Water analysis and treatment

[Martybhoy]

I recently got my water report, and would appreciate some feedback if anyone has any comments or suggestions.

Sodium - 4.8ppm
Potassium - <0.5ppm
Magnesium - 0.5ppm
Calcium - 10.8ppm
Chloride - 7.5ppm
Nitrate - <0.5ppm
Phosphate - 1.2ppm
Sulphate - 20.1ppm
Total alkalinity (CaCO3) - 7ppm

pH - 7.68

Total residual Chlorine - 0.01ppm

I normally treat my water with a Campden tablet, half a teaspoon of gypsum, and a pinch of Epsom salts.

If I'm wrong doing this, or there's something else I should be doing, I'd very much appreciate some help.

Cheers.

 

[user 18729]

You've basically got a blank slate for brewing. You're water is perfect in that you can brew lagers with out diluting with RO water and as you've been doing already, adjust the mineral content with salts depending on which style you're after.
Personally I use Brewnwater for all my brewing which is brilliant. Just type in your water report, add the grain bill and it calculates exactly what additions you need for your desired mash PH

 

[MiddleRoom]

How do you get a water report? Do you just speak to your supplier?

 

[Martybhoy]

Mozza - cheers for that. I'll check out Brewnwater. I used the forum calculator last night. Good for beginners like me 😁😁😁

Middleroom - I used a guy recommended on here, Neil Williams. £25. If you, or anyone wants his email, just DM me. Can't fault the guys service.

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[Simonh82]

As Mozza says, this is a perfect blank slate water profile. For pale ales, your gypsum and epsom salts additions are what you want. If you were going for a malty beer you might want some calcium chloride instead.

If you were making a dark beer you would need to be careful that the mash pH didn't get too low, so you may need to use some bicarbonate of soda to increase the pH. Brew'n'Water will give you everything you need to know.

 

[blawford]

How do you get a water report? Do you just speak to your supplier?

You often can get a report from your supplier, I can get mine from their website without contacting them. Won't be as good as one you pay for obviously but probably a good starting point.

 

[Badseed1974]

Are you in Glasgow by any chance Marty?

 

[Martybhoy]

Close enough mate: Irvine. You?

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[Badseed1974]

Close enough mate: Irvine. You?

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Aye, Glasgow here, just asking as I imagine my water report will be the same as yours :)

 

[MiddleRoom]

You often can get a report from your supplier, I can get mine from their website without contacting them. Won't be as good as one you pay for obviously but probably a good starting point.

Thanks mate. I'll look into this. I've recently moved, and never cared much about water treatment before, but since I've read more into it I've realised its importance.

 

[trueblue]

You often can get a report from your supplier, I can get mine from their website without contacting them. Won't be as good as one you pay for obviously but probably a good starting point.

A problem with water company reports are they are very generic and will give you a mean average taken over a set period and will cover a whole area that includes your address. A fellow brewer lives around 5 miles from me and several years back we both asked for reports from the water company a couple of weeks apart. Both reports were the same. A couple years back we both sent samples to Neil Williams and were surprised how different they were. Not wildly different but enough to mean we needed slightly different treatment. I since get mine tested once a year and again there are subtle differences. My big worry with water company reports is they may be to misleading for what we need.