a 1/4 of a campden tablet for 5 gallons of water to drive off the chloramine.

My water has a ton of sodium. Just over what Palmer would recommend. Sulfates are low... the sodium fights with that?

How would I adjust? I want to keep this stupid simple, and I will fuss with it as I go along by adding and subtracting. I'm far from a chemist....

Maybe dilute to kill the sodium? Then add in Sulfates? Gypsum?

P.S. My water + starsan = instantly cloudy/milky

Here's what Ward came back with:
pH 7.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 666
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 1.11
Cations / Anions, me/L 10.3 / 10.5
ppm
Sodium, Na 109
Potassium, K 8
Calcium, Ca 55
Magnesium, Mg 31
Total Hardness, CaCO3 267
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.3 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 76
Chloride, Cl 135
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 111
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 91
Total Phosphorus, P 1.78
Total Iron, Fe 0.01

 

[mabrungard]

Yes, dilution is the best alternative. With RO or distilled water, you could still employ a very minor quantity of that tap water to provide alkalinity in the case of the rare roast or crystal laden beer grist. For the most part, you may be better off starting with straight RO and mineralizing as desired to produce beer. The recommendations of the Primer are safe and simple.

 

[BHowe]

Appreciate the feedback Martin! This tap water makes good beer, but it's not great beer.

I may just need to look into an RO setup... which if I'm not mistaken will still require the campden tablet usage. I sure would hate to have to purchase 20 gallons of RO every time I wanted to brew.

 

[mabrungard]

No campden needed. All chlorine compounds will have already been removed from the RO feed water since they will destroy the RO membrane. There is a carbon filter preceding the membrane.