Mixed Source Southern California Water Chemistry

[BlackGoat]

region-specific question here: in southern CA we import much of our water, but still pump groundwater. This can vary quite a bit during the year, resulting in changing water chemistry depending on how they happen to be blending our domestic water at any given time. The result is that our water quality reports give separate columns for imported water (MWD) and groundwater. As I'm starting to make the leap toward dealing with my brewing water, I'm wondering how brewers have approached this issue, whether here or elsewhere?

In case anyone cares to see it to get an idea of what I'm talking about, here is a link to my water district's annual report: http://www.irwd.com/images/pdf/water-sewer/IRWD2013WQR.pdf

 

[ajdelange]

Variable water supplies are a big problem for brewers because a water report while it does represent the water at the time the sample was drawn does not necessarily represent the water today. Depending on how frequently or infrequently the utility shifts supplies it may be necessary to test before each brew session. The alternative is to wipe out the variation in ion levels by wiping out the ions IOW by processing the water through an RO, DI, or RO/DI system.

 

[BlackGoat]

So it sounds like I need to move over to start using RO water. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[241]

So it sounds like I need to move over to start using RO water. Thanks for the feedback!

A lot of times Wal Mart has those RO water fountains. Bring a carboy or two with caps and have at it