Could you help analyze my water report?

[Jasper18]

I have read a lot of things about what effects water has on brewing (I distinctly remember hearing about Burton upon Trent water) and tracked down our city water report. We live almost in the heart of Richmond so I figure the general water report would be close to what is coming out of our tap. The water lines that go from public supply through our building all the way to the tap are brand new since it was a converted factory/warehouse. One thing I did not find on the report is calcium and Magnesium levels. Not sure where to find it.........
Heres the latest report available from 2014:
http://www.richmondgov.com/publicutilities/documents/reportWaterQuality2014.pdf

If anyone has thoughts on this it would be great.

Thanks!

 

[Jasper18]

No one? no opinions?

 

[Qhrumphf]

The "hardness" figure encompasses both calcium AND magnesium. I'm not sure how to parse them out separately from that though (if it can be done at all, I'm guessing it can). Perhaps the Brewing Science section where Martin and AJ hang out would be a better place for this question.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Other than that, your water isn't far from mine (no surprises there). Good modest starting point for most beers (very pale, soft beers excepted), but going to need some acid for most of them except the dark ones (and even then).

 

[WarmGas]

I just went through this with my water profile for Auckland. The reported "hardness" for Richmond is 86 ppm, according to the report you attached. This is a combination of your calcium and your magnesium content. They did not break that number down in this report and you would have to contact the engineers, most likely, at your utility to get that level of detail.

Also, your pH level at 6.48 is slightly acidic and this is good for brewing beer.

If you decided you wanted harder water to brew a particular beer and needed to add more calcium I would suggest adding calcium chloride rather than calcium sulfate (gypsum) as your sulfate levels are already fairly high while your chloride levels are low. Higher chloride levels increase palate fullness and give a mellow flavor to beer while higher sulfate levels impart drier more bitter flavors.

Cheers.

 

[Jasper18]

So I'm figuring on doing Belgian ales and OctoberFAST style beers. I want to stay away from light colored beers like most domestics, and don't expect to make full beers like guinness or porter. Nice middle of the road for me. Would my water need any additives to bring it into spec? I will try to get the calcium and magnesium contents and update

 

[Qhrumphf]

Are you brewing extract or all-grain? If you're brewing extract, just treat your water with campden tablets and don't worry about it.

For all-grain beers, yeah, you're gonna need to use some acid to get the pH in line. A little bit of calcium chloride as indicated above is often going to be your friend to balance out the chloride and sulfate a bit, especially if you're sticking to Belgian ales and malty German beers.

 

[Jasper18]

I will be doing extract for some time I figure. It seems to be a not insignificant step up in skill to go to AG. Not something I'll be doing in the near future. Now let me google Campden tablets..........