Should I brew with this water?

[shlap]

My water report is available online here

http://www.amwater.com/files/AZ-AguaFria-2007web.pdf

I'm not really sure what to look for, but man, that seems like a lot of Arsenic (10ppb) doesn't it? Yuck!

 

[fishops]

That sure does seem like a lot of arsenic. I would strongly suggest putting a charcoal filter inline with any faucet you use to brew, drink or shower with. Thankfully, heavy metals are relatively easy to filter out.

 

[k1v1116]

it also has a fair amount of sodium and it doesnt list calcium or magnesium that I can see.

 

[beerthirty]

I dont think you have to worry about arsenic too much. Due to AZ arsenic problems most of the sources are protected by arsenic removal facilities. According to the small print yourfacilty was completed last year, April 07 and the report is 07. So the max you should ever have now is 10ppm. so its safe, just a matter of if you want to use it. Also, carbon filters absorb contaminants so the water has to flow through the filter slowly, pushing the water through quickly will essentially bypass filtration. the slower the flow the better the water.

 

[menschmaschine]

The pH is a bit high. I'd brew with it, but I'd adjust the pH of both the mash water and sparge water. The sodium is on the high end, but Beersmith lists London's at 99 and I think some pretty good beers come out of London.

 

[david_42]

10 parts per billion is meaningless. The LD50 (lethal dose for 50% of the test animals) for arsenic is around 100 mg per kg. So, if you weighted 100 kg, that's 10 grams or a million Liters of beer (a bit less for higher ABV brews;-).

Your biggest concern is the pH and sodium. And neither of those are show stoppers.

 

[bluelou6]

it's not the pH of the water that matters, it's the pH of the mash. Your water report doesn't give any indication of hardness as alkalinity, so it's difficult to tell the buffering capacity of your water. Unless you can get that info from the water company, you are going to have to get some pH paper and do some experiments with different mashes.