Ward results let the battle begin !

[mabrungard]

I agree with AJ, that is a weird report. The sodium is astronomic and not suitable for potable water. Anything over 250 ppm sodium would have a plainly apparent salty taste, so something is up. I have heard that there are places in Michigan that have very salty groundwater. I wouldn't brew with it. My hat's off to Pat if he can make it work!

Oh, and to produce the bicarbonate and carbonate numbers that Ward reported, the pH would have to be a little above 9.1.

 

[a_potter]

This is making me want to send my water to Ward and comparing it to the MDEQ lab results just to kind of proof test their methods. There are places around that have pretty larg salt deposits but this just doesn't seem to add up.

 

[Chrisl77]

If your sodium is that high coming out of your well you should not be using salt in your water softner. You should be using potassium chloride this will lower the sodium in the water. It may take several regeneration cycles to flush the sodium off the resin though.

 

[lehr]

Well Guys I going to brew a dark english mild this weekend build my water from a different source and see how it works out.
This is the next step maybe from scores in the 40's to gold or Bos (I wish). I know our processes are sound I'm pretty excited to brew and check the results !

Thanks all
Pat

 

[ajdelange]

Aj, The odd thing is this water does not taste bad...

I wouldn't expect it to taste bad i.e. not musty or metallic or of rotten eggs or anything like that but I would expect it and any beer made with it to taste salty. Does it?

 

[lehr]

I wouldn't expect it to taste bad i.e. not musty or metallic or of rotten eggs or anything like that but I would expect it and any beer made with it to taste salty. Does it?

No one has ever mentioned it nor have any Judges commented on it being salty. I have noticed when my dogs outside water bowl gets dry it has a white powder on the bottom of it.

Pat

 

[remilard]

Based on the nutritional data on a box of baking soda and some back of the envelope (or rather in my head) calculations a gram and a half of baking soda in a liter of water should be similar to your water. I'll have to try that later today. My intuition tells me it would have a strong taste but that isn't squaring with your experience.

Incidentally that liter of water would have around a fifth of your RDA for sodium and nearly as much sodium as a McDonalds Hamburger. I'm not a big believer that sodium is particularly unhealthy for people who don't have hypertension sensitive to sodium but obviously many people think sodium is generally unhealthy in excess amounts.