How To Send In Water For Ward Labs Test

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This should be sticky.

I'm getting close to my first AG batch and the water reports available from my municipal water supplier only contains completely unimportant things like arsenic and uranium ;)

This is a fantastic and extremely valuable service.
 
BTW, the prepaid labels are not the same as "free shipping" - you will be charged the postage when they bill you for the tests. That said, it's a nice option, and easier than dealing with the PO.
 
Thanks so much for posting this Henry. I am anxious to get my water report since I am on well water for brewing, but more important is the understanding of the water quality for my daughter. The Dr. recommended this to test for fluoride levels since we are not on water co. controlled sources.

Thanks again man.
 
I dragged this thread back out because I have a question:

I have a private well and I'd like to get a mineral composition test from Ward's. Should I go with W-5 (which includes Iron) or W-6 (no iron)?

Thanks.
 
FYI

W-5 Household Complete Mineral Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$26.50

W-6 Household Mineral Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$16.50

It's listed wrong in the original post.

-Aaron
 
Ok, so, I think I just f-ed it up.

So, I got a "pre-paid mailing label". It was just a label. I took it to the post office, and they're like, $20 for 2 day air, $5 for 3 day. Not prepaid...

So I paid $5, then realized it won't be there until friday, when they don't take samples. So my sample will sit until monday. They say over 24 hours is bad.

Did I just waste ~$50?
 
Go with W-6 so you can find out your Iron content (important for your pipes)

A BIG +1 to Ward Labs

The received my sample Monday of this week
Last night I had an e-mail with my results.
 
I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but now they have a specific form and set of directions for home brewers. At http://www.wardlab.com/ under About Us then General Information, they have a link to a pdf:

http://www.wardlab.com/samplingsheets/wsis.pdf

where it states

We have supplies available; however they are based on large quantities being shipped at one time. Thus we are requesting that you help us hold down the costs by using your
own container(s).
Click to expand...

I assume that they would prefer we pay our own shipping as well. They do say that disposable plastic water bottles work good though, so the packaging isn't a big deal (and shipping wont' be too high either). I suppose you can still request the sampling supplies and shipping label as it doesn't explicitly say you can't, but it would probably be frowned upon.
 
Weird. I just sent them an email about an hour ago suggesting that they offer a brewery water test with only the ions we need, plus chlorine/chloramine. I didn't realize they knew how much brewer business they get. I guess they do know.
 
Bobby_M said:
I just sent them an email about an hour ago suggesting that they offer a brewery water test with only the ions we need, plus chlorine/chloramine.
Click to expand...

Have they got back with you on that? I was getting ready to send my filtered water off to see where I was at. I could wait a bit if they were going to offer a brewery option.
 
Their response was sort of generic just saying that they already put instructions on there for homebrewers. I had suggested they take off a few of the non-essential elements off the W-6 and replace it with chlorine/chloramine but I guess they aren't interested. Just get the W-6.. good enough I suppose.
 
physfarm said:
I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but now they have a specific form and set of directions for home brewers. At http://www.wardlab.com/ under About Us then General Information, they have a link to a pdf:

http://www.wardlab.com/samplingsheets/wsis.pdf

where it states



I assume that they would prefer we pay our own shipping as well. They do say that disposable plastic water bottles work good though, so the packaging isn't a big deal (and shipping wont' be too high either). I suppose you can still request the sampling supplies and shipping label as it doesn't explicitly say you can't, but it would probably be frowned upon.
Click to expand...

Updated Link to the sample instructions:

http://www.wardlab.com/images/SampleForms/wsis.pdf
 
This looks like a good place for me to remind people that Ward Labs reports list sulfate "as Sulfur", not "as Sulfate" which is what all the popular spreadsheets expect. Multiply the Ward Labs value by 3.
 
ajdelange said:
This looks like a good place for me to remind people that Ward Labs reports list sulfate "as Sulfur", not "as Sulfate" which is what all the popular spreadsheets expect. Multiply the Ward Labs value by 3.
Click to expand...

Has Ward recently changed their report? Mine is listed as: Sulfate, SO4-S
 
Confirmed with Ray Ward. His reply:

The concentration is the same. We report sulfate as SO4-S. If you want SO4 then you have to multiply our test by 3. Molecular weight of sulfur is 32. Molecular weight of SO4 is 96 (32 of sulfur and 16 * 4 for oxygen). Ray
 
Yes, the smallest bottled water bottle you can find. The last samples I sent to Ward were bottled in White Labs Yeast vials. About 4 oz per sample is enough for their testing. It saves on postage too.
 
Those filters do not remove the constituents that Ward will be testing, so you can draw your sample with or without the filter. It won't matter.
 
Just a heads up that I placed an order for supplies and the shipping label online. When I received nothing I called and they basically said they are stopping sending supplies and pre-paying shipping for brewing tests. I asked if she could look up my order to at least see if anything had already been sent and apparently my order was deleted from their system all together! I received an email after my order was placed saying that to send in samples was easy and that I could use my own bottle, but nothing definitive like "your order is cancelled and you will not be receiving supplies". I complained to the person on the phone and she understood and said they are in the process of re-wording the email because of these issues.

I'm finding it VERY hard to find a water bottle that will fit into a small flat rate box. Even 8 oz. bottles have the same diameter as the larger ones which makes it bulge out. I'm thinking I might just use a larger bottle, not fully fill it, and squeeze out some of the air to make it fit more comfortably.
 
mmonacel said:
I'm thinking I might just use a larger bottle, not fully fill it, and squeeze out some of the air to make it fit more comfortably.
Click to expand...

Your thinking is dead-on target. They don't need much of a sample at all. Half an Arrowhead bottle, squish it flat, and it'll fit fine in the smallest flat-rate box.
 
Also, if you squeeze out all the air, it won't make a swishing sound for those who might bring this into the post office. You can go online and print out your own paid label for those of you who want to just put it in a drop box.
 
Instructions will tell you to remove the aerator from your faucet, let the water run for a couple of minutes, reduce the flow rate, fill the bottle to overflowing and then cap on the overflowing water. The object is to prevent interchange of CO2 between the water and the headspace. This throws the alkalinity reading off. Of course if the lab is not careful in the way they treat the sample your extra care is wasted.
 
ajdelange said:
Instructions will tell you to remove the aerator from your faucet, let the water run for a couple of minutes, reduce the flow rate, fill the bottle to overflowing and then cap on the overflowing water. The object is to prevent interchange of CO2 between the water and the headspace. This throws the alkalinity reading off. Of course if the lab is not careful in the way they treat the sample your extra care is wasted.
Click to expand...

Actually, Ward Labs' instructions are as follows:

Water Sampling Procedures
1. Use a clean plastic container for submitting your sample. Bottles can be obtained from the laboratory.

2. Rinse the container several times with water that is being sampled. Send at least one-half pint of water to be tested.

3. Wells should be pumped several hours before sampling. Test wells should be sampled after pipe and screen are in place. Pump well for at least 10 hours before sampling.

4. Samples of lakes, streams, and ponds should be taken from below surface.

5. If it is not possible to send the sample to the lab immediately after collection, refrigerate until it is sent.
 
jkarp said:
Actually, Ward Labs' instructions are as follows:
Click to expand...

I guess I need to reword to: Instructions should say.... Most labs instructions are clear on this point. Remember that Ward Labs primarily serves agricultural users whose needs are not quite the same as brewers. As they mishandle the carbonate/bicarbonate calculation I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they are lax in instruction on how to obtain a sample for an accurate alkalinity measurement.
 
I'm a bit confused by that "beer test." Is it supposed to be for samples of your beer or your brewing water (Looks like water, but...).

If I'm reading this right, the only difference between the three tests is:

1. Both the Household Complete and Beer test iron, Household doesn't
2. Beer tests phosphorous, the other two don't
3. Household Complete tests fluoride the other two don't.
4. The Household Complete reports "Hardness" and the Beer and Household report "Hardness (Lime)"

So what is the difference between "Hardness" and "Hardness (Lime)"?

Again, assuming that this "Beer" analysis is for water and not actual beer, I don't see any reason to go with that rather than the usual Household. I saw Bobby_M upthread a page or 2 suggesting an analysis that would maybe eliminate things like conductivity and TDS and add chlorine/chloramine. That would be worthwhile.

Am I misunderstanding something?
 
Don't bother with the more expensive testing. It provides information that is relatively meaningless to brewing. You don't need to know what the phosphorus or fluorine levels are in your water and you can typically tell if the iron content is too high by your own tasting. So, the iron test is useless too.

That $16.50 test is all you need to quantify your brewing water. Save that extra $10 for something worthwhile!
 
For those of you who have city water reports, have you noticed a big difference between what the city reports and what you actually have?
 
Sent my water sample out last Friday. I am hoping to get results before this weekend. I plan on brewing a batch of BM's Centennial Blonde this weekend and I want to make sure my water is going to work for a lighter beer.
 
Im confused as how to pay if you just send in a sample without ordering the kit. How does that work, do you pay online after they receive the sample?
 
You could just send a check with the sample. When I sent my sample I left the check out of the package :drunk: They emailed me an invoice along with the results. I think I called them and gave them a CC, but you could also just mail a check.
 

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