[chargerssb]

Hello there,

I was playing around with the water adjustment calculator on www.brewersfriend.com and was trying to figure out how to read the water report from the city.  Do I use the surface water readings or groundwater etc.  The calculator is using calcium (Ca+2), Magnesium (Mg+2), Sulfates (SO4-2), Sodium (Na+), Chloride (Cl-), and Bicarbonate / Alkalinity.

I couldn't figure out how to get the report posted as pictures, but here is the link:
http://www.goletawater.com/assets/documents/water_quality/10.6-Goleta_CCR_webFINAL.pdf

[tschmidlin]

Unless you know for sure if your water comes from one or the other, you're kind of stuck.  It's tricky because you most likely are getting some blend of surface and groundwater, and it probably varies throughout the year.  You could take a sample and send it to Ward labs and just assume that is what you will always have, or you could assume a mixture of 50/50 surface/ground water, and use an average of the two values.  Neither is really a great choice, but it's what you've got.

By the way, I recommend Bru'n Water.

[hopfenundmalz]

Tom has good advice, get a copy of Bru'n Water.  It has worked very well for my last  2 batches.

[mabrungard]

This situation is appropriate for getting the GH and KH test kits for hardness and alkalinity testing as Kai recommends.  If the water quality for those water sources is that different, it would be helpful to be able to test the water quickly on each brew day.  Bru'n Water includes some guidance on this testing, but Kai has much more experience with it.

[chargerssb]

Yeah, I have no idea which one the tap water comes from.  I'll check out Bru'N Water.  At this point I am still doing extract steeping specialty grains; so I don't think I need to be too worried about water composition.  I just across that website and was looking around.  Thanks .

[tschmidlin]

Remember that extract already has ions in it - I would not add anything to the water at all if I was just steeping grains, and you might even consider adding distilled water if you can get a good idea of the water used to make the extract.  It's something to keep in the back of your head if you've dialed in everything else but are still not happy with your beer.

[mabrungard]

If tap water has elevated alkalinity (bicarbonate), then it becomes more important to consider using distilled or RO water since the extract already has its minerals in it as Tom points out.  The alkalinity will dull the flavor and perception of an extract based brew.

[chargerssb]

Interesting, I didn't know that about extract.  I typically have 2.5-3 gallons in my boil kettle and then top up to 5 gallons in the fermenter after the wort is chilled.  Maybe I will start topping off with distilled water instead of tap.  Put it in the fridge and add to the wort when cooling to help bring down temps faster. 

[mabrungard]

Just remember that your hop utilization is going to change if you're reserving that water until after the boil.  Its OK to do it either way.