Toying with the idea of Water Additions

[htims05]

I'm not going to go all in with everything you can do with water, I've read through the articles and it's just to much for me - right now.

I did however believe I'd ask my town about what they measure and see how that stacks up...of course it's not a Ward report...but what are your thoughts on what they did give me?

• Calcium (Hardness CACO3) 20-45 mg/L; our water is considered “soft.”
  
  
• Sodium 6.0-6.0 mg/L
  
  
• Chlorine- we are a Free Chlorine Disinfection System; we do not use Chloramines.
  
  • Chlorine Residual 1.30-1.60 mg/L
    
    
  • Chlorite 0.071-0.454 mg/L
    
    
  • Chlorine Dioxide nd- 0.048 mg/L
    
• Total Alkalinity 20-30 mg/L
  

 

[tellyho]

I'm in a similar situation - don't want to educate myself but want to tweak. I'd plug those values into a free spreadsheet (Bru'n water is what I use) and mess around. I've been happy with small adjustments I've made.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Hardness as CaCO3 is not your waters calcium level. If you take the hardness midrange of 32.5, that level of hardness would correspond to a ballpark guess of 9.2 ppm calcium and a similar ballpark guess of 2.3 ppm magnesium.

2.5*9.2 + 4.12*2.3 = 32.48 (or right close to the 32.5 ppm midrange hardness)

You will need to add 1/4 of a Campden tablet (crushed) to each 5 gallons of your water to rid it of the chlorine.

 

[htims05]

Hardness as CaCO3 is not your waters calcium level. If you take the hardness midrange of 32.5, that level of hardness would correspond to a ballpark guess of 9.2 ppm calcium and a similar ballpark guess of 2.3 ppm magnesium.

2.5*9.2 + 4.12*2.3 = 32.48 (or right close to the 32.5 ppm midrange hardness)

You will need to add 1/4 of a Campden tablet (crushed) to each 5 gallons of your water to rid it of the chlorine.

This was my plan - the campden. I also read that either boiling or letting the water sit overnight removes the chlorine (I guess it dissipates)...or a carbon filter at a slow flow rate. Campden however is cheap and quick....others are slow and free.

 

[mabrungard]

That partial report doesn’t look bad, but it doesn’t tell you enough. More than likely, its a good starting point. You’ll need to research more.

 

[htims05]

Is there a cheaper report than the $50 ward brewers water test? That seems quite high.

 

[day_trippr]

Sure - Wards Brewing Water test - with you supplying the small plastic bottle in a mailer - is only $27.25

Cheers!

 

[htims05]

Sure - Wards Brewing Water test - with you supplying the small plastic bottle in a mailer - is only $27.25

Cheers!

When I go to wards...in the actual cart it’s $42

 

[htims05]

 

[day_trippr]

But that is the price to have them mail you a plastic bottle in a box with a pre-paid (that you pay for) postage tag.
If you provide all that it's $27.25.
I sent them a two ounce plastic bottle via USPS. Postage was like two bucks, sent a check for what they were asking back then...

Cheers!

[edit] Look here https://www.wardlab.com/services/water-analysis/ w501

 

[seanjwalker1]

I'm not going to go all in with everything you can do with water, I've read through the articles and it's just to much for me - right now.

I did however believe I'd ask my town about what they measure and see how that stacks up...of course it's not a Ward report...but what are your thoughts on what they did give me?

• Calcium (Hardness CACO3) 20-45 mg/L; our water is considered “soft.”
  
  
• Sodium 6.0-6.0 mg/L
  
  
• Chlorine- we are a Free Chlorine Disinfection System; we do not use Chloramines.
  
  • Chlorine Residual 1.30-1.60 mg/L
    
    
  • Chlorite 0.071-0.454 mg/L
    
    
  • Chlorine Dioxide nd- 0.048 mg/L
    
• Total Alkalinity 20-30 mg/L
  

Ask your LHBS, they usually have good numbers on hand. My LHBS had the values for all 3 water supplies near me and they are pretty accurate.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Assuming the midrange scenario again, with alkalinity at 25 ppm (and thereby bicarb at 30.5 ppm), and seeing that you are missing ppm values for chloride and sulfate ions, I played around with mEq/L scenarios which balance cations and anions, and I discovered this:

1) For the case of zero chloride ions (Cl-), the maximum sulfate ion (SO4--) value will be around 19.5 ppm.
2) For the case of zero sulfate ions the maximum chloride ion value will be around 14.5 ppm.
3) If Cl- and SO4-- were to have the same ppm value (which is possible but not likely), they would both be around 8.3 ppm.

If you do get a Ward Labs report remember to multiply their reported SO4-S value by 3 to derive your actual SO4-- value.

The biggest problem is that it appears your water is blended, and that means the blend of a submitted sample will not necessarily be the blend on brew day.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

A purely mid-range blended water ballpark guess (100% speculation sans that it does cation/anion balance as to mEq/L's):

Ca++ = 9.2 ppm
Mg++ = 2.3 ppm
Na+ = 6.0 ppm
Cl- = 5.7 ppm
SO4-- = 12 ppm
Alkalinity as CaCO3 = 25 ppm
Bicarbonate (HCO3-) = 30.5 ppm
Total Hardness as CaCO3 = 32.5 ppm

 

[htims05]

A purely mid-range blended water ballpark guess (100% speculation sans that it does cation/anion balance as to mEq/L's):

Ca++ = 9.2 ppm
Mg++ = 2.3 ppm
Na+ = 6.0 ppm
Cl- = 5.7 ppm
SO4-- = 12 ppm
Alkalinity = 25 ppm
Bicarbonate = 30.5 ppm
Total Hardness = 32.5 ppm

Thanks. I also have asked the lhbs to see if they have analysis - they would have the same city water as I do. If not I’ll send a vial into Ward.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Presuming that there are only two sources for the blend, and also guessing that each represents an opposite poll of the given extremes (a huge guess all in itself):

Source water #1 pure speculative guess:

Ca++ = 5.6 ppm
Mg++ = 1.5 ppm
Na+ = 6.0 ppm
Cl- = 3.9 ppm
SO4-- = 7.4 ppm
Alkalinity as CaCO3 = 20 ppm
Bicarbonate (HCO3-) = 24.4 ppm
Total Hardness as CaCO3 = 20 ppm

Source water #2 pure speculative guess:

Ca++ = 12.6 ppm
Mg++ = 3.3 ppm
Na+ = 6.0 ppm
Cl- = 7.6 ppm
SO4-- = 16.4 ppm
Alkalinity as CaCO3 = 30 ppm
Bicarbonate (HCO3-) = 36.6 ppm
Total Hardness as CaCO3 = 45 ppm

Knowing how these things go, I can't wait to see how far off these guesses are from a grab samples snap-shot glimpse of the reality of the moment of sampling.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I believe that Ward needs at least 8 ounces and prefers 16 ounces. I think the container they sent me was one pint. Call or email them before sending only a vial.

 

[couchsending]

They ask for an 8oz sample. Need to send a sample of my well water in today. Want to try the slaked lime method of reducing alkalinity. The few times I’ve used my well water I preboiled and decanted which is just too much of a pain.

 

[htims05]

I believe that Ward needs at least 8 ounces and prefers 16 ounces. I think the container they sent me was one pint. Call or email them before sending only a vial.

Their brewers submitter form says 8-16 oz. or just get a drinking water bottle - they reccomend this (the cheap flimsy plastic ones) and just was and rinse. Let your water run for 5 min and send that in with a check.

I just did this.

Wonder how long it takes?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Their brewers submitter form says 8-16 oz. or just get a drinking water bottle - they reccomend this (the cheap flimsy plastic ones) and just was and rinse. Let your water run for 5 min and send that in with a check.

I just did this.

Wonder how long it takes?

They work fast once they receive the sample. They should email you the results within 1-3 days after they receive it.

 

[htims05]

Here's the ward Lab result

 

[couchsending]

A lot of folks would love to have water like that to brew with. You can make any style without having to do much of anything but add Calcium and maybe a little acid to get pH into spec. That’s not far from perfect water.

 

[htims05]

That's awesome news! Thanks

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Nice water indeed! The biggest mistake I made in my blended water guess was in presuming that there would be more sulfate than chloride, wherein it proves to be the opposite. Other than that I wasn't far off at all with my guess work. When I saw that the first word of the subject line was "toying", that is precisely what I did.