Water report for Portage County Ohio

[jrodder]

So I am trying to figure out what my water is without needing to send anything off. This is the best I could find online.

http://www.cityofstreetsboro.com/st...artment/uploads/water_quality_report_2012.pdf

I have called and was told that's pretty much it as far as anyone knows. I don't see the items I need in order to figure out mash profile, unless I am missing something? Can anyone here take a look at that pdf and tell me if I am just not seeing it correctly?

 

[unionrdr]

There's a number to call all the way at the bottom of the page for more extensive tests that were done. Ask for what you need to know there. Otherwise,it gives mostly just what's coming out of the ground with the water in general,not the actual constituents of the water. Just all the contaminents.

 

[Xpertskir]

people get all worked up about municipal water profiles but unfortunately they are not that useful.

The ion ranges given are often very large, and they change frequently because most municipalities have a few sources from which they draw and because of rain.

IMO if you want to start worrying about the levels of the different ions in water you need a consistent source to make your efforts worthwhile.

Unfortunately any bottled water(other than distilled) is going to be subject to the same variability. So your only choices are buy distilled water, distill your own water, or using an RO filter to remove ~95% of the ions.

 

[jrodder]

There's a number to call all the way at the bottom of the page for more extensive tests that were done. Ask for what you need to know there. Otherwise,it gives mostly just what's coming out of the ground with the water in general,not the actual constituents of the water. Just all the contaminents.

THANKS! I did indeed miss that number, Portage country resources was able to pull out some dusy books and give me some numbers. I think I have it right, so for anyone else from the area...(crickets)

Calcium and Magnesium weren't broken out, just listed as hardness. 180ish, so I split the number in half for the EZ Water Calculator. Sodium was 129, Chloride was 57.9, sulfate was n/a, and alkalinity was 250.

Looking at that profile with my last recipe (centennial blonde), indeed the mash pH was a bit high. 6.00 in this instance. Do you guys think that would be high enough to get a slight tannin extraction taste?

 

[unionrdr]

Well,PH 5.2 being ideal,it's not that far off. so I wouldn't tend to think it's give that much tannins if the mash water volume wasn't excessive.

 

[jrodder]

I am not even sure what the "off" flavor is. I have been trying to nail it down. It was my first AG attempt, so maybe it had more to do with playing with the mash temps, and uneven fermentation due to my lack of anything but a swamp cooler, rather than the water profile.

It's yet another beer I will drink because I am too cheap to dump it, but certainly nothing I will let anyone else taste.

 

[Yooper]

THANKS! I did indeed miss that number, Portage country resources was able to pull out some dusy books and give me some numbers. I think I have it right, so for anyone else from the area...(crickets)

Calcium and Magnesium weren't broken out, just listed as hardness. 180ish, so I split the number in half for the EZ Water Calculator. Sodium was 129, Chloride was 57.9, sulfate was n/a, and alkalinity was 250.

Looking at that profile with my last recipe (centennial blonde), indeed the mash pH was a bit high. 6.00 in this instance. Do you guys think that would be high enough to get a slight tannin extraction taste?

Yikes! Are you sure sodium is 129? And alkalinity 250? If so, that's not water that is good for brewing. You can dilute with RO water to reduce the sodium.

Ideally, you'd target a mash pH (room temperature) of 5.3.-5.6 but a bit lower or higher is acceptable. 6.0 is way too high for a mash pH. I bet the sparge pH is much higher if the sparge water wasn't acidified.

 

[jrodder]

Yikes! Are you sure sodium is 129? And alkalinity 250? If so, that's not water that is good for brewing. You can dilute with RO water to reduce the sodium.

Ideally, you'd target a mash pH (room temperature) of 5.3.-5.6 but a bit lower or higher is acceptable. 6.0 is way too high for a mash pH. I bet the sparge pH is much higher if the sparge water wasn't acidified.

I was told 250 from the water official, so unless I get it tested, I'll assume its right. Sodium also I pulled from the pdf linked in the OP. There wasn't any sparge, I did BIAB with full volume of something like 9.15 gallons.

The water here is even more confusing and unpredictable, because this area pulls water from 3 different places, 1 of them being Lake Erie. That water obviously is going to be softer in general since it's from aboveground, not aquifer/water table. It looks like I will eventually have to get some kind of filtering system in place to take that unknown out of the equation. I have yet to taste what I would consider a good brew yet, but I haven't done one with pure water, and mineral/salt additions.