Conducting Your Own Water Tests

[StAnthonyBrewery]

I bought a Salifert KH/Alk (Carbonate Hardness/Alkalinity) test kit.

They have one for calcium content as well... among others. Which got me to thinking. These test kits may not be in the brewing water range, but there's got to be a way to scale them down or up; whichever is appropriate.

Does anyone here do their own water testing or do we all just send it in to the 'specialists'.

Because I can't see why there isn't a homebrewers water titration/test kit... One for wine and one for beer.

Forgive me, I'm a Yankee. We do everything ourselves before succumbing to the man (albeit poorly sometimes).

[BigEd]

It's been a long time since my last chemistry lab class but my guess is that it's probably beyond the capabilities of the average Joe to get accurate brewing ion numbers doing their own water tests. If your water is supplied by a municipal source the information should be available for free from your water department. Ward Lab does a very inexpensive water test by mail that get rave reviews on all the homebrewing forums if you want to look into that.

[Brandon]

Personally I think it is a waste of time trying jeri-rig a test kit when the pros will do it for you for the same price. I;m all about doing as much as you can yourself, but there are some things that are just better left to a lab.

[StAnthonyBrewery]

Personally I think it is a waste of time trying jeri-rig a test kit when the pros will do it for you for the same price. I;m all about doing as much as you can yourself, but there are some things that are just better left to a lab.

There is a lab down the road that does well water tests for $20. I actually just did find the local municipal water information. They post it on a monthly basis and keep the records archived and accessible online. What a treasure!

I did do the hardness myself and again the softness is confirmed by my MWRA report.

Just in case anybody here is from the Worcester/Boston region of Massachusetts.

http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/monthly/wqupdate/qual3wq.htm
http://www.ci.worcester.ma.us/dpw/water-sewer-operations

Compare these with the local water report which is all flash and no substance (no mention of mineral content other than lead and barium, etc.) This is the water report I've been wrestling with. Bugging the city and towns for information. I've been told that to obtain that information I'll have to submit a water sample for a fee. The whole time it's been in front of my nose hidden on the Internet. What a big pain beaureacracy is.

http://www.mwra.com/annual/waterreport/ ... orough.pdf

[pclemon]

I'm in Marlborough. I've contacted my local water department a couple of times over the years and gotten no response from them. I've seen the reports you link to but unless I'm missing something they give data on water safety but not mineral make-up.

[StAnthonyBrewery]

I'm in Marlborough. I've contacted my local water department a couple of times over the years and gotten no response from them. I've seen the reports you link to but unless I'm missing something they give data on water safety but not mineral make-up.

That's exactly it. Check out the other MWRA link. I believe that is applicable for Marlborough.

[ValonaBrewingCo]

I've got a similar problem. My hoppy beers tend to come out pretty meh so now I'm wondering if my chloride/sulfate levels are to blame. My water report covers several reservoirs of various mineral make up and is vague about which one my water is coming from and it doesn't list sulfate content at all. Does anybody in Northern California know someplace to get a full analysis from?