Another water report evaluation needed

[jmatsche]

Hi All,

Below is my water report. Is there anything that stands out as needing significant attention? I know the sodium level is high and that's a result of my tap water being treated through a water softener. I brew mainly lighter style beers, and up to this point I have been treating RO water for the full amounts. I would like to start using my tap water if possible. So lets hear your advice please.


pH 7.3
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 312
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.52
Cations / Anions, me/L 4.6 / 5.0
ppm
Sodium, Na 105
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca < 0
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 < 1
Nitrate, NO3-N < 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S < 1
Chloride, Cl 69
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0
Bicarbonate, HCO3 182
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 150
Total Phosphorus, P 0.02
Total Iron, Fe 0.05

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

For stouts you could potentially consider using roughly 1/3 of your tap water and 2/3 RO, plus mineralization. Other than that, I can't see much use for it due to the high alkalinity and secondarily the high sodium. You might have a bit better luck with the pre-softener water, since it will still have calcium, and the sodium should be way down. Do you have an analysis for that?

In reality though, since you will need mineralization to begin with its probably best if you use RO.

 

[jmatsche]

No I don’t have a report of the pre softened water.

My thoughts were that I could get by diluting this with 50% RO and then adding whatever salts to get my levels where I want and correct the alkalinity with acid addition.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

No I don&#8217;t have a report of the pre softened water.

My thoughts were that I could get by diluting this with 50% RO and then adding whatever salts to get my levels where I want and correct the alkalinity with acid addition.

You could do that, but by then you might as well build upon RO water alone. Again, your best hope for 'potentially' using your own water lies in getting a water report for the pre-softener water.

 

[mabrungard]

Unless your softener is employed to help remove iron and manganese, you are likely better off brewing with the unsoftened water. Its probably OK. You will need to learn to use acids for alkalinity neutralization.

 

[jmatsche]

Yes I have high amounts of iron and manganese in my well water.

Are you saying that as long as I treat my current water with acid to get my mash water Ph down to a good range(5.4-5.6) it should be ok? I have been using acids to treat the RO water as needed so nothing new there but I am just wondering if there is a point where too much acid to neutralize the alkalinity is not good. With my alkalinity being what it is I will need more to add more acid.

 

[mabrungard]

Yes I have high amounts of iron and manganese in my well water.

Are you saying that as long as I treat my current water with acid to get my mash water Ph down to a good range(5.4-5.6) it should be ok? I have been using acids to treat the RO water as needed so nothing new there but I am just wondering if there is a point where too much acid to neutralize the alkalinity is not good. With my alkalinity being what it is I will need more to add more acid.

The sodium level is higher than most brewers would prefer, but its acceptable. The low level of other flavor ions gives you room to work with, but you wouldn't want to add any sodium salts to your water. Acidification will solve the alkalinity problem. It doesn't appear that your alkalinity level would push your acid additions to the point of significant flavor impact.

 

[jmatsche]

Great, thanks for your advice. I went ahead and brewed a Helles and a Nut Brown and used a 50/50 mix of my tap water and RO water for both batches and treated both to get my numbers in check so well see how those turn out. If they are acceptable then I may try a full brew with only my tap water to see how that turns out.

 

[jmatsche]

Just an update for anyone here with a similar water profile and questions or concerns. The Helles and Nut Brown that I brewed with 50% dilution turned out great and I also brewed Bier Munchers Oktoberfest Ale and used 100% my tap water treated to get my mash Ph in line and that also was great.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Just an update for anyone here with a similar water profile and questions or concerns. The Helles and Nut Brown that I brewed with 50% dilution turned out great and I also brewed Bier Munchers Oktoberfest Ale and used 100% my tap water treated to get my mash Ph in line and that also was great.

Glad to hear that they both worked out so well!!! Did you ever get an analysis of your unsoftened water?

 

[ajdelange]

Hi All,


Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 312
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.52
Cations / Anions, me/L 4.6 / 5.0
ppm
Sodium, Na 105
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca < 0
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 < 1
Nitrate, NO3-N < 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S < 1
Chloride, Cl 69
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0
Bicarbonate, HCO3 182
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 150
Total Phosphorus, P 0.02
Total Iron, Fe 0.05

Personally, I would use this (the post softener) water to feed an RO unit thus giving you independence from supply variations and total control over mineral content. But if you want to do something with the tap water then I note that you have 4.6 mEq/L of sodium and 3 of alkalinity. This suggests that you probably have at least 3 mEq/L calcium in the un-softened water (it would be a good idea to get a Ward Labs analysis done on the pre - softened water to confirm this). If so this is a fairly good candidate for decarbonation by simply boiling. That should get your alkalinity down to about 1 mEq/L (50 ppm) which is a fairly good starting point.