Torquay water

[WE5TY]

Hi all,

I'm moving to Torquay in a few months - hoping to get along to a few meetings and join the club in Geelong.

I have a question about the water in Torquay. A buddy of mine has just moved down there and has tried to get some info from Barwon water - but the report doesn't have sodium or chloride and is apparently high in sulfites. The couple of pale ales he has brewed he says have an astringent bitterness (no change in recipe from when he was up in Melbourne).

Does anyone have a water report that has info that can be fed into Ez water calculator (Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4, HCO3/CaCO3 all in ppm?)

Or does anyone who lives in Torquay give some advice on how they treat water?

Cheers,

Josh

 

[fraser_john]

Hi all,

I'm moving to Torquay in a few months - hoping to get along to a few meetings and join the club in Geelong.

I have a question about the water in Torquay. A buddy of mine has just moved down there and has tried to get some info from Barwon water - but the report doesn't have sodium or chloride and is apparently high in sulfites. The couple of pale ales he has brewed he says have an astringent bitterness (no change in recipe from when he was up in Melbourne).

Does anyone have a water report that has info that can be fed into Ez water calculator (Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4, HCO3/CaCO3 all in ppm?)

Or does anyone who lives in Torquay give some advice on how they treat water?

Cheers,

Josh

Hi Josh,

we have a couple of members that live down that way, but, I am not sure about the water as one of them just uses rainwater as a base. I'll ask one of our other members to see what he knows.

John

 

[fraser_john]

OK,

this from the brewer that lives down there....

I have given up on Torquay water and use rain water
The worst thing about Torquay water is the fact that it is different every time you use it. If you follow a water report you are only fooling your self.
I hope the following helps

Carbon filtration improves the water a lot
If you boil Torquay water the smell improves a lot in the first 10 mins
Ca is low and is best imprioved with CaCl
Pale Coloured mashes are often a problem (I don’t have a pH meter). Coloured malts definitely help
A tspoon of Phosphoric acid seems to help.

Not sure if that helps!

 

[WE5TY]

Thanks John! Seems like it's going to be ro for me! Cheers

 

[benju63]

Josh,
Just wondered how you went with it. I'm just transitioning from extract to all grain and therefore taking more of an interest in water and ph.
How have you found findings from any treatment of water.
Cheers.

 

[WE5TY]

I have carbon filtered and added potassium metabisulfate to every batch I have made here. For a while I was getting heaps of chlorine smell when I filled a bath for the kids or filled the brew kettle. It is much less now, but I still do the same water treatment.

I generally add 5g calcium sulfate to hoppy beers (into 35L) and that's really the only salt I add. I have been happy with the beers brewed so far!

 

[jigsawbrewing]

I know this is a pretty old thread, but for anyone looking for data on Torquay water it is pretty good for brewing nowadays!
Barwon Water now actually publish some data for brewers here - Water quality results - Barwon Water
It is missing some data though, which I managed to get via email, details here:

We are currently looking into added more parameters to the ‘Water quality data’ on our website and are looking to include:

• · Beer Brewing – Bicarbonate Alkalinity as CaCO3 ,
• · Beer Brewing – Sodium and,
• · Beer Brewing – Chloride

These will be calculated as averages for each quarter and then published with the Water Quality Data table for each locality.
We don’t currently have an exact date on when these will be included but are currently aiming to include these in the near future.

In the meantime, we have extracted water quality data in the table below.

Parameter	Average Value (October to December 2020)	Units
Calcium	7.2	mg/L
Magnesium	4.6	mg/L
Sodium	26.5	mg/L
Chloride	54	mg/L
Sulfate	5	mg/L
Bicarbonate Alkalinity as CaCO3	24	mg/L

For water, 1 ppm = approximately 1 mg/L (also written as mg/l) of contaminant in water. A measurement of 6 mg/L is the same as 6 ppm.

Hopefully this is useful for someone. Any Torquay brewers who are keen to catch up for a beer let me know

 

[DarrenTheDrunk]

Geelong water is fine so get a few 25 liter containers and use this. Very easy, no cost and happy brewer