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Author Topic: Post your water report  (Read 195331 times)

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #30 on: April 25, 2010, 08:09:40 pm »
Good site Gail.  I think I bookmarked this one off of the HBD a long time ago.

http://mineralwaters.org/

I used to drink Selters and Gerolsteiner when I lived in Germany.  Those have some minerals.  :o
Jeff Rankert
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Offline gail

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #31 on: April 26, 2010, 06:25:53 am »
That's a lotta waters on that site, Jeff!  Curiously, they list ppm of Uranium and I got to wondering how much Uranium is OK...
I know a few good brewers who use bottled water (Poland Spring) and have done great beers with it.  It is especially easy on days like National Homebrew Day when you're lugging all your stuff to brew somewhere other than home.  Now that I'm learning more about brewing with straight RO, I'm less hesitant to use 100% RO in a brew and add some minerals back in.  RO is really cheap next to a "name" water.  However, I talked a little with Gordon Strong about this recently and he said his Kroger RO had hardness approaching 80 ppm but the water from his area is ridiculously hard so the RO is just perfectly manageable.  I always assumed that RO was almost mineral free but maybe Kroger's filters just don't get changed often enough?  That makes me curious about an analysis of other RO waters that are easily purchased at a local grocery.
Anyone have any info about this?

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #32 on: April 26, 2010, 08:09:16 am »
Gail, the water in many parts of Germany is hard.  There is are several hot springs in Weisbaden that you can drink from.  One had its mineral content listed, and the Na and Cl levels were very high, both around 2000 ppm if I remember correctly.  The Strontium level was high enough that there was a warning to drink no more than 1 liter per day! 

The RO water I buy is from Culligan machines at Meijer's in Wixom.  These tested at <1 ppm for all the minerals.  Feedwater is Detroit City water.  RO takes out about 98% of the minerals, so 2-3 ppm would be reasonable for a reading.  Gordon must have hard source water and a machine at Kroger that needs to be serviced.
Jeff Rankert
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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #33 on: April 26, 2010, 11:24:45 am »
Eau Claire WI

ALKALINITY,TOTAL   91   MG/L
HARDNESS, TOTAL (CAC03)   110   MG/L
PH   8.89   SU                   

CALCIUM   30   MG/L
MAGNESIUM   8.5   MG/L
SODIUM   8.5   MG/L
CHLORIDE   19   MG/L
SULFATE   5.8   MG/L
Na Zdravie

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http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com

Offline novafire

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #34 on: April 26, 2010, 02:46:03 pm »
Verona, WI

pH                                 7.7

Sodium, Na                    13 ppm
Potassium, K                    1 ppm
Calcium, Ca                   78 ppm
Magnesium, Mg             46 ppm
Total Hardness, CaCO3  387 ppm
Nitrate, NO3-N               4.8 (SAFE) ppm
Sulfate, SO4-S                 6 ppm
Chloride, Cl                    36 ppm
Carbonate, CO3             <1 ppm
Bicarbonate, HCO3       358 ppm
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3  293 ppm
Fluoride, F                   1.31 ppm
Total Iron, Fe             < 0.01 ppm

Offline gail

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #35 on: April 26, 2010, 07:06:32 pm »
...the water in many parts of Germany is hard.  There is are several hot springs in Weisbaden that you can drink from.  One had its mineral content listed, and the Na and Cl levels were very high, both around 2000 ppm if I remember correctly.  The Strontium level was high enough that there was a warning to drink no more than 1 liter per day!  

The RO water I buy is from Culligan machines at Meijer's in Wixom.  These tested at <1 ppm for all the minerals.  Feedwater is Detroit City water.  RO takes out about 98% of the minerals, so 2-3 ppm would be reasonable for a reading.  Gordon must have hard source water and a machine at Kroger that needs to be serviced.
All the more reason to stick to the beer in Germany...yikes...
As far as the Kroger RO goes, I guess if one really wants to depend on Kroger water, they should do as you did with Meijer water and test it to see.  I was truly blown away by those stats but the source water was ridiculously hard...unbrewable really...and he's won a couple of ribbons so I guess that Kroger water is working for him (once he knew how much hardness was remaining, just as you have done).  Got to know and understand your water (maybe a lifelong process).
BTW, still working on obtaining a new mineral analysis from Detroit/Dearborn.

« Last Edit: April 26, 2010, 07:16:05 pm by gail »

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #36 on: April 27, 2010, 05:17:27 am »
Gail,

"and he's won a couple of ribbons"

That is very true, in an understated way.

Jeff
Jeff Rankert
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Home-brewing, not just a hobby, it is a lifestyle!

Offline daubon

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #37 on: April 27, 2010, 11:16:01 am »
How do I insert an image. I tried using the "Insert Image" button but it only inserts the text:"img/img" in square brackets ???

Offline dbeechum

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #38 on: April 27, 2010, 11:17:40 am »
You have to put a URL for the image in between those brackets. The pictures need to be hosted on a picture sharing site or your own site.
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Offline daubon

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #39 on: April 27, 2010, 02:40:52 pm »
On the first page of the water reports someone included what seems like a JPEG in the middle of the Text.  How's that done?

Offline dbeechum

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #40 on: April 27, 2010, 02:53:17 pm »
They stored the image on a remote server (in this case the url is http://lh3.ggpht.com/_BGa2L64KQdY/S7juNyunL1I/AAAAAAAAADY/0RW5ACRhctw/s640/water_report.png)

And then pasted that url between the img brackets.
Drew Beechum - Maltosefalcons.com
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Offline daubon

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #41 on: April 27, 2010, 03:01:34 pm »
Ok then.  I guess I'll just transcribe it.

Thanks for your time.

Pepe

Offline euge

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #42 on: April 27, 2010, 04:31:48 pm »
Pepe if you have a gmail account then you can store images in the picasa web albums.
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Offline bbump22

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #43 on: April 29, 2010, 05:18:58 pm »
DOWNTOWN, SEATTLE, WA

pH, range 7.86 - 8.49
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 43

Sodium, Na 1.86
Potassium, K .24
Calcium, Ca 21.8
Magnesium, Mg .80
Total Hardness, CaCO3 25
Nitrate, NO3-N .074
Sulfate, SO4-S Not Detected
Chloride, Cl 3
 Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 18.1
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

Honestly, I am still not sure what this all means though - next thing to do is re-read palmer's section on pH and water.  I have pH strips at home, thats a good start!
mmmm....beer

Offline richardt

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Re: Post your water report
« Reply #44 on: April 30, 2010, 09:39:25 am »
bbump22--
You're where I was about 3 months ago.  Don't give up--you're well on your way to understanding how to make 95% of your beer (the water)taste better.

Here's what I'd suggest:

For those who want to delve into it more, there are numerous forums (i.e., AHA) and articles online (John Palmer's "How to Brew" and deLange's Alkalinity articles are superb). It is a lot of chemistry and it does take a while to get the concepts, particularly when they're buried in a bunch of equations (I like that JP proves his recommendations, but it does make my eyes glass over). Greg Noonan's book (New Brewing Lager Beer, Brewers Publications, 1996) has 40 pages on water treatment alone.

Bottom line:
Figure out your water profile for where you live.
Figure out what water profile you need for the style of beer you're brewing. I used BeerSmith.
Get an inline activated charcoal water filter (the RV filters are about 20-25 bucks at Walmart in the car section)and hook that up to your hose--keep the flow rate low. Get a small plastic hose shut-off valve attachment at HD for a buck-fifty so you can control it better than the spigot by the house.
Get some water cooler jugs (empty ones are about 7 bucks at Walmart and they come with caps). The water supply places like Culligan can do the same. RO water is just 30 cents a gallon at Publix. The amount of distilled or RO water versus local water varies by water profile required by the recipe. Adjust accordingly.
Buy your brew salt additions.  Yes, get them all—the 5 major ones are chalk, gypsum, calcium chloride, baking soda, and Epson Salt. The last two you might be able to find at the store, but the first three, and any others, you'll need to go to your LHBS or online. They're not expensive, at all—usually less than 4 bucks for 4 ounces.
Buy a scale to measure very minute amounts of salts—usually less than 20 bucks online.
These are good brewing water chemistry websites to check out if you want to do the calculations and you don't have BeerSmith.
http://braukaiser.com/documents/Kaiser_ ... ulator.xls

http://howtobrew.com/section3/Palmers_Mash_RA_ver2d.xls

http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

http://www.byo.com/images/stories/vpb_water_witch.xls

« Last Edit: April 30, 2010, 09:50:36 am by richardt »