My Water Story
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:30 pm
A long time ago I had my tap-water tested by my local water treatment facility. They did some testing at my house, and the rest back at their lab. The results were as follows:
pH - 7.65
Chlorine (Total) - 1.9 mg/L
Alkalinity - 140 mg/L
Dissolved Solids - 346 mg/L
Dissolved Oxygen - 11.14 mg/L
Hardness (Calcium) - 110 mg/L
Hardness (Total) - 226 mg/l
Fluoride - .266 mg/L
Manganese - .027 mg/L
Total Organic Carbon - 4.07
Since these values didn't do me much good, I pretty much forgot about it. I thought I might send a sample to Ward Labs, but never followed through. Well, with all this Borg-talk about water (and mash-pH), my interest was rekindled. So, I recently gave the chief chemist a call and explained what info I actually needed for the brewing software I was using. She did some calculations and provided the following information:
Calcium (Ca) - 110 mg/L
Magnesium (Mg) - 76 mg/L
Sodium (Na) - 50 mg/L
Sulfate (SO4) - 108 mg/L
Chloride (Cl) - 33 mg/L
Alkalinity - 140 mg/L
So now I'm all pumped up because I have a good starting point to modify my water using the ez water calculator. But, then she dropped the bomb on me. She said my water source might change from time to time (unannounced), and when that happens the numbers would change. Well crap! So, I have decided to just use RO water and build my own water profiles for future brews.
For the past few brews, I have diluted my tap water with RO water, and I have added lactic acid to bring my mash pH down into the proper range for my BIABs. Since doing so, I have been achieving 78% mash efficiency with no sparge. Before, I would generally achieve 70% - 73% with a sparge. I picked up some Calcium Chloride and Gypsum at my LHBS yesterday, so I'll be using 100% RO water for all future brews.
Thanks for listening.
pH - 7.65
Chlorine (Total) - 1.9 mg/L
Alkalinity - 140 mg/L
Dissolved Solids - 346 mg/L
Dissolved Oxygen - 11.14 mg/L
Hardness (Calcium) - 110 mg/L
Hardness (Total) - 226 mg/l
Fluoride - .266 mg/L
Manganese - .027 mg/L
Total Organic Carbon - 4.07
Since these values didn't do me much good, I pretty much forgot about it. I thought I might send a sample to Ward Labs, but never followed through. Well, with all this Borg-talk about water (and mash-pH), my interest was rekindled. So, I recently gave the chief chemist a call and explained what info I actually needed for the brewing software I was using. She did some calculations and provided the following information:
Calcium (Ca) - 110 mg/L
Magnesium (Mg) - 76 mg/L
Sodium (Na) - 50 mg/L
Sulfate (SO4) - 108 mg/L
Chloride (Cl) - 33 mg/L
Alkalinity - 140 mg/L
So now I'm all pumped up because I have a good starting point to modify my water using the ez water calculator. But, then she dropped the bomb on me. She said my water source might change from time to time (unannounced), and when that happens the numbers would change. Well crap! So, I have decided to just use RO water and build my own water profiles for future brews.
For the past few brews, I have diluted my tap water with RO water, and I have added lactic acid to bring my mash pH down into the proper range for my BIABs. Since doing so, I have been achieving 78% mash efficiency with no sparge. Before, I would generally achieve 70% - 73% with a sparge. I picked up some Calcium Chloride and Gypsum at my LHBS yesterday, so I'll be using 100% RO water for all future brews.
Thanks for listening.