Incomplete Water Parameters

[osatronix]

Hi Everyone,
Its my 1st post on HomeBrewTalk and I want to welcome everyone.
I brew beer for about 2.5 years now.
I want to go deeper into water chemistry and I'm struggling a bit with getting the numbers right (I think) because what I see is really high.
In the report I've got from my water company I have these values:

Calcium - 121 mg/l
Magnesium - 38 mg/l
Sodium - 21.8 mg/l
Chlorides - 53 mg/l
Sulfates - 86.5 mg/l

PH at around 7.5

I didn't get HCO3 or CaCO3 values so I've tried to calculate it myself:

=====
CaCO3 = (Ca (ppm)/20 + Mg (ppm)/12.1) x 50
CaCO3 = (121/20 + 37.8/12.1) x 50
CaCO3 = (6.05 + 3.1) x 50
CaCO3 = 9.15 x 50
CaCO3 = 458

HCO3 = CaCO3 x (61/50)
HCO3 = 458 x 1.22
HCO3 = 558.76


German Degrees (°D) - 25.6
milli-equivalent/l - millival - 9.12
mmol/l CaCO3 - 4.56
=====

I do not have a lot of background in chemistry (almost none) and not sure if I did it correctly.

Can you please advise me on this?

Thanks lot!



br
osatronix

 

[VikeMan]

You're on the right track, but the Cl and SO4 are anions that offset some of the charge coming from the Ca and Mg. I'd estimate HCO3 at about 417 ppm. That's ballpark because there may be unreported ions and because I didn't take the step of using the pH to differentiate between carbonate species. But it should be very close. You have yourself some very hard, very alkaline water. And that magnesium is in a range where it might impart sourness.

Personally, for most styles I'd be looking at diluting with distilled/RO, or more likely, building from distilled/RO from the start.

ETA: I neglected to mention that the Na is a cation which is also part of the balance. (My estimate math included it.)

 

[Jag75]

Hello and welcome to HBT! There is a brew science section here that might intrest you . I agree with RO water and a program to build .

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forums/brew-science.128/

 

[osatronix]

Thank you.
That water is indeed heavy. Its enough to boil in a pan twice or 3 times and you can see a layer of a residual powder settled.
I'll have to look around for some affordable RO set I guess.
Thanks again and have a great day.



br
osatronix

 

[Birrofilo]

@osatronix

Even if your water company gives you an incomplete report in some communication, I suggest you look on the internet for a more complete water report, it is likely that it is published somewhere. Or you could write an email to them. In your case the water is quite hard, I think the advice to look for the water report online is valid in general.