Water profiles

[Liam Callaghan]

I'm just updating my water profile in Beersmith2 and have a few questions, if anyone has any answers they would be appreciated.  I've only ever used tap water for brewing, never tried to alter it in anyway but now I am looking at going the whole hog to see what difference it makes, if any.

I have spoken to a couple of chemists and a couple of people from Watercare and got all the water data I can from my area, Beach Haven, Northshore of Auckland.  My main water source is from Ardmore with occasional top ups from Waikato.  These two water profiles are quite different which has given me a bit of a quandry...

Data is from

http://www.watercare.co.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/AllPDFs/Publicat...

Ardmore:-

Calcium 7.46 ppm

Magnesium 1.5

Sodium 8.9

Sulfate 8.69

Chloride 13.15

Bicarbonate ?  

Waikato:-

Calcium 19.08 ppm

Magnesium 2.82

Sodium 19

Sulfate 25

Chloride 21.36

Bicarbonate ?  

I can't find bicarbonate levels but it may be under another title...  Any ideas?  Is this important?

I see it is mentioned quite a bit regards some of the Trappist breweries in Belgium.

Unfortunately I don't know what the mix ratio is of the two waters and no clarity was given on this.  I was going to add the two together and divide it which seems reasonable but might be better with a higher ratio of the Ardmore...

What have other people done?

[Paul Fraser]

 I think with your issue regarding the two sources: The water profile will change. As you said, it is an occasional top up but i would assume that it is usually/mostly the Ardmore water and if it was me personally i would just base the water profile on that and not stress too much on it.

But since they are related i'd just say that i did the same thing today in Christchurch but i can't find a water report anywhere. I'm living in a northern suburb and our water hasn't been affected by the earthquakes but still can't get any info.

 

I hope others can help you more with your issue. Cheers

 

[Liam Callaghan]

Hey Paul,

Seems it may depend on which council you are under to find out your water source.  City council or the regional one.  You need to ask for the latest water quality report if its anything like Auckland.

http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/water/waitaki-regional-plan-mat...

Some good information here to get you started.  If you are fed from the water plant west of Chch it looks to be water from multiple aquifers but it could be other ground water supply or from the Waimakariri.

http://ecan.govt.nz/publications/Plans/cw-canterbury-water-wanageme...

This report gives a heap of zones for water sources in Cantabury in a colour coded map near the front which should give you enough to refine your questions to them or you could check out the reports here which have water tables.

http://ecan.govt.nz/publications/Pages/groundwater-reports.aspx

http://ecan.govt.nz/publications/Pages/surface-water-reports.aspx

 

I think the last reports although technically good are prior to being treated and made potable.

 

Hope thats enough to get you started anyway.  Surprisingly it was easier to find out where mine was in Auckland, so many water reports in Chch its crazy!

 

[Smiffy]

I'm using the spreadsheet from here:

http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

It allows entry of Bicarbonate OR Alkalinity. Presumably there is a fixed relationship between the two, so you can just use the Alkalinity figure from the water data.

[Liam Callaghan]

Thanks guys, I'll have to have a look at that Smiffy...  We have a chemist in the family so might have to hit her up for some answers.  I'll post my findings.

I am going to load it as Ardmore unless I get some figures back from Watercare regards how often they top up and how mixed the two become.  Seems nothing is ever simple...

If I get a chance I'll have a look for Christchurch too Paul, I work for a large consultancy and they have people in all the best places, they are remarkably happy help when it involves people making beer!

[Adam Sparks]

I use the ezwatercalulator, its great because it helps you with the overall ph of your mash more so than beersmith does, you punch in your local report, adjust the grain info. Then add gypsum calc chloride and acid malt to reign in the numbers. If you shoot for an average level on most of the ions I figure you should be safe from changes in your local water supply. 

I find my mash ph pretty much hits the mark now and I no longer need to actually measure it, I just make a new ezwater calculation before each brew and ad those ingredients into beersmith.

I use the Ardmore stats and things are fine for the most part. There does seem to be the occasional day that I am sure the chlorine levels are way up tho.... But its working fine for the most part

[Andrew Robinson]

I found this link for christchurch 

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/homeliving/watersupply/ourwater/chemicalanal...

I think that finding out about about specific aquifer in christchurch isn't really important since each headworks has multiple wells each into different aquifers which are then mixed so the water at the tap is from a mixture of different aquifers.

[Liam Callaghan]

That looks like it!  Good work Andrew!

[Paul Fraser]

Awesome work you two. A huge thanks for that. Will be interesting to see how much of a difference it makes. Cheers

[Liam Callaghan]

I'd be interested to see if you find the difference Paul, I will be doing the same shortly, I hope it makes a good difference!

[Smiffy]

The first time I did it, I did a back to back tasting of the same recipe IPA with plain water and corrected water. The difference was bordering on the unbelievable. The corrected water brought out the malt flavours and the hop flavours too and slightly increased the perceived bitterness. This was using extract, and as the water has an effect on the mash and boil too, I would expect even more difference from an all grain brew.

[Liam Callaghan]

Seems you were spot on Smiffy, Damian looked it up last night and the total alkalinity can be calculated back to the Bicarbonate.

http://comp.uark.edu/~ksteele/hc2004/ALKALINITY-%20CALCULATION.htm

Thats all the maths if you want to do it by hand.

Not found a calculator for it yet

[Tristan Worley]

I have found this site http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page gives a very detailed rundown on calculating salt additions (handy spreadsheet provided) to brewing water, as well as indepth analysis of mashing chemistry.