New Brewing Water, Makes Ya Jump

Posted on by

I recently had my tapwater analyzed by the good folks at Ward Labs.  To quote Kris Kros, it’s “wiggida wiggida wack.”  (yes, that just happened).

Kriss-Kross

Details:

  • pH: 7.7
  • TDS: 328
  • conductivy: .55
  • Cations / Anions: 5.9/5.7
  • Sodium: 40
  • Potassium: 1
  • Calcium: 57
  • Magnesium: 15
  • Total Hardness CaCO3: 205
  • Nitrate NO3-N: 1.0
  • Sulfate So4-S: 16
  • Chloride: 80
  • Carbonate: <1
  • Bicarbonate 144
  • Total Alkalinity CaCO3: 118
  • Phosphorus: .47
  • Iron: <.01

All units PPM.

What does all of this mean?  Well, I’m working on that….

The short answer is that I’m going to have trouble brewing with this water- especially beers without much darker specialty malts- without doing quite a bit of chemical modification.   That modification will consist of 1) diluting with reverse-osmosis or distilled water 2) adding some type of acid to bring the pH down, and or 3) adding some of a variety of brewing salts.

To be continued….