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Jamie02173

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Ive touched on this subject before but still a bit confused. I understand there is information given online for the ingredients to your local water company and its minerals etc.
I have been using tap water on my few brews and some have been ok and some bad. Should i use spring water instead? What do you guys use?
And if i do obtain my water content, what should i be looking for, sulphites targets, calcium, etc?
Is there a specific perfect water recipe that can be altered using gypsum and salts? I plan on brewing lager, ale and stout.
 
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Ive just found out that my CaCo3 levels is 85mm/perl and that my water is very soft if thats any help! Should i need to add to this
 

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You can't really rely on what other people use, because everyone's house water (i.e. not purchased or prepared) is different, sometimes wildly so.

One person will say "I use my city's water and it's great. You don't have to worry about your water" - and that will be true for HIM, but maybe not for you. Another person will say "My tap water comes from a well and it's extremely hard, with lots of alkalinity, entirely unsuitable for brewing" - and that will be true for HIM, but maybe not for you.

The only way to control for water in a reliable way without getting it tested is to use distilled or reverse osmosis (R.O.) water and add back minerals. You can often buy this water if you don't have the equipment at home to make it. But then you will need to learn about how to mineralize it for appropriate mash pH based on the grain bill, calcium content, and other attributes. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it likely will appear to be so at first.

The important water elements for brewing are calcium (Ca), chloride (Cl), sulfate (SO4), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), and alkalinity (CaCO3 or HCO3). In addition, chlorine and chloramine are sometimes present in city water, and those must be eliminated before brewing. This is, of course, after the water has been cleared for toxins and metals and other really bad stuff.
 
You can't really rely on what other people use, because everyone's house water (i.e. not purchased or prepared) is different, sometimes wildly so.

One person will say "I use my city's water and it's great. You don't have to worry about your water" - and that will be true for HIM, but maybe not for you. Another person will say "My tap water comes from a well and it's extremely hard, with lots of alkalinity, entirely unsuitable for brewing" - and that will be true for HIM, but maybe not for you.

The only way to control for water in a reliable way without getting it tested is to use distilled or reverse osmosis (R.O.) water and add back minerals. You can often buy this water if you don't have the equipment at home to make it. But then you will need to learn about how to mineralize it for appropriate mash pH based on the grain bill, calcium content, and other attributes. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it likely will appear to be so at first.

The important water elements for brewing are calcium (Ca), chloride (Cl), sulfate (SO4), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), and alkalinity (CaCO3 or HCO3). In addition, chlorine and chloramine are sometimes present in city water, and those must be eliminated before brewing. This is, of course, after the water has been cleared for toxins and metals and other really bad stuff.
Cheers mcKnuckle i see what you mean im sure there are major differences around the world.
Seems technichal but might be worth looking into. Im lookibg to stick on a brew now, can you suggest using half spring water would this increase tze hardness, or maybe some gypsum will help as my water is very soft
 
Spring water is nearly always very soft. What are you brewing (grain bill) and how much total water are you using?
Im going to brew a pale ale possibly ed haus recipe.. ill be doing BIAB all grain 23L I got a load of water aswel
 

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Most of the mineral content of that water is nice, but the 293 mg/L of bicarbonate, or residual alkalinity, is not good for your mash.

It will be a strong buffer for the limited acidity in a pale grain bill, resulting in a high mash pH. The mash may under-perform, but even worse, the resulting beer may actually taste bad - no joke - with harsh bitterness. I would only use that water to hydrate yourself. :)

Now here's the issue with your own water... It says 85 mg/L of CaCO3, which is equivalent to 103.7 HCO3. That's also a generous amount of alkalinity, requiring significant lowering of the mash pH to be ideal. You say some of your brews have been bad. There's a million reasons for that, but by any chance have they been the pale beers? Unchecked high alkalinity works better with dark grain bills, because the roasted grains have much more acidity to counter the alkalinity in the water.

I mentioned that this gets complicated fast.

Your best bet for a pale ale using water with high alkalinity and no knowledge of the actual minerals is to acidify the mash with lactic or phosphoric acid. But we're playing a guessing game here, as small amounts make a big difference.
 
Most of the mineral content of that water is nice, but the 293 mg/L of bicarbonate, or residual alkalinity, is not good for your mash.

It will be a strong buffer for the limited acidity in a pale grain bill, resulting in a high mash pH. The mash may under-perform, but even worse, the resulting beer may actually taste bad - no joke - with harsh bitterness. I would only use that water to hydrate yourself. :)

Now here's the issue with your own water... It says 85 mg/L of CaCO3, which is equivalent to 103.7 HCO3. That's also a generous amount of alkalinity, requiring significant lowering of the mash pH to be ideal. You say some of your brews have been bad. There's a million reasons for that, but by any chance have they been the pale beers? Unchecked high alkalinity works better with dark grain bills, because the roasted grains have much more acidity to counter the alkalinity in the water.

I mentioned that this gets complicated fast.

Your best bet for a pale ale using water with high alkalinity and no knowledge of the actual minerals is to acidify the mash with lactic or phosphoric acid. But we're playing a guessing game here, as small amounts make a big difference.
Well i wont use the bottle water for sure!
Would adding gypsum in this case help the situation or would it be pointless?!
MLHBS has both these acids so it might be worth doing my extra research to ensure i get this right.
My first brew was an ipa extract and turned out pretty well, although i hear extracts have the compatible components to deal with changes in water chemistry.
The 2nd was a lager and did not turn out bad either although i used gypsum and some spring water and it had a slight chalky taste.
The 2 lagers and stout i brewed were a disaster for possibly many reasons and all tasted sour and i used tap water amd no gypsum with these. Those beers are a bad example they fermented too high and froze also!
 
Im looking into getting a full water report and i can tell excactly whats in the tap water and i know what i need to adjust my only step next would be ratios of minerals to reach these levels. Im sure there are a lot of videos on correcting the water, i guess i should have figured this out sooner!
 
As others mentioned, there's no one answer on the water issue. I personally can get away with my tap water for every style I've tried - but the next town over, you don't want to drink theirs right from the tap.
Some town waters will work for some styles, but not others etc.
I would recommend getting a full water report, and also read up on it - Water, by John Palmer is one of the best.
Water, by Palmer and Kaminski
 
Fwiw. I have the ability to make rodii water but I use my tap with additions on brew days. I do think it’s good to understand this aspect of brewing and starting with at or near 0 TDS water and building water is a fantastic hands on learning method, I’ve opted to short cut a bit to make the process more enjoyable for me.
I recognize that my muni water, which is on the neutral side, will vary from day to day, so I have opted to use the mid points from the published ranges and plug them into my brew software. I then use that to decide what to add to hit a target style and pH based on my grain bill.
I understand this is not precise but it’s darn close and it saves my the hassle of securing gallons of pure water. (Maybe I associate making rodi with cleaning my reef tank)

I offer this only as an possible option that is not for everyone. Some people prefer more precision and other brewers couldn’t care less, all making good beer. This method balances my laziness with desire. In other words I am ok being in the ballpark but I don’t sweat it. I screw up enough steps to make water a lesser priority. On the other hand I am anal about mash and fermentation temps.
 
Cool guys ill look into all that info and let use know how i get on. Ill get a water report in the morning then see what my options are and if there is a way i can make the problem easier, like as mcKnuckle said by reducing alkaline by acid phosphoric acid or so on it might be easier then adding whats needed to distilled or r/o.
I guess this is an important step to eliminate one possibility of off flavours!
 
Cool guys ill look into all that info and let use know how i get on. Ill get a water report in the morning then see what my options are and if there is a way i can make the problem easier, like as mcKnuckle said by reducing alkaline by acid phosphoric acid or so on it might be easier then adding whats needed to distilled or r/o.
I guess this is an important step to eliminate one possibility of off flavours!

if you haven’t already done so, add a pH probe to your equipment that goes to the hundredths (2 decimals) so you can spot check if you calculations are close to actual results.
 
if you haven’t already done so, add a pH probe to your equipment that goes to the hundredths (2 decimals) so you can spot check if you calculations are close to actual results.
if you haven’t already done so, add a pH probe to your equipment that goes to the hundredths (2 decimals) so you can spot check if you calculations are close to actual results.
I have a ph tester is there a way i can improve my water by checking the ph for example
If my ph was 4.5 and 5.5 was desired can you know by this reading what can be added
 
Jamie,

I would respectfully counter Mike's suggestion at this point in your water experimentation. pH meters are finicky creatures, requiring calibration and careful handling, and it's very easy to get caught up in last minute adjustments to "correct" a reading during the mash, freaking out and so on, over-compensating with hastily measured additions.

I would instead suggest to first work with the water tools in the software of your choice, following their mash pH estimates blindly, as it were. In fact I'll admit that this is what I've always done. I don't want to deal with measuring pH during my brew day. I'm into this well over 130 batches of beer with distilled or RO water, and it works perfectly.

Just so we are clear; the pH of your water itself is totally irrelevant. It's the pH of your mash - the water mixed with all the grain - that is the crucial thing in brewing.
 
Im looking into getting a full water report and i can tell excactly whats in the tap water

As an additional point, that I think was not mentioned here yet (otherwise, you already got a ton of useful info from the posters above).
You should also try to find out whether you can trust that water report you will get. I mean, try to find out whether the composition of the water flowing from your taps is more or less constant according to the numbers of your water report.
In my case, unfortunately, it is not and by far. My municipality is blending water from two sources having very different profiles (one rather soft, the other one very hard/alkaline). I've got water reports for both sources but I have no idea at what ratio both sources are getting blended at any time.
So I resorted to measuring the alkalinity of my brewing liquor before each brew day. Then I plug that number into Bru'n Water and calculate my acid additions, which will be a bit different each time (I already measured alkalinity values ranging from 160 ppm to 270 ppm, that's a huge difference). This approach works great for me and I am able to nail mash pH in a very precise manner, even using my admittedly "hard to brew with" tap water.
(I do have a pH meter but I could now actually do without it, if in the meantime I hadn't become anal about pH control at all stages of the brewing process.... and I agree with posters above that actual pH measurements should come second after getting to know your water and learning how to use some extremely useful software tools such as Bru'n Water).
 
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As an additional point, that I think was not mentioned here yet (otherwise, you already got a ton of useful info from the posters above).
You should also try to find out whether you can trust that water report you will get. I mean, try to find out whether the composition of the water flowing from your taps is more or less constant according to the numbers of your water report.
In my case, unfortunately, it is not and by far. My municipality is blending water from two sources having very different profiles (one rather soft, the other one very hard/alkaline). I've got water reports for both sources but I have no idea at what ratio both sources are getting blended at any time.
So I resorted to measuring the alkalinity of my brewing liquor before each brew day. Then I plug that number into Bru'n Water and calculate my acid additions, which will be a bit different each time (I already measured alkalinity values ranging from 160 ppm to 270 ppm, that's a huge difference). This approach works great for me and I am able to nail mash pH in a very precise manner, even using my admittedly "hard to brew with" tap water.
(I do have a pH meter but I could now actually do without it, if in the meantime I hadn't become anal about pH control at all stages of the brewing process.... and I agree with posters above that actual pH measurements should come second after getting to know your water and learning how to use some extremely useful software tools such as Bru'n Water).
Im working on it, i was already iffy about the ph tester, although i have one im yet to figure out the calibration which im sure is not a huge job! I contacted my water company and they do not have this information but will possibly get back to me god knows when! Another thing i learned is this reading may not be acuarate and may fluctuate with seasons, therefore you could be gettibg last seasons water report. I might have a possibility of getting my water tested for 100e my only concern will the water change in time!
Im also looking into the possibilities of RO but in the meantime ill let the waters mineral content be my top priority.
 
Another thing i learned is this reading may not be acuarate and may fluctuate with seasons, therefore you could be gettibg last seasons water report. I might have a possibility of getting my water tested for 100e my only concern will the water change in time!
Im also looking into the possibilities of RO but in the meantime ill let the waters mineral content be my top priority.

Unless you have some fairly extreme levels of the one or other mineral in there, my first and foremost concern would be to know the alkalinity of your water (which is generally related to water hardness, i.e. the harder the water, the more alkaline it will be). This is by far the main water chemistry-related brewing issue. I guess most brewers would agree on this point.
However, I recall you stated somewhere that you water is fairly soft, so that may not be a major concern for you. Lucky you in that case.

Yes, if the water profile fluctuates beyond a certain range then your water report may not be of much use.

If you are having a hard time getting the infos from your municipality, try to get one of those tritration drop kits for measuring water hardness and alkalinity. They are used for example by the aquarium people...They are cheap, very easy to use (in fact, much easier than using, calibrating and taking care of a pH meter), and provide fairly accurate measurements (in any case, accurate enough for our needs!).

EDIT: just to be clear. Those kits are in no way a substitute for a pH meter. They do not measure pH, but water hardness/alkalinity.
However, unless you are working with distilled/RO water, it is very useful to know alkalinity, since it is the main determinant of the resulting mash pH (together with your grain bill)
 
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Jamie,

I would respectfully counter Mike's suggestion at this point in your water experimentation. pH meters are finicky creatures, requiring calibration and careful handling, and it's very easy to get caught up in last minute adjustments to "correct" a reading during the mash, freaking out and so on, over-compensating with hastily measured additions.

I would instead suggest to first work with the water tools in the software of your choice, following their mash pH estimates blindly, as it were. In fact I'll admit that this is what I've always done. I don't want to deal with measuring pH during my brew day. I'm into this well over 130 batches of beer with distilled or RO water, and it works perfectly.

Just so we are clear; the pH of your water itself is totally irrelevant. It's 8the pH of your mash - the water mixed with all the grain - that is the crucial thing in brewing.


Excellent point. I should have added that I use my pH probe to check for outliers. I have yet to make any additions to my mash based on the reading, but rather as a confirmation that I didn’t make a major mistake with my water adjustments. I rely heavily on the tools in my software.
 
Tap water: May be changed by your municipality based on their needs to meet an outside standard. (Federal, State or new local condition.)

Consider using RO water and adjusting it to meet your need.
A lot of people advised me off RO but to be honest i see no harm in messing about trying to get it right.. i have sourced a cheap systym so all i need to know is my ingredients to start my setup and it might even be fun lol
Calcium chloride
Calcium sulphite
Epson salts
Pickled lime
Phosphoric acid
Lactic acid
Chalk
Thats what i might gather so far any more to add or subtract any info much appreciated
 
Calcium chloride (Ca, Cl, drops pH)
Gypsum (Ca, SO4, drops pH)
Baking soda (Na, raises pH)
Lactic acid or acidulated malt (drops pH)

Those are the essentials. The others are either redundant or harder to work with. You do not need to add magnesium (Epsom). Chalk doesn't dissolve and baking soda does. Phosphoric and lactic accomplish the same thing.
 
I think it all depends where you live. As I understand most of you guys in the US have very easy access to RO water and at comparatively cheap prices.
It is not the same where I live.
So the only economical alternative for me to use RO water would be to buy and operate a RO system at home.
I found it way more convenient to do some more measuring and tweak my tap water.
 
Calcium chloride (Ca, Cl, drops pH)
Gypsum (Ca, SO4, drops pH)
Baking soda (Na, raises pH)
Lactic acid or acidulated malt (drops pH)

Those are the essentials. The others are either redundant or harder to work with. You do not need to add magnesium (Epsom). Chalk doesn't dissolve and baking soda does. Phosphoric and lactic accomplish the
I think it all depends where you live. As I understand most of you guys in the US have very easy access to RO water and at comparatively cheap prices.
It is not the same where I live.
So the only economical alternative for me to use RO water would be to buy and operate a RO system at home.
I found it way more convenient to do some more measuring and tweak my tap water.
I will it makes more sense then paying 100 for a sample that may change or not be accurate! I can pick up a RO system for 150!
On my next batch whats the oppinion on using spring water? That way i will have all the contents on the bottle and i can tweak it with the basics that mcKnuckle added to provide a better balance
 
Ive been working on this water report and turns out a lot of information is on the website but i could not get anything on the minerals; calcium, magnesium and pottasium.
I also used a converter which im not sure is correct but i multiplied the caco3 (85) by 0.6 which should result im my co3(carbonate).. maybe im wrong but these are the figures i have if anyone can tell me if it looks like water report substancial enough for tweaking.
Also i will use a ph tester to clarify the ph is correct!

Water grade: soft
Caco3 85
Bicarbonate 105.7
Carbonate 51
Sulphate 27
Chloride 13
Nitrate 3
Nitrite 0.016
Flouride 0.6
Sodium 8
Iron 12
Ph 7.5
Potassium na
Magnesium na
Calcium na

The bottom three are making it difficult to play around with brun water
 
I explained in a prior post that both the spring water you showed an image of, and your own water have high residual alkalinity. A small RO system is the way to go. It removes all doubt and starts fresh every time.

In my part of the U.S. it's easy to buy distilled water from the grocery store, but one still has to make a special trip to get some.

I eventually decided to buy a small on-demand RO setup that attaches to my utility sink's faucet with a standard garden hose attachment. I just run off a few gallons as needed. I use it for coffee and a room humidifier as well as for brewing, so it serves several purposes and was worth the moderate cost.
 
I explained in a prior post that both the spring water you showed an image of, and your own water have high residual alkalinity. A small RO system is the way to go. It removes all doubt and starts fresh every time.

In my part of the U.S. it's easy to buy distilled water from the grocery store, but one still has to make a special trip to get some.

I eventually decided to buy a small on-demand RO setup that attaches to my utility sink's faucet with a standard garden hose attachment. I just run off a few gallons as needed. I use it for coffee and a room humidifier as well as for brewing, so it serves several purposes and was worth the moderate cost.
Sorry i should have stated a different spring water as that one was still water were i was thinking a better quality but probably the same results as i have another that has a bicarbonate at 340 so id obviously run into the same problem!
Im going for the RO system indefinatly but will take until the end of the month to finance (january🥲) and as im bored and have lots of ingredients im going to try another.. sure why not!
So im thinking im going to use brud water and tweak the missing condements and it will give me an idea of what lactic acid, calcium sulphite and chloride that i have to add. To reduce the alkhaline.
Maybe ill add slightly less, brew a half batch see if its nicer!
 
Im going for the RO system

Yeah go for it if you can. It is probably the wisest and safest route indeed.
I mean every situation is different. We are fortunate to have very good quality tap water here (no chlorines in it, for instance). So my only concern in that respect is having to deal with generally high and fluctuating levels of water alkalinity.
I live in an apartment with my family, space is an issue and a RO unit would just be another piece of abstruse homebrewing equipment that I would have to justify ;) .
The point I wanted to make is that if one is willing to invest a bit of effort in understanding some basics, in many cases it is very well possible to tweak one's own tap water to good and consistent results (even if said tap water is far from optimal for brewing as it is).


Ive been working on this water report and turns out a lot of information is on the website but i could not get anything on the minerals; calcium, magnesium and pottasium.
I also used a converter which im not sure is correct but i multiplied the caco3 (85) by 0.6 which should result im my co3(carbonate).. maybe im wrong but these are the figures i have if anyone can tell me if it looks like water report substancial enough for tweaking.
Also i will use a ph tester to clarify the ph is correct!

Water grade: soft
Caco3 85
Bicarbonate 105.7
Carbonate 51
Sulphate 27
Chloride 13
Nitrate 3
Nitrite 0.016
Flouride 0.6
Sodium 8
Iron 12
Ph 7.5
Potassium na
Magnesium na
Calcium na

The bottom three are making it difficult to play around with brun water


Which ones of these numbers were on your original water report, and which ones did you derive?
(I am no expert in water chemistry by far, but I can try to help with my limited self taught knowledge on the subject. If one of the real experts on this forum is willing to chime in, they are more than welcome!)
 
The CO3 (Carbonate) species barely exists at pH 7.5. It would confidently be <1 mg/L.

If your Total Hardness "as CaCO3" is reported as 85 mg/L, then the following relationship must be upheld:
Total Hardness as CaCO3 = 2.4973(Ca++) + 4.11796(Mg++)
85 = 2.4973(Ca++) + 4.11796(Mg++)

Therefore:
If we 'ballpark' presume that 70% of total hardness is 'on average' derived from Ca++, and 30% is derived from Mg++, then:
85 x 0.70 = 59.5
85 x 0.30 = 25.5

Thus 'ballpark' Ca++ = 59.5/2.4973 = 23.8 mg/L
And 'ballpark' Mg++ = 25.5/4.11796 = 6.2 mg/L

If your Bicarbonate is reported as 105.7 mg/L, your Alkalinity (as CaCO3) is likely going to be right close to 86.6 mg/L

Applying these values, the all important "Cation/Anion balance" (the demand for electrical charge neutrality) is not met sufficiently enough to give your water the potential to exist in the "real world". What are the units associated with the 12 you showed for Iron? Let us pray that they are not 12 mg/L. Is it possible that your water is blended from more than one source and the values are merely averages across the various sources?
 
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Hardness is the measure of combined MgCO3 (Magnesium Carbonate), and CaCO3 (Calcium Carbonate). But for convenience they are by convention conflated into CaCO3 only, and are reported as such (I.E., Total Hardness as CaCO3).

The molecular weight of CaCO3 is 100.0869
The molecular weight of the Ca++ ion is 40.078
The molecular weight of the Mg++ ion is 24.305

Therefore, the Ca++ ion percent of CaCO3 by weight is 40.078/100.0869 = 0.400432, and the inverse of this is 2.4973
And likewise the Mg++ ion percent of CaCO3 by weight is 24.305/100.0869 = 0.242839, and the inverse of this is 4.11796

So from this we derive that:
Total Hardness as CaCO3 = 2.4973(Ca++) + 4.11796(Mg++)
 
Alright, you have got one of the experts I was talking about right here.
Thanks @Silver_Is_Money for saving me, I am more than happy to leave the space to you :)

He has helped me immensely with those formulas and other infos in a thread I had started on this subject long ago.
 
The CO3 (Carbonate) species barely exists at pH 7.5. It would confidently be <1 mg/L.

If your Total Hardness "as CaCO3" is reported as 85 mg/L, then the following relationship must be upheld:
Total Hardness as CaCO3 = 2.4973(Ca++) + 4.11796(Mg++)
85 = 2.4973(Ca++) + 4.11796(Mg++)

Therefore:
If we 'ballpark' presume that 70% of total hardness is 'on average' derived from Ca++, and 30% is derived from Mg++, then:
85 x 0.70 = 59.5
85 x 0.30 = 25.5

Thus 'ballpark' Ca++ = 59.5/2.4973 = 23.8 mg/L
And 'ballpark' Mg++ = 25.5/4.11796 = 6.2 mg/L

If your Bicarbonate is reported as 105.7 mg/L, your Alkalinity (as CaCO3) is likely going to be right close to 86.6 mg/L

Applying these values, the all important "Cation/Anion balance" (the demand for electrical charge neutrality) is not met sufficiently enough to give your water the potential to exist in the "real world". What are the units associated with the 12 you showed for Iron? Let us pray that they are not 12 mg/L. Is it possible that your water is blended from more than one source and the values are merely averages across the various sources?
Yes, but what if the amount given for CaCO3 is not of hardness, but alkalinity? OK, alkalinity is quoted as bicarbonate and that isn't 85 ppm CaCO3, but is close and it isn't unusual for water reports to quote both measures with minor discrepancies.

In other respects, that report looks realistic. 8 for sodium and 13 for chloride match perfectly for a sodium chloride content. Then by speculating 27 sulphate was from gypsum, there would be a further 11 ppm calcium and there would be ion balance.
 
Yes, but what if the amount given for CaCO3 is not of hardness, but alkalinity?

I was initially confounded by this also, but If you go up to post #2 in this thread and open the attachment you will see that 85 mg/L of CaCO3 corresponds to hardness as opposed to alkalinity.

That Alkalinity at 86.6 mg/L and Hardness at 85 mg/L are nearly the same values is thus merely coincidental.
 
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Ah! Thank you, Larry.

That means that water is as you say, impossible without the presence of an unknown cation. That wouldn't be iron at 12 ppm, such water would have a lot of color.
 
Ah! Thank you, Larry.

That means that water is as you say, impossible without the presence of an unknown cation. That wouldn't be iron at 12 ppm, such water would have a lot of color.

Precisely why I said we must literally pray that iron is not 12 ppm. I initially gave thought to iron at that level providing for the requisite cation/anion balance. Waiting on the reply/confirmation from @Jamie02173.

I'm leaning more toward this water being multi sourced, with the reported analyticals being merely averages across sources.
 
Thanks for the help silver i have been messing around with brud water and the iron value of 12 has been causing me problems! I checked the water report again and the iron content and it was measured at ug/l rather then mm/l
Im only new to this myself but i will read over your comments a few times and it will click!
Thanks for the help im making progress so some slight adjustments should produce a better beer while i look into an RO system.
Any suggestions on what i might add to this water for better results
 
Precisely why I said we must literally pray that iron is not 12 ppm. I initially gave thought to iron at that level providing for the requisite cation/anion balance. Waiting on the reply/confirmation from @Jamie02173.

I'm leaning more toward this water being multi sourced, with the reported analyticals being merely averages across sources.
Some of the quantities of this report are based on averages for example if my sulphite was between 26 to 28, then i stuck it down as 27 as a yearly report is the best i could find. The caco2 is stated as 85 therefore i derived the Hc03 from that and i was probably wrong with my calculation of co3
So its mainly my carbonate, calcium, magnessium and pottasium which im thinking silver has answered for me!
 
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