water chemistry... have no clue...

[joshesmusica]

Hi guys, i don't know if this is the best spot for this thread, but i'm just getting into partial mash (biab) and the guy who taught me is norwegian, been brewing here in norway for 30+ years, and he's never worried about water chemistry. the water here really is very crisp and refreshing. it tastes like it's coming straight from a waterfall. but i'm a bit more into the science behind this whole thing, so i'm wondering if you guys out there who know more about water chemistry could help me. finally got the water report for my area.
here's what i got:

 

[joshesmusica]

it's in norwegian, so here's the translation of each thing (i'm guessing that only the chemical and physical parameters need to be translated so i'll just skip to that):

most of them just need an e added to the end to make it english.

dikloretan - dicholorethane
antimon - anitmony
arsen - arsenic
bly - lead
bor - boron
glykoler - glycols
mineraloljer - mineral oils
jern - iron
kjemisk oksygen-forbruk - chemical oxygen consumption
krom - chrome
kvikksølv - mercury
mangan - manganese
natrium - sodium
plantevernmidler, enkeltvis - pesticides, individually
selen - selenium
tetrakloreten/trikloreten - tetrachlorethylene/trichlorethylene
trihalometaner - trihalomethanes
hardhet - hardness


thanks for any help in advance. basically just wondering if there are any additions i should be doing or if it's pretty good.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

You should post this in the Brew Science forum and let AJ and Martin have a look. In general, it looks like pretty soft water so you can brew just about anything with the right mineral additions. Check out the Water Chemistry Primer sticky in the Brew Science forum.

 

[McKnuckle]

Actually there appear to be fairly high levels of several ions:

Sodium 200
Chloride 200
Sulfate 100
Magnesium isn't listed
Hardness is blank
Alkalinity I'm not seeing
Calcium I'm not seeing

If I'm interpreting these correctly, I'd want to dilute with distilled water to reduce the sodium and chloride especially. Plus Calcium and alkalinity are important to know.

 

[joshesmusica]

i think calcium is under hardhet.
alkalinity as in pH? pH is there. line 44.

the first number (under grenseverdi) is supposed to be how much the water is allowed to have in it. the value limits. the second number is how much it actually has in it. vannverket is water works.

 

[McKnuckle]

Alkalinity is expressed as ppm of either carbonate or bicarbonate, and is not the same as pH. They are separate measures. Residual alkalinity tells you how much the water is capable of buffering (resisting) a highly acid grist. Dark beers are acidic - low pH - and require this buffering in order to maintain an acceptable pH in the mash.

 

[joshesmusica]

the guy from bru'n water said it looked great.
i reposted it in a new place, here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/water-chemistry-have-no-clue-looking-help-514482/

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Great. Martin has forgotten more water chemistry than I will ever know. Bru'n Water is a definite "must have" if you want to figure your brew chemistry.