Just got my Ward Labs mineral test - help?

[Flipadelphia]

Hey all -

I just got my Ward Labs report back on my water. I have been brewing for almost 3 years now, and am finally getting into the water side of it.

Please let me know what you think, and if there is anything alarming or stands out. I'd greatly appreciate it.

pH: 8.1
Sodium (Na): 26
Potassium (K): 3
Calcium (Ca): 42
Magnesium (Mg): 12
Total Hardness (CaCO3): 155
Nitrate: 0.4 SAFE
Sulfate: SO4: 18
Chloride (Cl): 26
Carbonate (CO3): <1
Bicarbonate (HCO3): 147
Total Alkalinity (CaCO3): 120

Thanks everyone.

 

[eluterio]

I havent sent my water in yet just because its too intimidating for me to read and a little afraid what I might find out.

 

[farmskis]

Compare it to some well known beers city's results. Ex. Pilsen or Dublin. You will get an idea of what kind of beer is made easiest with your water in seeing how they match up.

 

[mtnagel]

You're in Cincinnati, right? Your report is pretty similar to mine. Here's what I got back in mid-March:
pH 8.3
TDS Est 233
EC 0.39
Sodium 26
Calcium 30
Magnesium 9
Potassium 2
Total Hardness 113
Nitrate 0.8 (SAFE)
Sulfate 18
CO3 6
HCO3 73
Chloride 37
Total Alkalinity 70

It seems to work well for the beers I like to brew - pale ales, IPAs, stouts, porters, browns.

I use Bru'n water to figure out my mineral additions. I've been adding gypsum, sometimes calcium chloride and a touch of epsom salt on my last one, to my hoppy beers.

I've also been adding lactic acid (per Bru'n Water) to all my beers to lower the mash pH. It's fairly accurate, but it's been off by up to 0.17 pH unit before. But it's closer to target than I was getting without it, so I stick with it.

Also, I've emailed Cincinnati Water works before and they've given me more up to date results than their water reports and it's matched pretty closely to my Ward's analysis.

 

[ajdelange]

There is a small problem with Ward Labs reports when pH is over 8. Carbonate is over-reported and bicarbonate, consequently, under reported. This can be a problem if you enter bicarbonate rather than alkalinity into your spreadsheet or calculator (which you really shouldn't do because of problems like this). This is more of a problem for mtnagel at pH 8.3 that for OP at pH 8.1. For mtnagel his bicarbonate is actually 82 and carbonate about 0.7. For OP bicarb is 143.5 and and carbonate 1.

You can calculate bicarbonate and carbonate yourself using the scheme at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/calculating-bicarbonate-carbonate-473408/

 

[mtnagel]

Thanks AJ. I did see that thread and have changed the number in Bru'n Water.

It's probably just rounding errors, but when I enter 70 for total alkalinity and 8.3 for pH in Bru'n Water, it says the Estimated Bicarbonate amount is 83.8 ppm and carbonate amount is 0.77 ppm, which I'm sure won't really change anything, but just curious why the numbers are a smidge off.

 

[ajdelange]

Well for one thing I calculated your bicarbonate accounting for the effects of the other ions (Na+, Ca++ etc.) in the water. This has a small effect. Turning that off (i.e. using the chemistry of ideally dilute solutions) your bicarbonate estimate goes from 81.99 to 82.41. I expect Bru'n Water does not account for ionic strength effects. Note: the algorithm in the Sticky uses ideally dilute chemistry.

In order to compute bicarbonate one must know the end point of the titration used to measure alkalinity. Ward Labs uses 4.4 and that's what I used to calculate 82 and that's the appropriate number to use with a Ward Labs report. But the ISO alkalinity procedure calls for 4.5 and if I use that (which Bru'n Water may do) your bicarbonate estimate would be 83.13 mg/L (Ideal chemistry). If Bru'n Water should use 4.6 for some reason your bicarb would be 83.81 (but your carbonate 0.69) so that could explain what you got but is not necessarily the actual explanation. Only Martin can supply that.

 

[Flipadelphia]

Thanks for the help. I messed around with BruN Water last night and will be able to make some adjustments. Sounds like some gypsum and lactic acid is in my future.

 

[Flipadelphia]

One question: The section in 'Water Adjustments' where it allows you to set a dilution level, the number '50' would stand for using half distilled and half of my tap water?

Thanks

 

[mtnagel]

Yes. It's dilution with whatever is in the drop down in cell A7 and your water.