Does my water suck?

[Hayden512]

Found this on brewersfriend today. Haven't paid for a water test personally but this is my city. Does my water suck for brewing? View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448688017.898108.jpg

 

[SEndorf]

Yes.... Your water sucks.
You will need to dilute with RO with that much Mg

 

[mabrungard]

Yes, the Mg level is generally regarded as too high for brewing. Are you sure you can trust that report?

 

[ajdelange]

Found this on brewersfriend today. Haven't paid for a water test personally but this is my city. Does my water suck for brewing? View attachment 319210

No, not at all. In fact it is quite good because of the low alkalinity but the low alkalinity is a bit hard to believe because of the high pH and the report doesn't balance well. Reducing the cations to balance by lowering calcium and sodium produces a water that is readily synthesizable from common salts. OTOH increasing the alkalinity to 63 also balances the report and leads to a readily synthesizable water. Thus rather than conclude one way or the other I would cast a jaundiced eye on the quality of the report though while alkalinity of 15 is great alkalinity of 63 isn't that bad and is easiily dealt with.

PS: The other correspondents missed that the hardnesses are clearly in ppm as CaCO3, not mg/L. Thus the calcium level is 20 mg/L and the magnesium about 10. I'd be more concerned about the sodium than the magnesium.

 

[Epimetheus]

This has good information with descriptions of the effects of each mineral:
Reading a Water Report
"How to Brew", John Palmer, Chapter 15