Lost with water analysis?

[Newfiebrew]

Hello guys i'm just a beginner and I am getting my equipment sorted and reading Palmers how to brew and the water analysis section got me thinking where should I start with my own water? I know my water is very alkaline based on all the deposits in my coffee pot, so what do you water experts have to say about my water and how it will affect my first all grain brew.

Here is my towns water analysis and from what I know so far it favors stouts and darker beers and for lighter beers i may need to add salts like gypsum to the mash is that correct???...I dunno i'm kinda lost here!!

My water:
Alkalinity:160 mg/l
hardness:157 mg/l
pH:8.2
calcium:43mg/l
sulphate:6mg/l
mg:11.0mg/l
cloride:12mg/l
sodium:13mg/l
TDS:222mg/l

thanks for any feedback!!

Jamie.

[GuingesRock]

I asked a similar question and was helped a lot on this thread: http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... f=3&t=5811" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You'll find some good info there ...be a good start any way.

There's a link on that thread to another excellent thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2284" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a fascinating topic.

[Newfiebrew]

So far i have concluded that i can either boil my water and cool and the remaining ppt is bicarbonate that I can remove or I can use RO or distilled water as a mix into my water to achieve the same result in lowering hardness.I work in a hospital lab and have all the DI water i could ever need so maybe that is my solution...what y'all think???

thanks.

[Tony L]

Is that a current report... water reports change with the seasons and even with different locations within a town, so if you are going to muck around with water profiling you'll need to be accurate in your report to start with.
I use my town water with usually only adding some campton to rid my water of chloramines, although lately I have been using 5.2 pH adjuster to the mash ( a combination of buffers ) and my mash usually comes out between 5.1 and 5.3 measured at mash temperatures. I have no trouble with conversion in the mash and then sometimes I'll add some gypsum or calcium chloride to the boil to adjust the flavour profile of the hops

BTW, free distilled water would be ideal, as you can adjust the water to any profile by adding the right amount of salts... no guess work involved.

[Newfiebrew]

I can access all the de-ionized water I want for free and from what I have read that's almost the same as distilled water right?

I know my alkalinity is very high and I do have deposits on my taps etc (but my calcium is normal )... so i'm thinking about boiling my water and siphoning of the bicarb reduced water. I've heard mixed reports on the 5.2 stabilizer but i may give it a try also.

[Tony L]

I have been getting consistent results using the 5.2 with my hard water here in Mt. Pearl, although all readings from the city show soft water. I think 50 PPM of calcium is the recommended minimum for most brews.