My water seems to produce good beer. However I'm going to play with basic water chemistry to see if I can improve the results. I have a friend that works in a water analysis laboratory, whose customers are generally companies that need to regulate water pollution. She provided me with a free (but very basic) water report.
My water is well water that runs through a water softener.
pH: 7.7 su (what does su mean... standard units?)
Hardness: 294 mg/L as CaCO3
Alkalinity: 55 mg/L as CaCO3
Conductivity: 662 nano siemens/cm
Though this doesn't provide a description of the mineral content, I figure it should help me start dialing in dilutions with distilled water with might help improve my beer. The way I see it, AJDelange has the most straight forward approach for my situation.
I am considering diluting with either spring water or distilled water 1:1 and using acidulated malts to ball park mash pH (for beers featuring less specialty grains. Also, at this point more "stuff" is out of the question. Not going to buy a pH meter for a while.)
I am not sure how much calcium is in my water, therefore I was considering not adding any and seeing what happens... I know I should pay for a real water report, but I have a hard time shelling out for that at the moment.
Any thoughts out there?
Thanks in advance
My water is well water that runs through a water softener.
pH: 7.7 su (what does su mean... standard units?)
Hardness: 294 mg/L as CaCO3
Alkalinity: 55 mg/L as CaCO3
Conductivity: 662 nano siemens/cm
Though this doesn't provide a description of the mineral content, I figure it should help me start dialing in dilutions with distilled water with might help improve my beer. The way I see it, AJDelange has the most straight forward approach for my situation.
I am considering diluting with either spring water or distilled water 1:1 and using acidulated malts to ball park mash pH (for beers featuring less specialty grains. Also, at this point more "stuff" is out of the question. Not going to buy a pH meter for a while.)
I am not sure how much calcium is in my water, therefore I was considering not adding any and seeing what happens... I know I should pay for a real water report, but I have a hard time shelling out for that at the moment.
Any thoughts out there?
Thanks in advance