Looking for newer Cincinnati water report

[Buckeye_Hydro]

The Bolton-specific numbers are included in the report I linked to above.

Russ

 

[BigPerm]

The Bolton-specific numbers are included in the report I linked to above.

Russ

That report only has values for contaminants, not the ions we're interested in. Except sulfate, which says 0...

 

[tgourley01]

Is it a crazy thought that our LBS's could supply brewing water, doing all the necessary magic?
I'm all for learning but seems like something the experts could do for some of us new brewers.
Tim

 

[beernbourbon]

Is it a crazy thought that our LBS's could supply brewing water, doing all the necessary magic?

I'm all for learning but seems like something the experts could do for some of us new brewers.

Tim

I can't imagine toting around 8-9 gallons of water just so I don't have to add the minerals necessary for what I'm brewing. Nor could I imagine them storing/creating the water for all the different styles out there. Each has it's own water profile, starting with our base water, then adding different amounts of this or that, not to mention each brewers personal tweaks.
Now, I DO think you might be on to something in a slightly different direction. What about creating a set of mineral ingredients that would be the generic additions for some of the basic styles, based on our water. "You're making a stout? Ok, here's a package of the minerals you need to add."
Or even some of the more popular clones at the time. "Oh, it's a Zombie Dust clone? Here you go, these minerals added to 8.5 gallons of Cincy water will mimic what 3 Floyds uses."
Just some thoughts

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

But every "supplement pack" would need to be tailored to what is in the base water - which is different for every customer/every city, and would have to be modified for the number of gallons of base water...

 

[hafmpty]

But every "supplement pack" would need to be tailored to what is in the base water - which is different for every customer/every city, and would have to be modified for the number of gallons of base water...

There is already a company doing this. It's called AccuMash. You can look into them. They have a number of different water additions packets that you add to distilled water to make water designed for a few different styles of beer.

 

[beernbourbon]

But every "supplement pack" would need to be tailored to what is in the base water - which is different for every customer/every city, and would have to be modified for the number of gallons of base water...

Every city, yes, but that's not what we're talking about, we're talking cut of Cincinnati water. Cincinnati Water Works has a very large distribution area, so most people served by Listermans, or Paradise, or any other LHBS within the metropolitan area would have the base water chemistry covered. I used to live in the city, but now I live in Loveland, which has their own base chemical make up, so it would be unreasonable for me to expect Listermans to carry a 'pack' specific to Loveland water, unless there would be a huge market for it.
Simple marketing principles apply to anything I say. Does it make good business sense to do any of this? Meh... My thought is no, or trust me, most of these LHBS owners would be all over it. Really just kind of an interesting point for discussion.

There is already a company doing this. It's called AccuMash. You can look into them. They have a number of different water additions packets that you add to distilled water to make water designed for a few different styles of beer.

Now THAT would be the way around it. I didn't even think of that. (Duh). But that makes even more sense. Me, I prefer to do it the old fashioned way, adjusting my own water per batch, as I bounce between one gallon test batches and five gallon brews, but to each their own, as with everything beer related. [emoji12]

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

We are in cincinnati as well.

 

[hafmpty]

Me, I prefer to do it the old fashioned way, adjusting my own water per batch...

Same here. In my opinion water and adjusting water is something every brewer can and should understand a little bit. I'm far from a chemist but I can modify my water. It really isn't hard to do. You've just got to be willing to work a bit at understanding it. YouTube, forums like this, and a bit of trial and error goes a long way. Like home brewing in general and all-grain brewing more specifically...you can't expect to be the world's greatest brewer overnight and you can't expect it to be easy to brew great beer.

Learning water stuff for me started by downloading a copy of Bru'n Water and reading all the info especially in the first tab. Did I understand it? Not really. But you just keep slogging through it and stuff starts to click into place. The water book by Palmer and the Brew Strong episodes on water (they called it Water-gasm) honestly did vet little to help. There was (and still is) A LOT of fuzziness when it comes to water modification. That said...even though I don't have a perfect grasp of it like AJ DeLang or Kaminski or Palmer...I know enough to get me the results I'm shooting for and I know how to use the Bru'n Water spreadsheet to help.

So all that's to say...just dive in. Mess around with it. Tweak numbers mess with different hypothetical brews, etc.

One piece of advice is to start out using Martin's profiles. The yellow, amber, brown, and black profiles and the three types for each.

 

[BrotherJames]

Does anyone have newer reports?

So far I can only find 2014 numbers from the Cincinnati Miller plant and 2011 numbers from the Cincinnati Bolton plant.

(I need both because I sometimes brew up north with my friends in West Chester, and they get their water from Bolton. And make no mistake, 9.0pH is no misprint. That's what's coming out of Bolton. I just tested again it last night. It always surprises me.)

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Here you go: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/water...2016-water-quality-report-updated-march-2017/

Let me know if we can help!

Russ

 

[RiverCityBrewer]

Does anyone have newer reports?

So far I can only find 2014 numbers from the Cincinnati Miller plant and 2011 numbers from the Cincinnati Bolton plant.

(I need both because I sometimes brew up north with my friends in West Chester, and they get their water from Bolton. And make no mistake, 9.0pH is no misprint. That's what's coming out of Bolton. I just tested again it last night. It always surprises me.)

9 is normal coming out of Bolton (avg is actually 9.2-9.3)... I get between 8.5 and 8.8 from the Miller plant. Butler County buys water wholesale from GCWW and City of Hamilton, and I believe they use soda ash to add more alkalinity. Years ago I worked on a job and we put some transmission mains up US42 and US22 to feed water towers in Butler and Warren Counties, but they ran down to the Miller plant on the river. You might need to find out which tower your friend's house is fed from in West Chester to determine the water source.

 

[bob schweitzer]

Here you go: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/water...2016-water-quality-report-updated-march-2017/

Let me know if we can help!

Russ

I've been looking at the report but in terms of the water profile calculators I've looked at I'm not seeing how this is useful. It doesn't seem to have most of the parameters that are needed but maybe I'm missing something?

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

That's a common response... but this is what is published by our Water Works...

 

[BrotherJames]

I've been looking at the report but in terms of the water profile calculators I've looked at I'm not seeing how this is useful. It doesn't seem to have most of the parameters that are needed but maybe I'm missing something?

You're not missing anything. I've seen that report many times. Sorry Buckeye Hydro, that report is near useless for brewers here, other than to help you determine which plant you're being serviced by.

However, I just obtained an updated report (10/2017) for Cincinnati (Miller Plant) from a brewer at Rhinegeist. Enjoy and happy brewing!


Cincinnati Water (Miller) - October 2017
pH - 8.19
Calcium (mg/L) - 30.6
Magnesium (mg/L) - 10.8
Sodium (mg/L) - 23.3
Sulfate (mg/L) - 64.8
Chloride (mg/L) - 20.5
Bicarbonate (mg/L) - 81.7

additional details:
M Alkalinity - 81.7 (expressed as bicarbonate, as far as I can tell in my research)
Specific Conductance (µS) - 310
Fluoride (mg/L) - <2
Chloride (mg/L) - 20.5
Aluminum (mg/l) - <0.05
Copper (mg/L) - <0.05
Iron (mg/L) - <0.05
Potassium (mg/L) - 2.31
Phosphorus (mg/L) - 0.17
Lead (mg/L) - <0.05
Silicon (mg/L) - 2.14
Strontium (mg/L) - 0.25
Zinc (mg/L) - <0.05

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

No need to apologize to me... Someone asked for it and I provided. No worries.

 

[BrotherJames]

No need to apologize to me... Someone asked for it and I provided. No worries.

Actually, you were replying to me. But what I'm trying to explain is, that is not the water report any brewer would be looking for. It's of no help for building water profiles for brewing.

For brewing you need to know the pH, as well as the Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Sulfate, Chloride, and Bicarbonate content in ppm (mg/L). These are usually obtained by having an analysis of the water done by a lab -- municipalities rarely have all these numbers available.

I appreciate that you were trying to help, and thanks, but I'm just letting you know the report that the GCWW provides is not what brewers are looking for.

 

[collindv]

FYI, this is my most recent report from a few days ago. This is in the Westwood\Cheviot area:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/index.php?threads/653397/

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Old thread... I know. But this info is still pertinent.

Greater Cinn Water works has two treatment plants - Miller and Bolton. Page 19 of this report shows the service area for each: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/sites/water/assets/File/WQTBrochure.pdf

There are data available that includes many more analytes than the annual Consumer Confidence Reports:

2020 water quality data for the Miller Plant: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/sites...ptFY20_CWQ_Table5_RAW AND FINISHED_MILLER.pdf

2020 water quality data for the Bolton plant: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/sites...ptFY20_CWQ_Table6_RAW AND FINISHED_BOLTON.pdf

Russ

 

[KyBeer]

FYI, I pull from the Miller plant. I sent a sample to Ward Labs and put the results on Brewers Friend.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/water-profilesFlorence Kentucky Water - 3/2022
If you get your water tested you can add it to the site. Please add the month and year so others will know how old and what time of the year the sample was taken. Water that is pulled from run off such as the Ohio River changes through out the year, farm crops and weather make slight changes. Not sure if water from the miller plant taken the same date at different locations would mak a difference.
Maybe the water profile should say "Cincinnati, Ohio Miller plant 3/22".

 

[Rundownhouse]

Water coming in to Westwood, April 2022.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

City of Cinn water at 5.8 pH??? Hmmm. What is the source of these numbers?

 

[KyBeer]

My water report from Ward Labs dated 3/15/2022 states my pH is 8.0. I pull from the Miller plant.
Verified with my pH meter at 7.96. Test strips showed greater than 7.5.

I saved a comparison sample pulled the same time I pulled the sample for Ward labs. It shows my pH meter is very close.

Test strips are okay for the pool but I don't swim in my beer and try not to drink the pool water.

How much swing do you see in the pH over a year? I know the Ohio river changes with the seasons due to rain fall and run off from the fields. Has any one plotted this? Does it change enough to matter?