Water report Yes im sorry

[redarmy990]

Hello all,
Just got a tap water analysis report from WSSC. This is yearly average but hopefully should help me adjust my brewing.
If i could get advise on this it would be gratefully appreciated.

CA----37.8 PPM
MG---9.5 PPM
NA---22.9 PPM
CL----50.0 PPM
S04---41.5 PPM
PH 7.4

Any advise and what beers would be good. I love stouts/porters and IPAs the most.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Can WSSC tell you what the ppm alkalinity (or bicarbonate) concentration is?

I can guess at there being around 70 ppm alkalinity by balancing the given cations and anions, though that would not take any unreported cations or anions into account. But if your alkalinity is actually about 70 ppm it would be fine water 'as is' for porters and stouts.

 

[redarmy990]

Can WSSC tell you what the ppm alkalinity (or bicarbonate) concentration is?

I can guess at there being around 70 ppm alkalinity by balancing the given cations and anions, though that would not take any unreported cations or anions into account. But if your alkalinity is actually about 70 ppm it would be fine water 'as is' for porters and stouts.

Alkalinity is at 82 ppm

 

[ajdelange]

As there is lots of home brewing activity in your area I can relate that lots of home brewed beer has been made with this water. It is pretty nominal. So the answer is what you will hear in general. The best brewers will run it through an RO machine and build the water they want for a particular beer from that (scratch). Others will use lactic acid, phosphoric acid or sauermalz to neutralize 70 of those 82 ppm of alkalinity. Others still will just brew with perhaps a gypsum addition if doing ales.

 

[couchsending]

You have great water. A lot of the best beers in the world are brewed with way worse. You’ll need some acid and CA additions to fine tune but using bru’n water should make that very easy. I wouldn’t bother with RO with your water.

 

[ajdelange]

The best brewers in his region use RO. I know these guys.

 

[couchsending]

82ppm Alkalinity is pretty easy to deal with.. why bother with RO unless there are crazy flucuations or some heavy metals.

 

[ajdelange]

There is appreciable seasonal variability and it has too much sulfate and chloride for delicate continental lagers. But the main reason the best brewers use RO is so that they are in control of the mineral content of their liquor, not WSSC nor anyone else.