Anyone have water report for Slidell, LA?

[xBOBxSAGETx]

I'm here from Chicago to work until October. I brought my brewing supplies and want to brew! The brew scene here is minimal so I need to bring some of Chicago out here in beer form. I plan on brewing a Pale Ale since it's so HOT AND HUMID out here. I'm gonna need something to chill on.

Does anyone have a water report they can share with me? I don't want to pay for a water report since I'm going to be here for a short amount of time. Any help is greatly appreciated!! For now, I'm just using the BrewersFriend water report for Slidell ATM.

 

[MagicMatt]

This is all I could find:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2009/3064/pdf/StTammy_FS.pdf

Check with BrewStock in New Orleans. They had a Ward Labs report for the city, they might have one for Slidell too. I think it's only about $30 to get one yourself though if it matters.

 

[xBOBxSAGETx]

This is all I could find:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2009/3064/pdf/StTammy_FS.pdf

Check with BrewStock in New Orleans. They had a Ward Labs report for the city, they might have one for Slidell too. I think it's only about $30 to get one yourself though if it matters.

Thanks boss. Since I'm here temporarily I didn't really want to spend the money on a water report. The one that's on BrewersFriend is also a little sketchy with no pH reading. You think I'll be alright if I just do a 50/50 split of tap water with RO. Add Campden tab and add 10G of gypsum for 10 gallons of water? I'm doing an APA. I don't want to brew anything crazy out here because of this heat. I'm from Chicago man, I'm not used to all this humidity.

 

[MagicMatt]

It can't hurt. New Orleans tap water has a relatively high alkalinity of ~140 ppm as CaCO3. So I dilute 1:4 (tap:distilled). I would think this would work for you too. It will dilute enough to ensure proper alkalinity, and still allow some smaller trace minerals to remain.

Following the advice of AJ deLange (see this if you haven't yet), I would suggest using a ratio of 4:1 of RO:tap, and supplementing with the following:

If your water contains chloramines add 1 campden tablet per 20 gallons (before any dilution)

Baseline: Add 1 tsp of calcium chloride dihydrate (what your LHBS sells) to each 5 gallons of water treated. Add 2% sauermalz to the grist.

Deviate from the baseline as follows:

For soft water beers (i.e Pils, Helles). Use half the baseline amount of calcium chloride and increase the sauermalz to 3%

For beers that use roast malt (Stout, porter): Skip the sauermalz.

For British beers: Add 1 tsp gypsum as well as 1 tsp calcium chloride

For very minerally beers (Export, Burton ale): Double the calcium chloride and the gypsum.

These recommendations should get you a good beer if not the best beer.

Note that the Campden tablet only needs to be added to the tap water (prior to dilution). For example, I use <1/4 tablet for 2 gallons of tap water, then dilute with 8 gallons of distilled. I then add as much of the CaCl2 to the strike water as necessary to reach my desired mash pH, and add the rest of the salts remaining (if any) to the boil.