Just trying to gather some incite on how to best treat this water to make it more suitable for brewing. Below is the latest report. How would you treat it? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjDesgFfYoGIdE5TTnJpdXBvNzhCNi1KOG8zdjlFa1E#gid=0 Thanks, Kyle
METROPOLITAN UTILITIES DISTRICT OF OMAHA REPORT OF WATER ANALYSIS Platte Plant SouthMonthly Averages Source:Finished WaterDate:May 2014 Temperature10.0o CCations : Turbidity (NTU)0.06Units Calcium (Ca)42mg/L Total Organic Carbon2.0mg/L Magnesium (Mg)14mg/L Color1Units Sodium (Na)59mg/L Dissolved Oxygen (O2)5.7mg/L Potassium (K)8mg/L Langelier Index1.33 UV-ABS @ 254 nm5.0ABS/mAnions : Specific Conductance @ 25 oC550mmhos Bicarbonate (HCO3)122mg/L Total Dissolved Solids432mg/L Carbonate (CO3)18.0mg/L Hydroxide (OH)<0.1mg/L Silica (SiO2)33.1mg/L Fluoride (F)0.80mg/L Chloride (Cl)45mg/L pH9.16mg/L Bromide(Br)mg/L Nitrite (NO2)0.67mg/L Alkalinity (CaCO3) Nitrate (NO3)2.53mg/L Phenolphthalein (P)15mg/L Phosphate-ortho(PO4)0.22mg/L Total (M)130mg/L Sulfate (SO4)86mg/L Total Hardness (CaCO3)165mg/L Carbonate130mg/LTrace Inorganics : Non-carbonate35mg/L Aluminum (Al)< 0.01mg/L Copper (Cu)< 0.01mg/L Nitrogen (N) Iron (Fe)0.16mg/L Ammoniamg/L Lithium (Li)0.02mg/L Nitrite0.21mg/L Manganese (Mn)< 0.01mg/L Nitrate0.57mg/L Strontium (Sr)0.30mg/L Zinc (Zn)< 0.01mg/L Chlorine (Cl2) Free Residual0.00mg/L Antimony (Sb)< 1.0mg/L Total Residual2.50mg/L Arsenic (As)5.22mg/L Barium (Ba)71.4mg/L Surfactants (MBAS)mg/L Beryllium (Be)< 1.0mg/L Cadmium (Cd)< 1.0mg/L Radioactivity : Chromium (Cr)< 1.0mg/L Gross Alpha & BetapCi/L Lead (Pb)< 1.0mg/L Iodine 131pCi/L Mercury (Hg)-mg/L Radium 226pCi/L Nickel (Ni)< 1.0mg/L Strontium 90pCi/L Selenium (Se)< 5.0mg/L TritiumpCi/L Thallium (Tl)< 1.0mg/L Bacteriological Quality : Distribution SystemOrganics : Meets U.S.E.P.A. drinking water standards: Atrazine<0.08mg/L T. Coli - 0.00%; E. Coli - Absent Metolachlor<0.10mg/L Giardia - N.D. Cryptosporidium - N.D. Chris Griesman Water Analyst
That's a pretty serious water report! I'm not a pro in this area, but it looks pretty manageable. It's not too hard for a lot of styles, but you may have to back it down for lighter styles. You'll want to add sulfate to hoppy beers. Others might be able to find red flags.
This is your tap water, so I figure it is suitable for human consumption, then you just need to concentrate in regards the minerals that are important for brewing. You need to pay attention to these ions : Calcium : 42mg/L Magnesium : 14mg/L Sodium : 59mg/L Chloride : 45mg/L Sulfate : 86mg/L Bicarbonates : 122mg/L Also is very important this water Alkalinity=101 and Residual Alkalinity =62 I think it is a very good water !!!!!!!!! . You only need to add some calcium chloride to raise calcium and chloride content to get more than 50 mg/l of calcium and to balance sulfates, in case you brewed IPAs you will need to add both CaCl and SO4Cl. To brew very dark beers addition of CaCo and/or Baking Soda will be necessary. But it is important that you understand all these issues, I xtremely advise you to start here : http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html
Due to the 18 mg/L of carbonates, the effective alkalinity of this water is a bit higher than 101. It is more like (122 + 2* 18)/1.22 = 129 (as CaCO3).
From Bru´n water : 122X0.83=101 I am sorry , maybe you can 'erklaren' us what does it mean ´effective alkalinity´ .
Carbonate and bicarbonate both contribute to alkalinity. In most water the amount of carbonates is so small that the alkalinity is practically al due to bicarbonates; hence it is often ok to neglect the carbonate concentration. Because the carbonate charge is -2 its contribution/ion is twice that of bicarbonate, which has a charge of -1. This water report has a bicarbonate concentration of 122 mg/L and a carbonate concentration of 18 mg/L. Hence the equation (122 + 2*18)/1.22 = (122 + 2*18)*0.83. BTW, I have not taken into account the difference in mass of the bicarbonate and carbonate ions in the formula, but this is negligible.
Ok, so according an Effective Alkalinity of 129 we get a higher RA of 91 wich indicates this water is not very suitable for pales beers. Using 5 kg of base malt without any salt addition mash Ph would be 5.8, a bit high.
