Cambridge, MA water for brewing

Greetings all,

I just moved back to Cambridge from DC where I had an inline water filter. What are peoples' thoughts on using Cambridge (Porter Square neighborhood if it matters) water for brewing? The water tastes fine though every now and then I pick up the faintest odor of chlorine. Should I use some cambden tablets? Will the Cl blow off during heating and boiling? Many thanks!

Dan


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Call Modern Homebrew Emporium and see if they have an opinion. They are right down the street (as you may already know).

I live in Boston on MWRA water so can't help.

 

Modern Homebrew will likely tell you that the water is fine (that's what they told me) and I agree for the most part.

Somerville/Cambridge water comes through the Carroll treatment plant which is the same source as the water in Boston proper as far as I can tell. It's pretty soft and easy to work with. It is sanitized using ozone rather than Chlorine/Chloramine though there may be residual in your plumbing?

The water authority releases new reports monthly (though they are pretty consistent month to month) so you should have all the info you need if you want to muck around with ion concentrations.

Good luck!


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What do you do, if anything, to your water? I am producing pretty OK/good beers (or my friends are too kind) but haven't gotten into treating my water yet. I have been concentrating on process and fermentation temps.

EDIT: Hope this isn't a thread hijack, since we are all on the same/similar water, thought it was relevant!

 

Even if they sanitize with ozone they may add chlorine right before it leaves the plant. That ensures it stays sanitized through the miles of pipes before it reaches your home.

At least that is what Fargo ND does. Ozone train followed by trickling filter lastly followed by chlorine treatment. Then it ships to public water service.

If you are smelling chlorine campden would be a fine option. If used properly (search forum for that) it does not affect the taste other than removing chlorine.


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@HumulusHead -- that's a possibility but the treated water profile quotes < 5 mg/l chlorine, which should boil off no problem. In any case, I don't treat for chlorine and I've never noticed medicinal/plastic flavors in my beer.

@geoffm33 -- I recently started doing salt additions for flavor. I use EZ water to predict mash pH (I don't have a pH meter and I don't trust the strips). I've been concentrating on hoppy beers recently so I've been looking to up my sulfates to the 200 mg/l level or so. Calcium is really low in our water as well, so I make sure that it's up at 50 mg/l at least. For me, this translates to some gypsum and a little bit of calcium chloride. I treat the strike water and compensate with a few oz of acid malt in the grain bill to get to the right pH range.

I noticed the first batch I did after treating the water that my flocculation with US - 05 (first generation) was much better than usual. I've read that calcium is a good yeast nutrient and can particularly help with flocculation, so I'm hoping that this becomes the new norm for me.


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Thanks for the reply!

 

Yeah the residual chlorine really should not be significant from the bit they add. I do not treat the Cl either since I have not noticed any off flavors either. Just thought that could be a possibility



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@HumulusHead -- that's a possibility but the treated water profile quotes < 5 mg/l chlorine, which should boil off no problem. In any case, I don't treat for chlorine and I've never noticed medicinal/plastic flavors in my beer.

@geoffm33 -- I recently started doing salt additions for flavor. I use EZ water to predict mash pH (I don't have a pH meter and I don't trust the strips). I've been concentrating on hoppy beers recently so I've been looking to up my sulfates to the 200 mg/l level or so. Calcium is really low in our water as well, so I make sure that it's up at 50 mg/l at least. For me, this translates to some gypsum and a little bit of calcium chloride. I treat the strike water and compensate with a few oz of acid malt in the grain bill to get to the right pH range.

I noticed the first batch I did after treating the water that my flocculation with US - 05 (first generation) was much better than usual. I've read that calcium is a good yeast nutrient and can particularly help with flocculation, so I'm hoping that this becomes the new norm for me.


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Modern Homebrew should have a water report print out up by the register w/ ion concentrations and the works.

When I worked there we definitely told brewers the water was just fine for brewing. If I remember right (it's been a couple years) the water is treated to a high-ish pH, but it's more a concern if you're a fish person (read: you like keeping fish in tanks, not if you're a merman).

Personally, I lived near Davis and had no issues with the brewing water, no chlorophenols or anything.

 

Well merpeople actually are sensitive to a higher pH...


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As always tons of helpful info. My major concern was chlorine/chloramine. I don't notice anything when I drink the tap water, which all in all tastes fine. Every now and then when I leave my water bottle in the sun I can smell some chlorine. As for other ions, I may tweak things a bit but have never been overly concerned.

As for the fish person thing, my wife is a mermaid (fish on top, woman on the bottom) and we have seem some problems there...


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MWRA water has chloramine, so use Campden tabs. Otherwise, it's a good, relatively low mineral base (the pH is slightly high, but the alkalinity is relatively low, so it's easy to correct). You can get the last month's water report from the MWRA website with virtually everything you need to know on it.

I'm the next stop up the red line from biereblanche, just beyond Alewife in Arlington. Maybe we need a red line homebrew crawl...

 

I'm off the Broadway stop. Let's do it!

 

I am literally right in Porter Square so count me in!

We all need to go check out Aeronaut (once they open their doors)...


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I worked and lived in Somerville. Now I live in Colorado. Sorry guys

 

Davis Square crew representing as well.

 

Out of curiosity, what makes you say the water has chloramine? I haven't seen anything about that from what I've read on the reports.

I'm also in Davis Square.

 

PHDrunk - Here's the MWRA treatment info:

http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/04water/html/carrollwtp.html

They add sodium hypochlorite and ammonia. The NaOCl gives up a free chlorine, which combines with the ammonia to form chloramine. That's why water leaving the plant tests around 2 ppm for total chlorine, but doesn't have any free chlorine. You can see it in the monthly reports (in March, it was 2.34 ppm - page 6).

http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/monthly/wqupdate/pdf/cy2014/042014.pdf

 

Sorry just to add a few other things:

- I'm in the camp that doesn't think Chloramines at 2 ppm or less make any taste difference in the final beer, but I am willing to hear evidence to the contrary.

- RE: concerns on high pH - there's so little mineral content in the MWRA water that it doesn't have any buffering capacity, so the high pH really doesn't matter. Yes it's high, but it'll be massively overshadowed by the grain you add.

- Typically, Cambridge does not get MWRA water. They've got their own reservoir in Waltham. The values are not too far off though - here are values as of 12/02/13:

Avg distribution system pH: 9.03
Avg Total Alkalinity (as CaCO3): 41
Hardness (as CaCO3): 55
Calcium: 5.08 mg/L
Chloride: 24.6 mg/L
Flouride: 1.12 mg/L
Iron: < 0.05 mg/L
Magnesium: 0.9 mg/L
Nitrate: 0.38 mg/L
Nitrite: < 0.05 mg/L
Sodium: 33.5 mg/L
Sulfate: 8.1 mg/L

There is some pipeline construction going on that meant Cambridge has gotten their water from the MWRA for periods this winter, but I believe that has ended.

It is important to note that Cambridge does say they use Chlorine in their process.

https://www.cambridgema.gov/Water/wateroperationsdivision/watertreatment.aspx