Help w/ water chemistry

[ehk089]

So I'm trying to dabble with water chemistry and figured Id post some of the numbers I got from a lab report on my local water and see if there are any red flags:

PH7.9
Sodium 4ppm
calcium 20ppm
total hardness 58
sulfate 6
chloride 5
bicarbonate 50
total alkalinity 40

would this be considered "soft" water? I want to use the parameters set out in the sticky primer for water chemistry, but my total alk is 5 ppm higher than what is used in that thread. I wonder if it will make a difference?

 

[whiskeyjack]

I'm no chemist, but it looks really soft to me. Plug it into brewersfriend water chemistry calculator tool and play around with it. Should be easy to hit your mineral levels

 

[ehk089]

soft water is preferred over hard water for brewing, right?

 

[whiskeyjack]

Yes because you can build it to fit any style

 

[Yooper]

soft water is preferred over hard water for brewing, right?

Not necessarily- BUT you want low alkalinity water for brewing, and that water is pretty nice. You still may need a little bit of acid or acid malt to get to the optimum mash pH, but not that much. That's a good start.

 

[Lefou]

soft water is preferred over hard water for brewing, right?

That's generally true for some styles.
Soft water is good for most light-colored beers around 10 SRM and under - basically your Pilsners, Kolsches, blonde ales, and light lagers. Some lighter-colored wheat beers can use moderately hard water, but be careful of your sodium and magnesium levels when adding table or Epsom salts (chlorides or sulfates).

Soft water can be fine to use if you don't have RO (reverse osmosis) water at home. I will use bottled spring water on my beers. Although my tap water is "soft", it has chloramine levels that can be noticeable.