NewB2Brewing
Active Member
I have a well, and I'm looking for a DIY test kit to test the chemistry of my water. Can anyone recommend a particular kit, that would get me the results?
Test for Well Water Chemistry
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djt17
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Check out Ward Labs test W5-A it is worth it. https://producers.wardlab.com/default.aspx
Helloworld
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Lamotte developed a DIY kit with John Palmer:
http://www.morebeer.com/search?search=lamotte
I have used Ward Labs and was very pleased with the results. As dj said, it is worth it.
http://www.morebeer.com/search?search=lamotte
I have used Ward Labs and was very pleased with the results. As dj said, it is worth it.
There are many kits/tests available and they span a wide range of accuracy and cost. The cheapest (and least accurate) are the drop count kits sold to aquarists and available at pet stores. Next step up are the more expensive drop count kits sold by Hach, LaMotte, Cole-Parmer etc. Next step up from that are the Hach Digital Titrator kits. Next step up from that are the tests that use a spectrophotometer or photometer (out of the question unless you have access to one at work/school.
The values for alkalinity and both kinds of hardness are easy to determine and this is what most of the kits are for. Chloride is doable (but involves a mercury salt). Sulfate is easy to do but LaMotte has a crude test. Fair accuracy for sulphate can be attained using a photometer or nephelometer but calibration is required. Sodium is done with difficulty using an ion selective electrode which requires a pH meter with mV mode and the electrode itself costs over $200.
An approach is to get decent alkalinity and hardness tests, measure the water and send a sample off to Ward Labs.
Wait a couple of months, then repeat.
Wat a couple months more then repeat again.
See if you can correlate what you measure for alkalinity and hardness with the other numbers on the water reports. Does sulfate go up (or down) when alkalinity does? If there is good correlation this suggests that you may be able to estimate what is in your water quite well from just the couple of tests you can do yourself.
The values for alkalinity and both kinds of hardness are easy to determine and this is what most of the kits are for. Chloride is doable (but involves a mercury salt). Sulfate is easy to do but LaMotte has a crude test. Fair accuracy for sulphate can be attained using a photometer or nephelometer but calibration is required. Sodium is done with difficulty using an ion selective electrode which requires a pH meter with mV mode and the electrode itself costs over $200.
An approach is to get decent alkalinity and hardness tests, measure the water and send a sample off to Ward Labs.
Wait a couple of months, then repeat.
Wat a couple months more then repeat again.
See if you can correlate what you measure for alkalinity and hardness with the other numbers on the water reports. Does sulfate go up (or down) when alkalinity does? If there is good correlation this suggests that you may be able to estimate what is in your water quite well from just the couple of tests you can do yourself.
NewB2Brewing
Active Member
Do you see any importance to testing for Iron and Phosphorus? To save a couple of bucks I see test W-6 omits those two from the test.
Iron is important if you have it in appreciable amount. You can do a couple of simple tests yourself.
1) If your water is yellowish, grayish or brownish suspect iron.
2) If upon vigorous aeration (put some in a mason jar, screw down the lid, shake vigourously) it turns grayish, yellowish, brownish or turbid suspect iron.
3) After shaking with air, pour the water through some folded paper town in a funnel. If the towel stains brownish or yellowish/orange then you have iron and would want to have it tested to see how high the iron content is.
Phosphorous: no. If your water has any calcium in it to speak of then there won't be appreaciable phosphate. True, what little there might be does throw off alkalinity calculations (because phosphate does induce alkalinity) and I like to know what it is for a complete picture but practically speaking it isn't going to make any difference.
1) If your water is yellowish, grayish or brownish suspect iron.
2) If upon vigorous aeration (put some in a mason jar, screw down the lid, shake vigourously) it turns grayish, yellowish, brownish or turbid suspect iron.
3) After shaking with air, pour the water through some folded paper town in a funnel. If the towel stains brownish or yellowish/orange then you have iron and would want to have it tested to see how high the iron content is.
Phosphorous: no. If your water has any calcium in it to speak of then there won't be appreaciable phosphate. True, what little there might be does throw off alkalinity calculations (because phosphate does induce alkalinity) and I like to know what it is for a complete picture but practically speaking it isn't going to make any difference.
NewB2Brewing
Active Member
Awesome, thank you
