Component Testing Of Water:

[milkman]

As our water is 93% of the beer we make, i wanted to do some tests on my water sources.
I would like to determine its components to choose a beer style it might go with best, or look at altering it depending on the mineral levels present

Can anyone point me in the direction o a simple testing kit or any ideas? This may require sendimg off to a lab for this level of breakdown?

thanks

Steven

 

[Jez]

Do you really need to go to that level of detail?

A lot of us just use the local water quality report for whatever water catchment we get our water from. The report contains a breakdown of minerals present.

Do a search on here for "water report" and you'll find heaps of info.

Jez

 

[Leigh]

When I was working in this area, we would charge anywhere from $20-$200 per sample depending on what people wanted out of the report. Some tests need a lot of preparation while others can be directly tested.

 

[fraser_john]

Use rainwater, then you know you are close to zero base of all ions. Go up from there

 

[Leigh]

As a broad-brushed piece of advise, I would be hesitant of recommending that John. We tested many "rain waters" that were quite polluted, from rural, residential and industrial areas.

 

[glenos]

Rain water can be a micro biological hazard, and depending on rainfall, distnce to roads and many other factors could have dirt or metals in it from the road or roof.

To test drinking water we charge from about $20 for a pH or conductivity to $600 for the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines suite, not including the herbicides and pesticides.

pH, Conductivity, Hardness (Ca and Mg), Chloride is around $100. We are not a cheap lab but the numbers will be spot on.

As said before most water authorities provide that info, heck we buy the water so they should at least tell us what we are buying. I can guarantee they get the testing done.