my local city water report...is this water good to use as-is?

[odie]

I have a whole house water softener and filter but I also have an outside bypass faucet. Should I use straight tap water from the bypass or from the water softener? And should I add anything extra to either?

I've brewed with both straight tap and also softened water without any adjustments. I kinda think the softener water is probably gonna have too much sodium added from the salt it uses.

 

[day_trippr]

That's some hella busy water right there.
I'd hook an RO system to the softener output and use 100% RO for brewing...

Cheers!

 

[odie]

well I've been using it for years without issues. specifically what's "busy" about it? I'd hate to go to RO or distilled water to then be adding a bunch of this stuff back in anyway.

there is no one perfect water for beer anyway.

 

[Peebee]

... specifically what's "busy" about it? ...

At first, I thought that. I'm also not keen on this "RO Water" fetish.

Perhaps it's the "Sodium", that's high, but still below maximums I've seen (along with the Chloride, it's not hard to imagine what's leaching in).

But, my attention was then drawn to the last column, "range" ...

Ah ... that's busy?


Stuff it, I'd listen to @day_trippr!

 

[day_trippr]

specifically what's "busy" about it?

Nearly all the test results range quite a bit higher than any water supply I've ever used.

 

[redrocker652002]

If you have been using it for years, keep going with it. I have not gone down the water rabbit hole yet, but my beer has been good with the water I am using so I don't plan on changing. Rock On!!!!!!!

 

[sibelman]

In the olden days, brewers used the local water. Their products came to define beer styles. Cloning those beers is surely helped by approximating the water they use(d). If your beer, made with your local water, pleases you, then it's your beerstyle.

That said, some tap and/or well water tastes and smells nasty. I imagine RO etc. would be necessary if your water is nasty.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I'm also not keen on this "RO Water" fetish.

If you were here in the mid 2010s, you may remember many posts stating that "water chemistry is a rabbit hole" (or something similar). In response to those posts, numerous brewers chose a pragmatic approach - start with "no mineral" (RO, distilled) water and add minerals appropriate for the style being brewed.

@odie : is your tap water from a single source or multiple sources (perhaps blended)? Also, what beer styles do you brew?

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I've brewed with both straight tap and also softened water without any adjustments. I kinda think the softener water is probably gonna have too much sodium added from the salt it uses.

Have you noticed any difference between batches brewed with the tap vs softened? Your Sodium level is already pretty high. Your Calcium and Magnesium levels are in decent levels for brewing water. Running this through a softener (assuming you are using standard Sodium Chloride salt) would add more Sodium and remove the desirable Calcium and Magnesium.

Do you know if your softener system has any other stages, like a filter?

The alkalinity level of your water would make it much better suited for dark beers than light beers. You would need quite a bit of acid to bring a 100% Pilsner grain bill down to a 5.4 mash pH.

BTW, if you wanted to play around with RO water, mixing your tap 50/50 with store purchased RO would halve all the values.

 

[Bobby_M]

That water is well suited for the DARK beers and certainly not Light beers without adding acid.

 

[Peebee]

If you were here in the mid 2010s, you may remember many posts stating that "water chemistry is a rabbit hole" (or something similar). In response to those posts, numerous brewers chose a pragmatic approach - start with "no mineral" (RO, distilled) water and add minerals appropriate for the style being brewed. ...

You may have misinterpreted my post? I had slipped into parochial mannerism ... basically, making fun of myself ... before caving-in and handing over to @day_tripper. I will occasionally forget I'm the "alien" chatting on a very far away forum! I should by making an effort to be clear and concise.

On this subject: With many salts varying by about 30% I think I'd be reaching for "RO Water" too!

 

[dmtaylor]

That water there is hard as rock. Tons of dissolved minerals. Need to use a softener and RO.

 

[rlrohan]

I finally went with an RO system and adjust the salts. I used to live in an area where Lake Michigan was the water supply and the water was very good for my beers. Now I live in an area where we get our water from wells and the water is very hard. I could never make good beer from it.
My Wards lab water report:
pH 7.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 592
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.99 Cations / Anions, me/L / 12.1 12.0
ppm
Sodium, Na 61
Potassium, K 7
Calcium, Ca 86.4
Magnesium, Mg 58
Total Hardness, CaCO3 457
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.2 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 59
Chloride, Cl 7
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0
Bicarbonate, HCO3 503
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 414
Fluoride, F 0.79
Total Iron, Fe 0.49
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

Sorry about the formatting.

Going with RO water and added salts made my beer very drinkable. I mainly brew pale beers with low alcohol, 4%-5%.

 

[Bobby_M]

well I've been using it for years without issues.

This statement must be the most common road block to progress of any human endeavor. Maybe that's a little hyperbolic, but it is true and we find it in a lot of threads with "what's the big deal with X process or Y ingredient?" in the title.

If you brew a blonde ale with that water, it is almost a guarantee that there will be some detectable astringent tannins as the pH will be nearly 5.9. I think you mentioned you do overnight mashes so that solvent effect will be amplified. Without trying to account for this high pH, by cutting the water with distilled or RO, or by adding acid (it would take about 8mL to get down to 5.4), you would never really have a point of comparison.

For very pale beers, I would cut that water about 50/50 with distilled and add a few mL of lactic acid.

Amber beers, just add a bit of lactic without cutting.

For dark beers, leave it be.

 

[Peebee]

From your original report: "Total Hardness" (old money term for what is now-a-days calcium, plus magnesium, and plus a few other things that are hopefully scarce in drinking water) works out about 243ppm as CaCO3. It's not that bad. But the water company report it as 213ppm as CaCO3 ... that's bad (and unnecessary)!

And the Wards report: 457ppm as CaCO3! Double the water company's reported maximum. Is that legally allowed? Can you trust this water company?

You've got RO Water now. Stick with it!



You could treat with acid, along with the trustworthy (you hope) Wards report, but keeping up with the huge swings in salt concentrations will be futile! You're good with RO Water (and that's coming from someone saying earlier; "RO Water" is a recent "fetish"!).

 

[mac_1103]

well I've been using it for years without issues

This statement must be the most common road block to progress of any human endeavor.

I spent the last ten years of my career telling people at work that "but we've always done it this way" is no longer the company's motto.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

I spent the last ten years of my career telling people at work that "but we've always done it this way" is no longer the company's motto.

You don't start that statement with "I'm from corporate and here to help" do you?

 

[mac_1103]

You don't start that statement with "I'm from corporate and here to help" do you?

Well, I never was from corporate, so no.