Judge my water please

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STMF

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Hi,

I just got a water analysis from my tapwater.
I wonder if anyone please could say something about it. Is there anything I should think about when I brew?

PH: 7,5
Ca: 24 mg/l
Mg: 9,5 mg/l
Na: 27 mg/l
SO4:28 mg/l
Cloride: 25 mg/l
HCO3: 150 mg/l


Regards
/Stefan
 
Calcium is quite low - you should add a little bit to all brews.

Your biggest issues is the Carbonate level. You'll need to dilute with RO water for most pale beers.
 
I don't know if the carbonate is that bad... Wouldn't you typically add acids to reduce pH anyway, which according to Bru'n water, reduces the carbonate level.

For the water adjustment I did for my last IPA, my water start at about 112ppm but after my phosphoric acid additions it reduced down to about 60ppm.
 
Your water looks great to me.

IF you use treated municipal water at all, the main thing you need to be concerned about is the chemical that is NOT listed in the above analysis: chlorine. Chlorine, by the way, is different from chloride. Chloride is salt. Chlorine is bleach or similar, in one of two forms: hypochlorite, or chloramine (which again are salts of a different nature but nevermind that).

If you do not treat for chlorine, then your beer can taste like medicine / Band-Aids / Chloroseptic. This is from a chemical reaction that takes place when the chlorine combines with malt and yeast derived compounds and is known as chlorophenol.

Easy way to get rid of chlorine in any municipal water is 1/4 Campden tablet per 5 gallons crushed in your water before adding any grain or extract. Instantly eliminates both hypochlorite and chloramine and then you'll never have a problem with the chorophenol.

If your water comes from a well or untreated, then nevermind.

One more thing: If you are brewing with extract, then I recommend not using tap water or even spring water, but rather use distilled water. The reason is, the extract already contains concentrated water salts as part of the manufacturing process. So you should use pure distilled water to reconstitute. Otherwise you are effectively doubling the amount of salts in the extract beer, which could lead to metallic, minerally flavors in the final beer. In a few styles like IPA or ESB for example, this is appropriate. In most styles, it is not.
 
Great water, no need to dilute with RO. Learn to acidify your water to neutralize the moderately high alkalinity. As Dave already mentioned, removing chlorine compounds is important for beer quality.
 

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