# Geelong water: Does anyone know the sodium and chloride levels?



## Brewmeister70 (23/4/21)

Hi All,
I'm lucky to have really soft water living in the Montpellier water catchment of Geelong. The issue is I have gotten onto the Barwon Water website to get a report and they don't list the sodium (Na) or the chloride levels (Cl), both of which are important for making repeatable results hop / malt balance wise. I emailed them asking for these test results and didn't hear back so does anyone have this information?

Cheers,

Ian


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## MHB (24/4/21)

Looks like there are a few zones that get different supply, the website for *Barwon Water* gives a pretty good starting place and some great info.

You will have to work out which zone you are in, click on the map. Nice to see that they give some Brewing specific information.
Mark

Try this link
M


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## Brewmeister70 (5/5/21)

MHB said:


> Looks like there are a few zones that get different supply, the website for *Barwon Water* gives a pretty good starting place and some great info.
> 
> You will have to work out which zone you are in, click on the map. Nice to see that they give some Brewing specific information.
> Mark
> ...


Thanks for the reply Mark and yes, there is a lot of really good information updated regularly on their site. The stuff I'm looking for just isn't there unfortunately. I might try reaching out to some local small scale breweries in the area to see what they know about this but don't feel motivated enough to pay for a lab analysis to be honest.

Cheers,

Ian


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## MHB (5/5/21)

Given what they say the water is very soft, not identical in all zones but the couple I looked at were pretty low in everything.
If you just look at the pH, an average of 7.1 tells you plenty. The Electrical Conductivity can be converted into TTD (total dissolved solids). If you subtract all the known values it doesn’t leave much room for a bunch of NaCl.
I wouldn’t worry about it, just de-chlorinate and add whatever you want.
Mark


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## AzfromOz (14/10/22)

Brewmeister70 said:


> Thanks for the reply Mark and yes, there is a lot of really good information updated regularly on their site. The stuff I'm looking for just isn't there unfortunately. I might try reaching out to some local small scale breweries in the area to see what they know about this but don't feel motivated enough to pay for a lab analysis to be honest.
> 
> Cheers,



@Brewmeister70, did you ever get a reply from Barwon Water? I'm updating my profile and I need the sodium, chloride and bicarbonate levels, which, as you note, are not listed by BW.

Cheers

Aaron


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## yankinoz (15/10/22)

I brew in the Montpellier catchment. From a Barwon supplement and inside info posted here on an old thread, I have the following values in ppm:

Na+ 45
Cl- 47
CaCO3 40 (@49 as bicarb)
Ca++ 6.5
Mg++ 4.6
SO4-- 6.5
pH 7.4

Those values date from times of fairly average precip. Barwon does not break down its sources in each catchment quantitatively, but it appears that runoff plays a large part for Montpellier,

I've used the above values for years, with slight, guessed adjustments for heavy rains or drought. I've consistently hit mash pH as predicted by Braukaiser's spreadsheet. The beers have been nectar of the gods or toxic swill, depending on whom you ask.


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## JDW81 (15/10/22)

AzfromOz said:


> @Brewmeister70, did you ever get a reply from Barwon Water? I'm updating my profile and I need the sodium, chloride and bicarbonate levels, which, as you note, are not listed by BW.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Aaron


Hey Aaron, send them an email and they’ll give you all the information you need (I did it a few years ago, and they were very quick to reply). 

JD


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## AzfromOz (16/10/22)

JDW81 said:


> Hey Aaron, send them an email and they’ll give you all the information you need (I did it a few years ago, and they were very quick to reply).
> 
> JD


Thanks mate - will give it a try. Cheers


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## AzfromOz (16/10/22)

yankinoz said:


> I brew in the Montpellier catchment. From a Barwon supplement and inside info posted here on an old thread, I have the following values in ppm:
> 
> Na+ 45
> Cl- 47
> ...


Thanks mate. I have values from three or four years ago too. I just had a hankering to update them! I'll send Barwon Water an e-mail and if they respond I'll post it here.

cheers


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## AzfromOz (21/10/22)

Hey all,

I've had a response from Barwon Water, who provided me with the following results for the Pettavel water zone (which seems to take in Waurn Ponds, parts of Highton, Grovedale and the areas out to the Surf Coast - you can check it out *here*):


*Parameter**Average Value (July – September 2022)**Units*Beer Brewing - Calcium7.2mg/LBeer Brewing - Magnesium5.1mg/LBeer Brewing - Sulfate5.3mg/LSodium31mg/LChloride21mg/LBicarbonate Alkalinity as CaCO353mg/L

I'll start a new thread so people can easily find these results.

cheers


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