Got a water report, now the hard bit!

[Baz Chaz]

Just got this report from United Utilities, we get our water from Haweswater Reservoir, just need to work out how to interpret it! Checking out the beginners guide, could be a long evening, pouring beer shortly!

Analysis	Typical value	UK/EU limit	Units
Hardness Level	Soft
Hardness Clarke	1.68		Clarke
Aluminium	<24.0	200	µg Al/l
Calcium	7.97		mg Ca/l
Residual chlorine - Total	0.79		mg/l
Residual chlorine - Free	0.75		mg/l
Coliform bacteria	0	0	number/100ml
Colour	<1.34	20	mg/l Pt/Co scale
Conductivity	66.1	2500	uS/cm at 20oC
Copper	<0.0036	2	mg Cu/l
E.coli	0	0	number/100ml
Iron	<9.43	200	µg Fe/l
Lead	<0.950	10	µg Pb/l
Magnesium	0.929		mg Mg/l
Manganese	<1.31	50	µg Mn/l
Nitrate	<2.08	50	mg NO3/l
Sodium	<4.75	200	mg Na/l

 

[Horners]

Not sutre you'll get far with that mate - is that all they've got? No mention of sulphates, chlorides, alkalinity

 

[Baz Chaz]

The summary was enough for me ..... @Horners ... I've just looked at the full report version after your post.....
sorry, chemistry was never a strong point ....

My current method, brew beer, bottle beer, taste beer, beer good .... carry on brewing, not failed me yet in nigh on 50 years ! I was honestly interested in seeing if I needed any water treatment for brewing, but think I'll just keep to my old method!

ParameterMinAverageMaxUnitsRegulatorySamples
Alkalinity as CaCO312.314.015.1mg/l90
Aluminium10.7<24.0<33.7µg Al/l200500
Ammonium (ammonia and ammonium ions)<0.0077<0.0334<0.0540mg NH4/l0.560
Antimony<0.140<0.307<0.440µg Sb/l590
Arsenic0.1200.1660.220µg As/l1090
Benzene<0.0471<0.127<0.157µg/l1360
Benzo(a)pyrene<0.0010<0.0018<0.0020µg/l0.0180
Boron0.0034<0.01020.0182mg B/l1340
Bromate<0.0910<0.112<0.120µg BrO3/l1070
Cadmium<0.0300<0.0722<0.100µg Cd/l590
Calcium5.727.979.50mg Ca/l500Chloride4.25<6.13<7.61mg Cl/l250360
Chromium0.0900<0.131<0.160µg Cr/l5090
Residual chlorine - Total0.400.791.03mg/l1330
Residual chlorine - Free0.330.750.96mg/l1330
Colony counts after 3 days at 22 deg C001number/1ml450
Coliform bacteria000number/100ml01330
Colour0.710<1.34<2.16mg/l Pt/Co scale20500
Conductivity60.066.171.6uS/cm at 20oC2500450
Copper<0.0032<0.00360.0048mg Cu/l240
Clostridium perfringens (including spores)000number/100ml080
Clopyralid<0.0080<0.0109<0.0120µg/l0.1350
Cyanide<0.698<2.55<3.91µg CN/l503501,2-dichloroethane<0.138<0.370<0.459µg/l3360E.coli000number/100ml01330
Enterococci000number/100ml070
Fluoride<0.0100<0.01490.0700mg F/l1.5700
Glyphosate<0.0079<0.00860.0181µg/l0.1350
Hardness Total as CaCO3182428mg CaCO3/l500Iron<2.82<9.4323.5µg
Fe/l200500Lead<0.950<0.950<0.950µg Pb/l1040
Magnesium0.8800.9291.00mg Mg/l500
Manganese<0.490<1.313.98µg Mn/l50500
Mercury<0.0150<0.04200.150µg Hg/l1330
Nickel<1.07<1.07<1.07µg Ni/l2040
Nitrite<0.0016<0.0072<0.0115mg NO2/l0.580
Nitrate1.02<2.08<3.10mg NO3/l5080(Nitrate)/50 plus (nitrite)/30.00300.01630.0210mg/l180Odour (quantitative)000dilution number at 25oC0450
Total organic carbon0.7100.9941.76mg C/l340
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (sum of 4 PAHs)0.00000.00000.0000µg/l0.180
Pesticides - Total0.00000.00040.0181µg/l0.5510Hydrogen ion (pH)7.147.397.79pH value9.5960Selenium<0.0500<0.138<0.200µg Se/l1090Sodium4.26<4.75<5.07mg Na/l20070
Sulphate6.508.3514.4mg SO4/l250350Taste (quantitative)000dilution number at 25oC0450
Tetrachloromethane<0.0152<0.0492<0.0600µg/l380
Trihalomethanes - Total13.519.632.1µg/l10080
Tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene0.00000.00000.0000µg/l1080
Turbidity<0.05<0.160.36NTU450

 

[buddsy]

1, Read this. Water Treatment ( The main info in the first couple of posts )
2, Add 1/2 Campden Tablet
3, Buy Salifert KH/Alk test kit & Salifert Ca test kit
4, Thank @strange-steve

Easy! :-)

buddsy

 

[Baz Chaz]

@buddsy

Already been reading through the posts by @strange-steve .... going to have another go at them tomorrow !

Edited bit ..... Next morning .... have had another read through the posts by @strange-steve - not as scary as first seemed!
Our water quality seems pretty good, just need to make a few notes and see where I get to.

 

[Kveik Freak]

Sodium metabisulphite is cheaper than campden tablets for dechlorination if you have an accurate set of scales. Dose at 0.1g/ 5L for dechlorination

 

[RichardM]

Sodium metabisulphite is cheaper than campden tablets for dechlorination if you have an accurate set of scales. Dose at 0.1g/ 5L for dechlorination

At £3 for 100 campden tablets, using 0.5 tablets per brew works out at 0.67pence per brew. Is that really something we need to worry about saving money on?

 

[Saisonator]

Looks like you are low in everything, ideal brewing water.

 

[buddsy]

@buddsy
.... have had another read through the posts by @strange-steve - not as scary as first seemed!

Hi thats what I found. I saw the size of the thread and prepared myself for a long read but was surprised to find it wasn't as feared.

At the end of the day you've been brewing perfectly drinkable beer with the water you have so anything you do to improve can only be a plus

I made my first adjustment to my last brew. Campden tablet and I used some CRS (AMS) to reduce my alkalinity from 228 to 20ppm

buddsy

 

[Kveik Freak]

At £3 for 100 campden tablets, using 0.5 tablets per brew works out at 0.67pence per brew. Is that really something we need to worry about saving money on?

Maybe not, but if you have sodium metabisulphite and a set of scales anyway, why have the tablets taking up space?

 

[Clint]

Maybe not, but if you have sodium metabisulphite and a set of scales anyway, why have the tablets taking up space?

What size are the tablets? Mine are about 5mm or so across and the tub takes as much space as a matchbox..

 

[Kveik Freak]

What size are the tablets? Mine are about 5mm or so across and the tub takes as much space as a matchbox..

I don't have any tablets. Prefer to just use up what I've got. I had a tub of the metabisulphite left over from something else so I'm just using it up. It's going to take a while lol. I'm measuring out salts anyway at that point so I doubt it's any more hassle than splitting a tablet.

Anyway, a bit more on topic, that's an incredibly soft water profile! I thought mine was soft but, wow! Baz Chaz, you are a lucky brewer.Sounds like whatever you are doing is working fine.

I can tell you from my own experience that if you try kveik yeast in a lower ABV brew (by Norwegian standards, so >8%) you'll find it drops the pH more than you'd expect and thins the beer out big time if you don't have enough salts in the wort to buffer it. Keeping the calcium concentration at 100-200ppm is doing the trick for me so far.