My water

[deepcdan99]

Just got my ward water analysis, now what? What you guys think of my water?

 

[deepcdan99]

Just not sure what to do now...I’ve been brewing with this water without any adjustments and beer comes out fine. Looking to make it better...

 

[Big Monk]

Just not sure what to do now...I’ve been brewing with this water without any adjustments and beer comes out fine. Looking to make it better...

What is the source of this water? It’s pretty much RO.

You have a clean slate to work with. Some Calcium Chloride and Gypsum in whatever amounts work for you and you’d be off to the races.

 

[deepcdan99]

What is the source of this water? It’s pretty much RO.

You have a clean slate to work with. Some Calcium Chloride and Gypsum in whatever amounts work for you and you’d be off to the races.

City water from the tap.

 

[deepcdan99]

What is the source of this water? It’s pretty much RO.

You have a clean slate to work with. Some Calcium Chloride and Gypsum in whatever amounts work for you and you’d be off to the races.

I’ve heArd my town has great water, just never got into the water chemistry part...till now.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Either:
Follow the instructions in the brewing water primer sticky
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/a-brewing-water-chemistry-primer.198460/
using the recommendations for 'soft' water (yours is very soft); or
Learn to adjust your water to get the mash (boil) pH you want and the flavour ions you want. Most brewers use water software (eg. Mash Made Easy or Bru'n Water).

You can get an idea of what each salt (gypsum and Calcium chloride are the main ones) by making up a solution of each and adding very small incremental amounts to a glass of beer. Look to use about 100, 150, 200, 250 etc. milligrams per litre of each salt to assess it's flavour contribution. If you make up a solution of 10 grams of salt dissolved in 1L of water, 1mL (use a dropper) of solution added to 100mL of beer equates to approximately 100mg/L.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I’ve heArd my town has great water, just never got into the water chemistry part...till now.

Based on my understanding, this water is "great" for light beers like a Pilsner, but not so great for malty beers, hoppy beers or dark beers. It seems like water that should be pretty easy to knock into shape with Calcium Chloride and Gypsum...plus whatever is needed for pH adjustments.

 

[ajdelange]

Where is Ludlow?

 

[barth153]

Don't mean to hijack the thread but I too am looking for advice on brew water chemistry. Got my results from Ward Labs and looking for general feedback. Source is city tap water. I've been brewing for almost 3 years but feel my beer is pretty hit or miss. I feel like IPAs are especially sharp or bitter. Most all my brews have a sort of lingering undesirable aftertaste (maybe astringent?)...though I'm a highly critical perfectionist. I take great care in sanitation and hit my mash temps so I'm pretty convinced it may be related my water. At first glance sodium and bicarbonate seem high. Am I better off avoiding my tap water and buying RO?

FYI - I use a 3 kettle AG system with propane burners. Let me know if you have other questions that might help answer this. I sincerely appreciate any expert advice to help improve my product. Thanks!

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Don't mean to hijack the thread but I too am looking for advice on brew water chemistry.

There are two major issues with your water. Firstly, it looks like it's probably going through a water softener, which replaces Calcium with Sodium. Your water has virtually no Calcium and too high Sodium. Also, the Bicarbonate (alkalinity) is really high. Unfortunately, there aren't many beers that your water is suitable for brewing. RO is probably your best option.

 

[barth153]

Thanks for the reply. I take my water out of a utility sink in my garage and mistakenly assumed it bypassed the softener but you're probably right that it does not. I guess I could look at taking from an exterior faucet but contaminants might be an issue and I live in Minnesota, which means I could only do that for half the year. I'd also need to redo my water quality testing.

Maybe the next (rhetorical) logical question is whether to invest in a home RO system (not sure about the quality of these) vs purchasing from a store.

Talking to another home brewer he uses RO water just to rinse his equipment. Is that really necessary??

Appreciate the assistance, once again!

 

[HTH1975]

Don't mean to hijack the thread but I too am looking for advice on brew water chemistry. Got my results from Ward Labs and looking for general feedback. Source is city tap water. I've been brewing for almost 3 years but feel my beer is pretty hit or miss. I feel like IPAs are especially sharp or bitter. Most all my brews have a sort of lingering undesirable aftertaste (maybe astringent?)...though I'm a highly critical perfectionist. I take great care in sanitation and hit my mash temps so I'm pretty convinced it may be related my water. At first glance sodium and bicarbonate seem high. Am I better off avoiding my tap water and buying RO?

FYI - I use a 3 kettle AG system with propane burners. Let me know if you have other questions that might help answer this. I sincerely appreciate any expert advice to help improve my product. Thanks!

As previously mentioned, you have hard water but that water report does not give you the necessary data to improve your situation. Chances are, you have great water for brewing stouts (with whatever water-softening equipment bypassed).

 

[Gnomebrewer]

As previously mentioned, you have hard water

It's actually very soft. Hardness refers to the Calcium and Magnesium content, which in this case is close to 0. It was probably very hard before going through the water softener.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Thanks for the reply. I take my water out of a utility sink in my garage and mistakenly assumed it bypassed the softener but you're probably right that it does not. I guess I could look at taking from an exterior faucet but contaminants might be an issue and I live in Minnesota, which means I could only do that for half the year. I'd also need to redo my water quality testing.

Maybe the next (rhetorical) logical question is whether to invest in a home RO system (not sure about the quality of these) vs purchasing from a store.

Talking to another home brewer he uses RO water just to rinse his equipment. Is that really necessary??

Appreciate the assistance, once again!

Even bypassing the softener, you're only improving the Sodium/Calcium aspect - the high bicarbonate will still be a major issue. The only advantage to doing this will be that you could boil your water to remove the majority of the bicarbonate (carbonate) if you wanted to (Calcium/Magnesium Carbonate will precipitate with boiling, Sodium (bi)carbonate won't).

Whether to invest in an RO system, or buy from the store would largely come down to convenience for you and how often you brew. There's no need to rinse/wash brew equipment with RO water.

 

[HTH1975]

It's actually very soft. Hardness refers to the Calcium and Magnesium content, which in this case is close to 0. It was probably very hard before going through the water softener.

Yes, this is what I was referring to.