Not sure what it means yet but I’m reading up on it. I downloaded the Bru N Water spreadsheet and it shows my cation/anions ratio is .49 and should be lower. Am I misinterpreting my report or can this be possible? My next brew is an IPA. I’m going with the Pale Ale water profile. Is this a good start?
Starting Profile ppm
Ca 33
Mg 2
Na 8
SO4 21
Cl 0
HCO3 76
Hardness 91 (ppm as CaCO3)
Alkalinity 63 (ppm as CaCO3)
RA 38
SO4/Cl 0.00
Its not the ratio, its the difference in the cation and anion totals. You are good to go. That is a lightly mineralized water and it doesn’t take much to throw the difference off.
Not from the Midwest are you? That does look good for brewing, as Martin says.
No kidding. Definitely not Indiana water. I’m envious.
Thanks guys. A sand separator and 20 micron whole house filter helps… ;D I was originally going to install an RO filter but from what I can tell I might not need it. Seems I can add chemicalls to get most of the water profiles that I might use.
0 Chloride? It looks to me like you can brew great light colored beers, but you’re going to have to do some additions to do anything dark or Malty. Am I wrong?
I should specify… the sulfate to chloride ratio makes it good for hoppy beers.
It’s well water. I hope there’s no chloride. :) I plan on picking a water profile each time I brew. It’s going to be another learning curve. I can see my water is good for light beers. I actually thought is was no good for hoppy beers. Seems my sulfates (hardness?) are a bit low. Like I said earlier, I’m reading and learning…
Yes, use the Pale Ale profile and brew away. You will probably want to get your sulfate up so the hops will pop. Looks like Pilsen water!
Dave
It looks good, but not Pilsen good.
The ionic content is probably close enough that one could consider it pilsen like. The bicarbonate would have to be neutralized, but the rest of the ion content is quite low. That is not to say that a brewer should brew with it as-is.
Do recognize that chloride is not the same as chlorine. A well water would probably not have chlorine in it, but could easily have chloride. I’m surprised not to see any chloride in this report, but its possible. And since there is no chloride, the sulfate/chloride ratio is meaningless in this case. Until the water has significant concentrations of both ions, their effect on flavor is negligible. I recommend that the sulfate/chloride ratio is most applicable when the chloride concentration falls between 25 and 100 ppm.
The HCO3 jumped out to me.
The higher Ca means he does not need to add, or add as much, so that’s good.
That is a bit high…but will still make a fine BoPils.