Are additional Ward Lab reports necessary?

[MarkInBuffalo]

I had my water tested four months ago, and things have been going great. I've noticed major changes in my beers after getting into water chemistry. What I'm wondering is at what point, if at all, should I have my tap water re-tested? Could changes in the ions over time be drastic enough to affect current calculations using my current report?

 

[DaleHair]

It depends on your water source. Mine comes from one lake but we have been in a drought for about 18 months and my sulphate has gone from about 50 to 100 ppm. We do get good water reports every month from the water dept.

If your water source isn't stable, you would be better off using RO water.

 

[mchrispen]

I would suggest getting a TDS meter. Measure your water and track it on a spreadsheet monthly. If you see a huge variation over time, then I would retest. TDS seems like it should give you a good indicator that something drastic has occurred in how the water is treated. A TDS meter should be fairly inexpensive...

I am doing this to determine when I need to replace my RO filters.

 

[jeffjm]

It really depends on your water source, as others have said. I've spoken to a rep from our water department who said large variations are possible depending on how high or low the rivers are. If we've had a lot of rain lately, the mineral content is substantially lower than if we've had very little rain and the minerals are more concentrated.

 

[ajdelange]

As has been noted some water supplies vary considerably with season (snow melt, when salt is being put on the roads etc., when the local supply runs low and the utility buys from a neighboring utility) and some vary appreciably as they are blended or selected from different wells. As a first step you might contact your utility and ask them if they have detailed (i.e. month by month) analyses available. Many do. Barring that you can ask if there are variations. The suggestion to check TDS is a good one though we could invent scenarios where the TDS stays the same or nearly the same and yet the water varies appreciably. One step up from the TDS meter would be an alkalinity test kit and two steps up would be alkalinity and hardness test kits. Both are easy to use and are available from companies like Hach and LaMotte or from aquarium hobby suppliers.

You might also ask other brewers on the same supply if they know anything about this.