Another Water Question for a Novice

I would advise to avoid that one, but many seem to like it.

You make adjustments before brewing. Trying to adjust pH during the mash is chasing your tail since pH doesn’t settle til well into the mash.

I completely agree with James. My water profile does change throughout the year, so I do 1 test a year alternating between summer and winter. Colorado Springs has really good tasting water, so I just use it and alter according to the style I’m brewing. Good information to have for a $35 lab report. Especially after purchasing “Smart Brew water testing kit”…and not really feeling like it was giving me accurate results. Anyway, for 35 bucks its worth it IMO.

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Ward Lab reports came back, but now what? Sample A is my treated house well water. It’s a water conditioner tank that’s overdue for maintenance and refreshing. Sample B is my house well water bypassing the water conditioner. Sample C is from a 5 gallon jug of Culligan’s Reverse Osmosis. Should I stick with using Culligans?

All things considered, your water is pretty decent for most purposes, including pale yellow lager.

You’ll definitely what to consider some sort of calcium addition (see calcium sulfate/gypsum) for your mash chemistry and your hops

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Agree with Drew, your water is pretty good for most styles of beer. You want calcium at least 40 ppm for all beers. For IPA’s you want Sulfate over 100 ppm to enhance bitterness. Gypsum will accomplish this. For malty beers Calcium Chloride is good choice. Put your water in Bru’n Water and adjust from there.

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B or C would be my choice. A isn’t bad, but the TDS is higher than the other 2. No matter what which you use, you’ll need additions

I think I recall Martin saying 25 ppm CA is enough for lagers since the lagering will cause flocculation.