Hi All -
I am moving into AG and just got my wards report back. I thought I would throw it up here to get an initial bounce. Thanks for any feedback!
If you are going to brew anything on the light side I would consider dilluting your water quite a bit. Your water look pretty alkaline to me.
With that kind of sodium level, I’d guess the water went through a softener. That’s WAY too much sodium to be suitable for brewing. Not to mention the high alkalinity.
Thanks for the feedback!
I took it via the water spigot on the outside of my house, hopefully i am not watering my lawn with softened water…
I do have a softner though, any other reason for all that salt?
When diluting is there a good place to start? Sorry total newbie to the water relm of brewing.
Thanks!
wow I thought my water was bad. I would buy water from the store. I don’t think a ro system would last long with your water.There are ways of cleaning up your water but you would still be stuck with the salt (Na) and the expense.
I’ve been using water from one of those drinking water machines at the food store for 39 cent a gal. Its a good idea to have that water tested too. some of them do give good water, others do not.
as far as using your water I would cut it at least 50% with R.O. and brew dark beer. Not sure about where the salt is coming from but the first thing I would do is check the water softener lines and see if they are ran correct.
Holy smokes that’s a lot Na+ in your water!
I’d do 50% distilled water 50% tap water for anything under a SRM of 15, or American Pale Ale or lighter.
to clarify anything that is lighter in color, dilute it
Another option is to download bru’n water and get familiar with it. From there you can use 100% distilled water than build your water profile out. That’s what I did and I have been very pleased with the results.
Thanks Andy, while it is kind of a bummer i appreciate the help and will def look at that program.
“Not sure about where the salt is coming from but the first thing I would do is check the water softener lines and see if they are ran correct.”
I used to install water softeners, most of the time it is run for the whole house including outside spigots. Its easier/cheeper to install the softenser right off the waterline coming into the house.
Where did you send the water for testing?
I ran a seperate line to the fridge and kitchen for drinking. I run hot water from tap to help speed up the boil. I know that comes from the softener.
I can’t help but wonder what my water report would say.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Nope, its not ion-exchange softened water. Although the sodium is high, the chloride is also high and neither Ca or Mg are low. This is probably groundwater from an area somewhere in the vicinity of an ocean.
In any case, that water is poorly suited for brewing. This is one to toss out. Getting a RO unit would be highly desirable for your drinking water and brewing water.
[quote=“mabrungard”]Nope, its not ion-exchange softened water. Although the sodium is high, the chloride is also high and neither Ca or Mg are low. This is probably groundwater from an area somewhere in the vicinity of an ocean.
In any case, that water is poorly suited for brewing. This is one to toss out. Getting a RO unit would be highly desirable for your drinking water and brewing water.[/quote]
Martin, I was speaking to a plumber on this, and he basically said that the RO filters that actually work are prohibitively expensive, and the ones that are marketed toward households are mostly junk. Not entirely confident he knew what he was talking about, but he also mentioned that the ones in grocery stores are rarely functioning properly.
Would be interested in your take given your experience! :cheers:
Hi All -
The water is from a well in South East Michigan, by a ton of lakes but no Ocean (unfortunately).
I sent the testing to Wards Lab for the gent who asked.
So if Grocery Store RO water is rarely working properly what is the next place to get it haha. Maybe I should get water from the municipal source at my office and get that tested (there are a handful of craft breweries in the same city so maybe it is better 
)
Ah yes, there are rock salt deposits at various places around the world. I know there are some big ones in Ohio and Michigan. No ocean necessary.
I would not be surprised that the water is difficult to use in RO systems since the calcium content is high. The water would need to be pre-softened with ion-exchange to remove the Ca and then the RO process should be more successful. The other ion that can screw the whole process up is silicate. Hopefully that ion concentration is not high.
[quote=“j62usa”]Hi All -
The water is from a well in South East Michigan, by a ton of lakes but no Ocean (unfortunately).
I sent the testing to Wards Lab for the gent who asked.
So if Grocery Store RO water is rarely working properly what is the next place to get it haha. Maybe I should get water from the municipal source at my office and get that tested (there are a handful of craft breweries in the same city so maybe it is better )[/quote]
For a year or two while I had well water that I didn’t like brewing w/ I would drive over to a friends and load up on his city water. Buying spring (I contacted the bottler for water report) and distilled water from my grocery store got old very fast.
Never trusted the RO water.
Royal Oak, Michigan, is a somewhat large city municipal water. Is there a database of wards lab reports by location i would prob not have to send it back in to wards.
