Need help understanding my water profile!

[widgetjam]

Hello all,

I'm still a beginner brewer and I'm about to start AG brewing. I keep reading about Mash PH and Calcium, Sulfates...etc. I found a copy of my town's water report and was wondering if anyone could tell me how I need to treat my water in layman's terms. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Water report below http://www.lemoore.com/pdf/2013_city_of_lemoore_water_test_results.pdf

 

[Yooper]

The sodium seems way too high, as well as the alkalinity. but they give a range, and not a very good range at that so it's hard to tell.

 

[ajdelange]

A couple of things stick out:
1) The pH, carbonate and bicarbonate numbers do not jive, at least not when the averages are considered. At pH 9 if bicarbonate is 178 carbonate is 8.
2) Though iron is below (just below) the SMCL of 300 ppb it is well above the desired maximum for brewing which is 100 ppb
3) Calcium/magnesium are low but sodium is high suggesting that the water has been sodium ion exchange softened. Calcium will need to be supplemented and removing some of the sodium is probably a good idea.
4) Alkalinity varies by as much as a factor of 4. This means that you will either have to measure it every time you brew or failing that neutralize it to mash pH every time you brew (which is really doing the measurement just at full scale) or remove the variability by removing the ion content i.e. by using RO.

Given these points RO seems the simplest alternative in terms of what you potentially do each brew day. In effect I am saying this is throw-away water.

 

[widgetjam]

Thanks for the responses. I'll look into using water from another source; I appreciate the help, Gents.