Newcastle Water Profile?

[SBOB]

The one I can find on Hunter Water's website doesnt list the things that Beersmith or Bru'nWater asks for..

Anyone in the Newcastle area bothered entering a water profile for this area, or have one in Beersmith or Bru'nWater they can send me?

Pretty sure the majority of this area comes from Grahamstown dam

 

[MHB]

There are 4 major water sources in the Hunter, where you are will determine exactly what you get and whether or not its a mixture from a couple of different supplies.

For Grahamstown which is what most of us get in and around Newcastle, this should give you a pretty good starting point (90% of the time)
All in ppm or mg/L
Alkalinity at pH 4.5 as Calcium Carbonate 26
Hardness as Calcium Carbonate 77
Calcium 23
Chloride 47
Sulphate 34
Sodium 27
Magnesium 6

AS you can see, its farking amazing water, it does want some Ca but pretty much nothing you cant brew in it with the right additions.
Hope that helps
Mark

 

[Judanero]

PM me your email address SBOB and I'll forward you some correspondence I was sent from Hunter Water.

As Mark said it typically comes from Grahamstown but they use a percentage from Dungog as well.

 

[antiphile]

Hmmm. I've always found MHB to be the best reliable source of information, however, my last water report (for Charlestown using Grahamstown Dam)) differs slightly. I would suggest you probably rely on his info rather than mine (which has a typo in it anyway since the pH varies between 8.2 and 8.3).

 

[SBOB]

There are 4 major water sources in the Hunter, where you are will determine exactly what you get and whether or not its a mixture from a couple of different supplies.

For Grahamstown which is what most of us get in and around Newcastle, this should give you a pretty good starting point (90% of the time)
All in ppm or mg/L
Alkalinity at pH 4.5 as Calcium Carbonate 26
Hardness as Calcium Carbonate 77
Calcium 23
Chloride 47
Sulphate 34
Sodium 27
Magnesium 6

AS you can see, its farking amazing water, it does want some Ca but pretty much nothing you cant brew in it with the right additions.
Hope that helps

Thanks for those, definitely does.
I've read that our water is pretty decent but being bored on a weekend I decided to do some reading and see what additions might be worthwhile for some future brews

Most of those numbers make sense:
For beersmith it asks for the following, a couple of which I'm unsure of

PH - ??
Calcium (Ca) - 23
Magnesium (Mg) - 6
Sodium (Na) - 27
Suflate (SO4) - 34
Chloride (Cl) - 47
Bicarbonate (HCO3) - ??

 

[SBOB]

Hmmm. I've always found MHB to be the best reliable source of information, however, my last water report (for Charlestown using Grahamstown Dam)) differs slightly. I would suggest you probably rely on his info rather than mine (which has a typo in it anyway since the pH varies between 8.2 and 8.3).

Thanks
Though theres a fair difference in some of those numbers, though the water quality would vary over time I guess..

 

[MHB]

The listed pH is 7.5 with the following admonition "Note that pH within the distribution system (ie at customers' taps) is typically somewhat higher than pH at the water treatment plants" how much is anyone's guess.
To get from Carbonate Hardness to Bicarbonate Hardness Multiply CO3 by 1.22 to get HCO3 equivalent
i.e. 26*1.22=31.7

Mark

Oh when you get sent a table of values and all the numbers end in 0 & 5 you are probably looking at something constructed - like a table of Limit Values, as is in All the results shall be less than...
M

 

[SBOB]

Thanks again


Does anyone have some tips on basic 'additions' I might be looking at for improving the starting point on pale ale/ipa style brews?

 

[MangroveMike]

Since I was looking this up (thank you all) - I also found the following from Hunter Water, I thought I'd pop it up here for others (although the "currently" available table is over three years old!).

 

[philrob]

With acknowledgement to MHB, here is a link to a post of his on water chemistry generally, but with reference to Hunter water as well.
Well worth a read, I was there when he delivered his address.

https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/hunter-water.93153/