Got my water test today.

[Chrisl77]

I got my results back from Ward labs today and not exactly sure what i should be adding. The sample was taken after my filtration system that consists of a softner, peroxide injection and a carbon filter.

pH 8.1
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 89
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.15
Cations / Anions, me/L 1.5 / 1.2
ppm
Sodium, Na 35
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca < 1
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 < 1
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 2
Chloride, Cl 9
Carbonate, CO3 3
Bicarbonate, HCO3 47
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 44

I know i need to add some calcium but not sure what i should be adding to raise it. Any assistance would be much appreciated.

 

[Grinder12000]

Where is this? Weird report. I have not seen one like this and I'll look at it more tomorrow as I've been obsessing of reports.

I might start a website with all the reports I'm collecting.

<1 total hardness? Low sodium and basically no calcium?

Are you from earth?

 

[Grizzlybrew]

Two things...

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html

and

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/ez-water-calculator-2-0-a-195940/

 

[ajdelange]

One of the reasons we don't brew with water out of the softener is that the calcium has been removed. Your water has hardness that's could be as high as the 70's going into the softener which could imply as much as 30 mg/L calcium which is generally adequate. How good these guesses are depends on how much sodium is in the source water.

Unfortunately, what you need to do is send another sample to Wards pre softener (but post oxidizer - you want the iron or sulfide or whatever it is that is being oxidized out). If my guesses are right you might well be able to get by with a bit of supplemental calcium chloride and/or gypsum plus a bit of acid. See the Primer.

 

[Chrisl77]

Where is this? Weird report. I have not seen one like this and I'll look at it more tomorrow as I've been obsessing of reports.

I might start a website with all the reports I'm collecting.

<1 total hardness? Low sodium and basically no calcium?

Are you from earth?

Yes i am from Earth lol. The sample was taken from my kitchen sink where i draw my brewing water from. All the batches i have been making have turned out ok not great, not terrible.

Two things...

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html

and

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/ez-water-calculator-2-0-a-195940/

Thanks for the links i will have to read through that chapter. I played around with the calculator spreadsheet but could not get it to work right. I dont have excel I only have quatro pro so i dont know if its compatible with it.

One of the reasons we don't brew with water out of the softener is that the calcium has been removed. Your water has hardness that's could be as high as the 70's going into the softener which could imply as much as 30 mg/L calcium which is generally adequate. How good these guesses are depends on how much sodium is in the source water.

Unfortunately, what you need to do is send another sample to Wards pre softener (but post oxidizer - you want the iron or sulfide or whatever it is that is being oxidized out). If my guesses are right you might well be able to get by with a bit of supplemental calcium chloride and/or gypsum plus a bit of acid. See the Primer.

The reason I am using water from my water softner is due to high levles of iron and mangnese. I am going to be brewing A lager this weekend I will play around with adding a little calcium chloride and gypsum and see how it turns out. Also my pH meter is telling me the pH was incorrect. My calibrated meter is telling me the pH is 7.81.

 

[ajdelange]

The reason I am using water from my water softner is due to high levles of iron and mangnese.

That's what the peroxide injector is there for. That turns the iron and manganese into a gel which must be filtered out by something. If there is a sand bed in the injection unit or a filter following it then what comes out of that filter will be free of iron and manganese but contain the calcium and magnesium. Or that's the way it is supposed to work but I don't know the details of your system.

I am going to be brewing A lager this weekend I will play around with adding a little calcium chloride and gypsum and see how it turns out.

Now your water was not that hard to begin with (you don't really need a softener from the hardness POV - maybe it's part of your iron removal system- and so it doesn't put in that much sodium. You need a small amount of calcium and some extra chloride would be good. See the Primer. A dilution with some RO followed by calcium chloride supplementation would get rid of much of the sodium (and any residual Fe or Mn).

Also my pH meter is telling me the pH was incorrect. My calibrated meter is telling me the pH is 7.81.

Not surprising. Calcium reduces pH a bit but as you are brewing with water from which this has been removed you don't get that benefit. Even with calcium lagers require acid. Again, see the Primer.

 

[Chrisl77]

The water softner was put in to handle the iron and manganese problem with the water, the peroxide injection is only in place to handle any sulphur problems and possible bacteria. In my experience installing water filtration atleast in this area using an oxidizer to remove things like iron is a crap shoot. It could work if the iron is low enough but there are to many variables that can make it not work right. Not to say that something like that would not work in another part of the country but it defiantly does not work well here. Reading the how to brew link really helped me understand what the different minerals do. Gonna read through the primer again hopefully it will make more sense now.