Help a noob decipher a water quality report

[neumann]

My local water company publishes water quality reports( http://carkw.com/documents/2008_water_quality_report_final.pdf) but I can't make heads or tails of it. Would someone be willing to decode it for me? The meat of the report seems to be on page 7. Can I continue to use tap water or should I be buying distilled or boiling the tap? Thanks in advance!

 

[ArcaneXor]

At first glance, it looks like great brewing water, but you'll definitely want to add either gypsum or calcium chloride, depending on the beer you are brewing, to get your calcium above 50 ppm. Boiling the tap water is always a good idea, just for peace of mind and to get rid of the chlorine (if that's what they use to disinfect). If they use chloramine (send them an e-mail, they'll tell you), you'll have to treat the water chemically first or use bottled water to avoid polyphenols in your beer.

 

[neumann]

Thanks. Just off hand, what can a lack of of calcium do to a brew?

 

[ArcaneXor]

Thanks. Just off hand, what can a lack of of calcium do to a brew?

Stalled fermentations, mostly. Yeast needs calcium to reproduce and build their cell walls.

 

[menschmaschine]

Thanks. Just off hand, what can a lack of of calcium do to a brew?

This thread might be a good read.