Wellington water additions

[Chris Reid]

What water additions are you doing?  Not knowing where the water is supplied from is making it difficult.

[Dave W]

I'm not making any, just using water from the Petone aquifier as it's by my work, so I fill a few containers to take home for brewing.

[JackoNZ]

Not knowing where the water is supplied from is making it difficult.

The reason I've not looked into using water additions yet. Doesn't Wellington water come from potentially 3 different supply lines? Can you even get an accurate water analysis for Wellington City?

[Chris Reid]

There are a few sites the water comes from and it all depends on demand. So I guess its impossible to get an estimate. Unless you pass it through a deioniser I guess.

[Duncan]

Water analysis for the Hutt Valley as well as the Petone artesian supply is posted here in the Library.  It's four years old now, so it would be nice to see a new version of it, but I guess natural artesian springs don't change too much.

 

The WCC should be able to tell you where your water is supplied from and can probably provide the breakdown you need, but I agree with Dave W - it's worth the trip to Petone to get untreated water.  It will give you a more neutral starting point should you want to make changes to suit a particular region/style (no chlorine or fluoride for one thing).

 

I'm lucky that I live only 2 mins away from it at the moment.  I recommend filling containers during the week because every man and his dog is there over the weekend.  I had to wait for almost half an hour on Sunday when I realised I'd forgotten to get water for an APA I was planning to brew.

 

Also, I found the cheapest water containers are available from the WCC Service Centre on Wakefield St in the city.  They charge $5 for a 10 litre container ($0.50/L) whereas at most places like Mitre10 & The Warehouse the price is around $2.00/L.  The WCC containers are a good design too - deceptively strong handles and they pour well.

[MrC]

I've had a good look into this topic several times and I always come to the same conclusion.  The water is very soft and contains very little minerals.  I think any annual or season differences would be negligible.  

 

As far as brewing is concerned, I add salts to my water and/or mash only when I have a reason to.  I quite often add 1tsp of gypsum to the mash to increase efficiency, help make clear beer and add little hop crispness.  Other than that, I only add salts to my mash for ph adjustment in dark beers and sometimes salts to my boil for very hoppy beers in an attempt to prevent astringency.  And of course flavour.

 

Check out this web site for a simple calculator and some reading:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

 

[Sam]

They've created a new calculator, this one uses various elements such as the grist to help determine mash pH. Also it allows you to save and share your calculations- that's pretty cool :)

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calcu...

[Chris Mills]

http://www.gw.govt.nz/Chemical-analysis-Te-Marua-2

I spoke with one of the technicians who prepares the water reports and he has told me that while they don't show calcium (Ca) on the report that for the Te Marua supply one can comfortably use values between 17-19ppm and that magnesium (Mg) is approximately 25% of the calcium value. I've been using a value of 19 for bicarbonate (HCO3 ppm) as recommended by the water technician.

 

http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

I've been using the metric water calculator at the above URL. It's pretty easy to work with.

[Simon Cooke]

2011 Wellington Region water report

This link has chemical analysis of each water plant (PAGE 24) and if you go to PAGE 2 you can see what water supply your area (should be) receiving. 

Im also trying to dabble in a bit of water chem. :)