Water report for Spring Water

[psujeeperman02]

Hey all,
I have a water report from the Spring Water that I use.
I'm brewing 10gal batch of a zombie dust clone this week. What are your recommendations on water additives, if any?

Barium <.4 mg/L
Calcium/CaC03 5 mg/L
Chloride 2 mg/L
Chromium <.02 mg/L
Color 5 color units
Copper <.001 mg/L
Fluoride <.5 mg/L
Iron< .02 mg/L
Lead <.001 mg/L
Manganese <.005 mg/L
Mercury <.0004 mg/L
Nickel <.005 mg/L
Nitrogen, Nitrate<1 mg/L
Nitrogen, Nitrite<.1 mg/L
Selenium <.01 mg/L
Sodium 2.5 mg/L
Sulfate 2 mg/L

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Given that this is an APA/IPA, to each gallon of water to be used I recommend that you add:

1.2 grams CaSO4
0.6 grams CaCl2

You will also need to know the waters alkalinity in order to determine if acidification or alkalization will be required in order to mash within the generally accepted as ideal pH range. And to determine if sparge water acidification is required or not.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Your alkalinity isn't listed, and is important to know (to determine mash pH). Given that your Calcium and Sodium are both very low though, your alkalinity is probably low as well (unless Magnesium is high - it's also not listed - but it's very unlikely). You are probably dealing with water that is not much different to RO water. You'll need to add some Calcium (enough to get up to at least 50ppm, probably more like 100ppm for a ZD clone), which can come from gypsum or Calcium chloride or a bit of both. Depending on your grain bill, you might also need some acid in the mash.

 

[psujeeperman02]

Does this get added to the kettle right before the boil?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Minerals are required for the mash. Add to both your strike (mash) water and sparge water in advance of brewing day, and make sure the minerals get dissolved.

Do you have a means to determine your waters alkalinity (which is not related to its pH)? You should technically have this value, unless you want to roll the dice and fly blind. But as Gnomebrewer stated above, with all of the stated mineral values for your water being as low as they are, your alkalinity is highly likely to also be low enough to not play a big factor, if it will be any factor of consequence at all.

Your spring water looks suspiciously as if it might be well water that has been passed through an RO unit.

Of course all of this is moot if you are making an extract batch. You didn't specify one way or the other.

 

[ajdelange]

The alkalinity is about 0.18 mEq/L (9 ppm as CaCO3) plus whatever magnesium would add which, as magnesium isn't listed, is presumably insignificant. This is essentially RO water.

The barium catches the eye but as the MCL and MCLG are both 2 mg/L I guess it's not something to worry about. Lots of sulfate will tie it up anyway.

 

[psujeeperman02]

Yes this is an AG batch. Sorry I didn't mention that earlier. I do not have a way to determine alkalinity. Suggestions on ways to do so?

 

[ajdelange]

It's so low you need not worry about it. It's questionable as to whether you would be able to detect anything with a typical drop count kit.