Help with water report

[gregkeller]

Alright so I feel like I've got lots of my process down and the last piece of the puzzle, and maybe the most confusing is water chemistry. I guess the easiest and most repeatable process would be to buy distilled water and build it up from there, but I'm wondering if my filtered tap water wouldn't be too hard of a place to start off with. I've been brewing with filtered tap for the past three or four years and have been relatively happy with my beer. Now that my other processes are pretty well ironed out I feel like figuring out the water part of things will take me from good to better.

So here are the major water parameters I got from my water company's annual report. We get our water from four different reservoirs so there is seasonal variation which make things a little more difficult. But any help on starting points would be appreciated.

Alkalinity ppm: 65-188
Calcium : 25-74
Chloride : 62-190
Hardness as caco3: 94-286
Sodium: 36-97
Sulfate: 13-17

So one thing I've noticed is sulfate is low and calcium is low-borderline low. So for the last few beers
I've been using gypsum to adjust calcium and sulfate into ranges that work with the beer I'm brewing. I have been using them in the boil to help with yeast health and hop brightness. I have recently gotten a digital pH meter but have not used it yet. I have tested the pH of my tap water at 7.13 but have read that this isn't too important or as important as the ions in the water as that's what will ultimately affect mash pH. So ultimately I guess I'm wondering if I wan work wig my tap water or should I be building water for each brew. Thanks guys.


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[ajdelange]

... the water part of things will take me from good to better.

Yes, it will.

We get our water from four different reservoirs so there is seasonal variation which make things a little more difficult. But any help on starting points would be appreciated.

Unfortunately, this variability makes things more than a little more difficult. Three to one ratios (except sulfate) means that the waters at the extremes are very different from one another and must be treated substantially differently. You have essentially two options. One is to undertake a full testing program to see if, for example, increased alkalinity (the easiest test) implies increased calcium, chloride and sodium. If it does then, clearly, you can test only alkalinity in the future and know what the other parameters are approximately (and that's usually good enough). If, OTOH, there is poor correlation then you will have to test alkalinity, hardness, chloride and sodium each time you brew. This is not something you want to do (sodium testing, for example, is expensive and a big PITA). If you can't predict the whole profile from a single simple measurement (alkalinity) then your best alternative is to remove the variability by removing the ions i.e. by using RO water. This has a cuole of other advantages: 'treatment' is simple as you are only putting things in, not taking anything out and you have complete and ultimate control over your water chemistry.

Alkalinity ppm: 65-188
Calcium : 25-74
Chloride : 62-190
Hardness as caco3: 94-286
Sodium: 36-97
Sulfate: 13-17

I have recently gotten a digital pH meter but have not used it yet. I have tested the pH of my tap water at 7.13 but have read that this isn't too important or as important as the ions in the water as that's what will ultimately affect mash pH.

If I want to do a detailed analysis of a water sample I need to know its pH but for a rough cut look the alkalinity tells me much more.

So ultimately I guess I'm wondering if I wan work wig my tap water or should I be building water for each brew. Thanks guys.

The RO approach is definitely the easy way out but if the correlation of ions referred to above is favorable and you are willing to do the alkalinity test (not hard to do) and make adjustments depending on what it tells you each time you brew it would be possible to work with the water you have.