Water Additions Without An Analysis

[jimi]

So after a few calls it appears that Barwon Water doesn't monitor Ca, Mg, HCO3 etc - all the stuff that I want to know. So basically I'm without an effective water report and without hope of getting one. I'm keen to start exploring the effects of water chemistry and add salts to emphasise either malt or hops. Generally I'd like to create more crispness to my hop bitterness, my experience has been that my local water seems to suit maltier/darker beers.

My question is, without being able to know my current water profile what is a safe / effective level of additions of;
A) Gypsom or Epsom Salts to enhance crispness
B) Baking Soda to enhance darker beers

Cheers

 

[dent]

You can calculate the water hardness based on results obtained with a cheap testing kit for aquarium water. You can obtain these at pet stores for $20 or so. They have 'kH gH' on the box.

 

[brettwil]

I managed to get some information out of Barwon water recently for the highton/belmont area. I know colac is on a seperate water supply from geelong, but i would think they would be measuring the same ions for both supplies.

The annual report they produce doesn't have much useful info in it, maybe that is what the person you contacted was going by?? I ended up getting the information from one of the water quality engineers they seemed quite helpful.

FYI, the profile i got for geelong was:

Calcium: 9-15mg/L
Magnesium: 4-6mg/L
Sulphate: 8-13 mg/L

They said they didn't measure bicarbonate just the total hardness, which you can get from the annual report.

-Brett

 

[jimi]

I managed to get some information out of Barwon water recently for the highton/belmont area. I know colac is on a seperate water supply from geelong, but i would think they would be measuring the same ions for both supplies.

The annual report they produce doesn't have much useful info in it, maybe that is what the person you contacted was going by?? I ended up getting the information from one of the water quality engineers they seemed quite helpful.

FYI, the profile i got for geelong was:

Calcium: 9-15mg/L
Magnesium: 4-6mg/L
Sulphate: 8-13 mg/L

They said they didn't measure bicarbonate just the total hardness, which you can get from the annual report.

-Brett

When I contacted Barwon Water and asked about water chemistry I got quickly redirected to one of these water quality engineers who was very helpful and rang me back with the news that BW haven't done these tests before ... ever. I'm assuming he's right. I might have a crack at one of these aquarium analysers Dent has mentioned, other than that I'll 'loosely base my calculations on additions based on what you've got there Brett- thanks!

 

[eamonnfoley]

You can calculate the water hardness based on results obtained with a cheap testing kit for aquarium water. You can obtain these at pet stores for $20 or so. They have 'kH gH' on the box.

I did this too - works well. Gives a good indication of alkalinity, then uses that to estimate Ca and Mg.