Help me with my Water Analysis Report

[mi6op]

Sent some water to Ward and just got the results. I don't really understand water all too well and am in the process of getting a brewery put together out back. Could you guys please help give me some ideas on what to expect as I start brewing with this water?

Thanks so much for the help


pH 8.3
Total Disolved Solids: 430


Sodium 144
Potassium 2
Calcium 13
Magnesium 6
Total Hardness CaCo3 58
Nitrate .8
Sulfate <1(not detected or below rate)
Chloride 69
Carbonate 9
Bicarbonate 354
Total Alkalinity 306
Phosphorus .24
Iron .02

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Looks good for a hardy sweet stout. The sodium chloride and bicarbonate are pretty high for most styles. Diluting to 4 parts RO to 1 part well water would be a good starting point for most beers. The high Sodium and Chloride levels will bring out sweetness, but probably to the point of it being salty. How does it taste?

 

[ajdelange]

Calcium and magnesium are low and sodium is high. The sample wasn't taken after a water softener was it? If so the softener isn't working particularly well but you wouldn't want post softener water for brewing any way.

Wheter this is softened water or not I'm afraid this report does not paint a pretty picture. The alkalinity is much too high for most beers. The 'good' news is that as the sulfate is low you could treat to remove the bicarbonate with sulfuric acid but that's not a good idea for a couple of reasons the first of which is that you will have trouble obtaining food grade sulfuric acid and sulfuric acid is dangerous stuff that I do not recommend for home brewers unless they have experience with it through on the job training. The second is that replacing all that alkalinity with sulfate would give you close to 300 mg/L which would restrict your brewing to British ales assuming that you can tolerate that level of sulfate.

Most serious brewers dealing with water like this wind up effectively throwing it away by installing an RO unit. This will solve all the problems and give you unlimited flexibility in what you can do. The down side (beyond the expense) is that you won't learn as much about water as you would if you battled it out with this stuff (there is quite a bit you can do) but being an expert on water chemistry is not something I think most brewers strive to acheive.

 

[mi6op]

Looks good for a hardy sweet stout. The sodium chloride and bicarbonate are pretty high for most styles. Diluting to 4 parts RO to 1 part well water would be a good starting point for most beers. The high Sodium and Chloride levels will bring out sweetness, but probably to the point of it being salty. How does it taste?

I've lived on well water my whole life. This water is the best I've ever tasted from a well and most desirable source for wells in the area. I run it straight out of the ground into my house. No filters, softners, etc. I think it tastes delicious.

 

[Hopper5000]

You should pug this into Brunwater. Some of those do look a bit high but you could just dilute it down with RO or distilled water. If certain compounds are too high that's what most people do.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Of you like the taste I would go for a milk stout and see how it comes out.