water treating

[Cobby1986]

I have brewed few beers now even though I like the beer I have done so far I was thinking of how I can make some improvements, (to make more professional like). One idea I had was with my water as I hear that the water in my area is hard water and truth be told it is not nice water to drink. I found a report from my water provider which I have copied below and I was wondering how I should go about treating my water if anything. If it helps I am from Milton Keynes UK.

282.5 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium Carbonate
113 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium
2.825 mmol/l :Millimoles


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ajdelange]

282.5 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium Carbonate doesn't say much because we don't know 282.5 ppm of what. That only means there are 5.65 mEq/L of something but we need to know what. It could be the alkalinity but then again it could be total hardness. OTOH the 2.825 mmol/L is 5.65 mEq/L so that is just a repeat of the first number but still doesn't say what it is. The calcium is clear, however and no, that is not terribly hard. A brewer also wants to know pH, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, chloride, sodium, potassium iron and manganese (if there is any to speak of). If you cannot get these data from the supplier you will have to have the water tested by a laboratory.

 

[clickondan]

Cobby1986, what's your full postcode? (example MK1 1BB). Myself or someone else here might be able to find more info to help you out.

 

[ajdelange]

After another look I realized that all three numbers are characterizing the calcium.
282.5 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium Carbonate is the calcium hardness

113 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium is the calcium in mg/L and

2.825 mmol/l :Millimoles is the number of millimoles of calcium/L.

So add alkalinity to the list of things you need to know.