Tampa FL/ Hillsborough County, June 2010
pH 7.8
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 463
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.77
Cations / Anions, me/L 8.1 / 8.3
ppm
Sodium, Na 44
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 102
Magnesium, Mg 12
Total Hardness, CaCO3 305
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.6 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 76
Chloride, Cl 40
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 144
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 118
“<” - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit
Can someone explain how mg/L tranlsates to ppm’s? Or what I can do with the numbers as they stand in mg/L? I have an analysis for a spring from a house we almost bought ( :'() and just wanted to play around with what it all means. Also, there is a roadside spring just down the road so… perhaps they have similar makeups. I know, not likely. Just always been curious to start thinking about water makeup.
They are the same.
1 miligram * 1000 = 1 gram. There are 1000 grams of water per liter. So that is 1 part per million, or ppm.
Enso,
In addition to ppm, water reports typically also list their breakdown in other units:
mg/L (milligrams per Liter), or
μg/L (micrograms per Liter).
mg/L is the same thing as ppm (parts per million), as already explained above.
If you’re given a number in μg/L, you need to first divide it by 1000 to get mg/L (or ppm).
30 ppm = 30 mg/L = 30,000 μg/L
From my well, just west of Centre Hall, Pennsylvania
pH 7.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 172
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.29
Cations / Anions, me/L 2.9 / 2.6
Sodium, Na 1 ppm
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca 51
Magnesium, Mg 3
Total Hardness, CaCO3 140
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.3 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 3
Chloride, Cl 3
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 144
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 118
“<” - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit
Germantown, MD - Montgomery County
Ward Labs 08/06/2009
pH 8.0
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 306
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.51
Cations / Anions, me/L 4.5 / 4.4
ppm
Sodium, Na 20
Potassium, K 4
Calcium, Ca 54
Magnesium, Mg 10
Total Hardness, CaCO3 177
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.8 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 22
Chloride, Cl 37
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 106
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 97
Near Trenton,Fla. 90ft deep well.
pH 7.8
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 143
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.24
Cations / Anions, me/L 2.4 / 2.3
ppm
Sodium, Na 3
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca 43
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 116
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 1
Chloride, Cl 2
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 132
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 109
I had mine tested by Ward Labs last year. Redmond WA, Union Hill Water Association. No chlorine at all, so I don’t even filter my brewing water. No fluoride either, so I have to give my kids fluoride every day, but that’s a different story . . .
pH 7.9
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 97
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.16
Cations / Anions, me/L 1.7 / 1.8
ppm
Sodium, Na 8
Potassium, K 1
Calcium, Ca 15
Magnesium, Mg 7
Total Hardness, CaCO3 67
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.3 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 5
Chloride, Cl 3
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 83
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 68
“<” - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit
AJ deLange has a post on the Brewing Network forum about something he just found out about the Ward Labs report (if you don’t know who he is, let me just say that when he writes about water chemistry I read it and hope I understand what he has to say). If you look at the reports, SO4 is listed as SO4-S, which means the number reported is the sulfur. AJ says to multiply by 3 to get the Sulfate as ppm.
You can read it here.
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=21815
Wow, great info Jeff!
It takes me from 16 S to 48 ppm SO4. Not a huge number since mine was low, but enough to change any calculation I would do for SO4. If my SO4-S was 75, then it would be 225 ppm SO4, and I would not want to add much CaSO4.
Someone should thank AJ!
Not a huge difference for me since mine goes from 5 to 15, but still, that’s damn good to know.
Thanks AJ, and thanks Jeff for pointing us to it.
Maple Grove, MN
Evidently, we have some of the hardest water on earth.
Metals
Total Hardness as CaCO3 357 mg/l
Calcium as CaCO3 208 mg/l
Magnesium as CaCO3 149 mg/l
Sodium as CaCO3 42.1 mg/l
Wet Chemistry
pH 7.2
Turbidity 0.19
Alkalinity, Total as CaCO3 297 mg/l
Alkalinity, Bicarbonate 297 mg/l
Chloride as CaCO3 80.5
Sulfate as CaCO3 46.2
Calculated
pH of Saturation 7.37
Langelier Index @ 8.8C -0.17
Free CO2 45 mg/l
Total Hardeness as CaCO3 20.9 gpg
Non-Carbonate Hardness as CaCO3 59.8 mg/l
Worcester, MA (Not the home of the sauce)
pH 5.8
Residual Alkalinity 2.4
Calcium, Ca++ 9
Magnesium, Mg++ 0
Sodium, Na+ 10
Bicarbonate, HCO3 10
Sulfate, SO4- - 10
Chloride, Cl- 24
HDNS 21
Sorry, I must have missed this post! I had Ward Labs do analyses of water samples for all of the profiles I posted.
This makes sense… Sulfate of 4 seemed low! Thanks.
Hey Denny - Thanks for posting your water analysis. Mine is almost identical, from my home well in western Washington, a few points more magnesium and slightly less chloride. Do you commonly do water additions or adjust pH, or can you do OK without the bother? I am about to do my first AG, and was going to try without additions the first time. You might save me a bad first batch if I really have to do some fiddling. Thanks for your time.
BTW - I grew up in your neck of the woods - Cottage Grove. I have family on Cook Road and Sheffler Road, which are even closer to you. I followed work north, but visit the old stomping grounds often.
Bruce
Hey Bruce,
Let me know if you;re back in the area. I’m just a couple miles from both Cook and Sheffler.
I brewed for many years and batches doing no more water treatment than a tsp. of gypsum in the boil for IPAs and a tsp. of CaCO3 in the mash for dark beers. Won enough awards that I figure that must have been pretty close. But in the last year I started being concerned about the clarity of very light beers, and wondered if I could get better balance by doing some adjustment for other styles. I’ve been doing more treatment and watching my pH more. I think it’s bveen improving my beers, but I’m still experimenting and evaluating.
Near Stone City in NE Iowa. Private well. Report from Ward Labs:
pH: 7.5
TDS: 413
EC: 0.69
Cations/Anions: 8.0/7.5
All numbers are ppm
Sodium, Na: 6
Potassium, K: <1
Calcium, Ca: 90
Magnesium, Mg: 39
Total Harness CaCO3: 388
Nitrate, NO3-N: 6.9 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S: 13 (so 39 ppm SO4)
Chloride, Cl: 13
Carbonate, CO3: <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3: 355
Total Alkalinity CaCO3: 291
Randy
I just recieved my results from Ward labs. First time I have ever known anything about the water I use. Though I do not know what it means… yet.
West Barnet, Vermont. U.S.A. from a roadside spring off of Harvey’s lake.
pH 8.2
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 157
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.26
Cations / Anions, me/L 2.5 / 2.7
Sodium, Na 1
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 45
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 121
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 6 (18 ppm)
Chloride, Cl 1
Carbonate, CO3 9
Bicarbonate, HCO3 120
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 112
Fluoride, F 0.01
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01
“<” - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit
I realize it will probably vary greatly throughout the year. I already noticed one change since I have been using it just a month ago. I mixed up some starsan with it when we moved in. No problem. Couple of weeks back I mixed some and it immediately clouded up! That is generally a sign of hard water correct? This report was from a sample I sent in last Friday.