Moved to coast - Water not so good

[citizensnips]

Howdy all,
Recently I made the move from Melbourne down past Geelong to Barwon Heads, right next door to Ocean Grove. It's a lovely little coastal town that me and two mates live in, I basically decided I'd make the move for a year because 1) I could, and 2) It had two giant sheds and some room to upgrade the brewing set-up. Anyway after moving down here I had the realisation that the water is well...shit, especially compared to Melbourne. I've never bothered adjusting my water as it hasn't caused any problems and basically because I couldn't be bothered. Anyway what I'm trying to find out is even when water taste this different and just has so much of a 'taste' I guess you could say, can it still be adjusted to make it decent for brewing and furthermore various styles? Or is it necessary to purchase some form of water filter then adjust, or just bring down water from Melbourne when I'm there? What are the opinions out there because it really doesn't seem like I have much of a choice but to find out how to get better water.
And for a real noob on the water side of things I found this table of the suburb next door to me (Ocean Grove) from this which means very little to me, asides from the pH, so hopefully it's of some use to those interested. And if anyone has a basic book/text/video or whatever that I will need to further my skills please don't hesitate to send her this way.
Thanks in advance

 

[manticle]

Contact the water company and find out levels of: calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulphate, sodium and alkalinity expressed as CaCO3.

Also find out if chloramines are used to disinfect the water.

 

[manticle]

And yes - there are ways to treat your water without getting a filter. Depends on what you need to do and what your water is like.

 

[citizensnips]

Thanks Manticle, I just sent of an email to Barwon Water so hopefully I should get a reply somewhat soon. If I get this info, what should I be reading on how to adjust and so forth? Any well respected novels out there?And if it makes any difference I'd be brewing quite a few styles...mainly lighter coloured ales as well as the odd stout and lager.
Thanks

 

[wombil]

If it is practical I would install a rainwater tank,no more worries.
I think it rains pretty regularly down there.

 

[manticle]

Thanks Manticle, I just sent of an email to Barwon Water so hopefully I should get a reply somewhat soon. If I get this info, what should I be reading on how to adjust and so forth? Any well respected novels out there?And if it makes any difference I'd be brewing quite a few styles...mainly lighter coloured ales as well as the odd stout and lager.
Thanks

Brun water knowledge is a good start. Braukaiser has 3 articles on mash pH. Also try this article I wrote some time ago - melbourne centric but the principles are there: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/46120-ahb-articles-water-chemistry/#entry950414 (doc is attached)

 

[citizensnips]

Ok well firstly thanks a lot for your help Manticle. I've gone off and got it contact with the water company and they were good enough to send me the water drinking quality report. Funnily enough there's a specific page in the report with calcium, magnesium and sulphate that mentions they often receive enquires from home brewers so they put a convenient table in the report for them. Anyway here's the information I have gathered below

Disinfection Mode: Chloramination
pH: Max 8.3 Min: 7.3 Average: 7.56
Sulphate(mg/L) :10
Calcium(mg/L): 8
Magnesium(mg/L):6

Couldn't find anything on levels of chloride, sodium or alkalinity unfortunately. Within treatment aids for my water source however was 'Sodium hypochlorite*' if that means anything.

Here was the water report if it was of any use....my water source is 'Ocean Grove' http://www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au/vdl/A6504110/Annual%20Drinking%20Water%20Quality%20Report%202012-2013.pdf

So in other words what would be my best plan of attack to pre treat the water? It does taste pretty average by my watch so I definitely wouldn't be against buying a filter before I add adjustments.
Anyway any help or advice appreciated.
Cheers

 

[manticle]

Chloramines are unfortunately more difficult to get rid of than chlorine which can be removed by simply heating the water.
The easiest way is to add some kind of metabisulphite to the water (sodium or potassium - also comes in tablet form as Campden).

Ostensibly the chemical compounds from the sulphite addition should not be present in the water once its done its job - if you or people you know are hyper sensitive to sulphites, you'll need to exercise your own level of caution.

Certainly a carbon filter or R/O unit should sort this out too if you want to go down that road.

here's an article worth looking at: http://morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water

Calcium is definitely deficient, sulphate levels are low, as are Magnesium. Don't worry about magnesium anyway - as long as it isn't high, there's plenty in the malt, no need to add more.

It's a little annoying you can't get sodium or chloride levels. I would guess levels of sodium would be pretty low and it's not a required mineral for brewing. A little can be OK but a lot is a definite no-no so you can possibly not worry but it would be good to know chloride. Any chance you can pester them for that one?

While total hardness and total alkalinity are measurements of different things, they will often be similar or the same. If you can't find a total alkalinity value (or they can't give you one), use the caco3 value given for total hardness in a spreadsheet and see where that gets you. To get a bicarbonate level, multiply that figure by 1.22.

My guess is that it is chloramines that will cause you your greatest distress - the other mineral content looks very low so you'll be able to add just a touch of salts and/or acid where necessary to get the profile you want.

 

[citizensnips]

Cheers Manticle, its a big help! Found the Total Hardness was 42 (mg/L). Basically what I gather is that I have to remove the chloramine by either campden tablets or a filter. By chance would this filter work? http://www.purewatersystems.com.au/catalogue/domestic-water-filters/counter-top-water-purifierwould (I may be getting it for free in a couple of weeks) I also gather that basically calcium chloride is the most important and the one to add before you delve into the others. The amount I'll probably go with is on the 'key concepts in water treatment' which ends up being 50 ppm Ca2+ and 90 ppm Cl, as it's said that's the minimum requirement for most beer styles. Now what I don't really get is once you've corrected calcium how exactly do you drop the pH by two points?
Sorry for all the questions I'm just bloody lost with chemistry or should I say 'useless'
And if there is any recognised good water filter that isn't $400 please don't hesitate to recommend.

 

[manticle]

Yes that filter will work. Good free score.
Will try and answer the rest when back at pc rather than phone.
Calcium drops pH. If it doesn't go far enough (which it may not in paler beers) you have the option of using acidulated malt or food grade acid.

 

[citizensnips]

Yeah found out the filter isn't so free after all. Still gotta pay $124 for the first filter so not too sure now. Still gonna buy one but not sure if that's worth it. Anyway got a reply back about chloride, I got "Average Chloride in the water supplied to the Ocean Grove locality for the last 12 months has been 55mg/L." Isn't that a shit load?

 

[manticle]

Recommended range tops out at 250 ppm (same as mg/L)