Water chemistry variability

Wow, that's pretty darn variable. Yes, of course take Vikeman's and hopfen's advice. (I really meant it when I said I didn't want to pour over your numbers).

I do brew quite a few hop forward beers. Should I ever have an issue... well, for now I'll just bury my head in this handy sand-pile and then everything will be fine.

 

RO is the reliable way to go. Depends on how curious you are about your water (I'd be curious since you drink it and cook with it. Minerals affect taste in more than just beer). Looking at your very limited data, it appears that you have high chloride in the colder part of the year. This could be due to heavy use of road salt for deicing that ends up in the river. So you might want to graph minerals vs weather too (super geeky)! Or just go RO...

I am so grateful for my soft, soft well water.

 

Get a report from the utility. Ask them nicely for the brewing ions, those in the Ward reports above. Some utilities don't test for them, as those are not legally required.

 

I wouldn't assume that. Also, it's not just your "flavor" ions that are changing. Your total alkalinity (important in mash pH) is all over the place too.

 

Is it your opinion / experience there's little varibility in water from a well?

Had my well water tested in winter.
Have wondered whether it should also be tested in summer.

 

It would depend on the depth and geologic strata.

 

Our well water is pretty consistent, thanks to constant excessive precipitation - it overflows about 360 days a year. It is 65ft into fractured bedrock, which is exposed about 10ft from the wellhead, and on a pretty steep slope. All the surrounding higher ground is state forest, so no contamination other than wildlife.

Unless your well is very shallow or close to a river, it's probably pretty consistent too

 

There is an easy titration for chloride and a gravimetric method for sulfate. But unless you have access to a lab or already have reagents and equipment, it would be expensive.

These test strips can give you ballpark numbers for chloride: http://www.hach.com/chloride-quantab-test-strips-30-600-mg-l/product?id=7640211602

There are sulfate test strips as well, but they seem less accurate.

 

Where I go the RO machine is by Culligan. It easily fits 5 gallon carboys. I don't think my 6.5 gallon would fit.

 

This thread inspired me to contact Minneapolis Water, they were very helpful. E-mailed me a list with the maximum and minimum numbers for the entire year 2013. Interesting stuff.

RECORD OF DATA FOR THE YEAR 2013

PLANT EFFLUENT WATER ANALYSIS


PARTS PER MILLION


CHEMICAL ELEMENT SYMBOL MAXIMUM/MINIMUM/AVERAGE


Silica SiO2 10.5 6.7 8.3

Aluminum Al 0.08 <0.01 0.03

Calcium Ca 33.1 14.4 22.1

Magnesium Mg 7.2 0.8 3.9

Sulfate SO4 31.0 18.3 25.7

Chloride Cl 33.9 22.7 2

Iron Fe <0.01 <0.01 <0.01

Manganese Mn <0.01 <0.01 <0.01

Fluoride F 1.16 0.76 0.98

Sodium Na 20.2 8.6 13.6

Total Alkalinity 70 16 39

Total Hardness (EDTA) 110 45 77

Total Residue 192 109 158

Hydrogen Ion Concentration pH 9.89 7.35 8.94

Chlorine Residual Combined NH2Cl 4.3 2.8 3.8

Phosphate PO4 1.05 0.64 0.88

Nitrate NO3-N 1.35 0.419 0.71

 

That's how it should be. All water systems have this data but so many make it a PITA to get hold of.

 

Our city posts it all online (pop:700,000)

 

Shallow well (< 15 m) on the mid-Atlantic coastal plain.

 

A sandy or gravel soil could change quickly due to high permeability. A clay soil would not change quickly.

 

I think it's also important to note that water profile changes from your plant to how it's piped into your house. What they test there isn't necessarily what's coming out of your tap. It's all ballpark and it will change throughout the year. I know Indianapolis gets their water from three different sources and they change the way they treat the water in the fall and in the spring. I assume it's hard water and I just back it down by adding RO to the mix. I'd like to get more detailed on some of my water profiles and will go to Ward sometime to get some results out of my tap. I think in the meantime if I have trouble with water profile I'll build up from RO or distilled.