Evansville Water

[SkyBrew]

I'm studying water chemistry right now for the BJCP exam and thought this was relevant to this post.

Famous Brewing Waters

The ions described above are found in different concentrations depending on the source of the water, as shown in the table below for several major brewing centers (data from Greg Noonan's water workshop at the 1991 AHA Conference and are in ppm):

Mineral Calcium Magnesium Sodium Sulfate Bicarbonate Chloride
Plzen 7 2 2 5 15 5
Dortmund 225 40 60 120 180 60
Munich 75 18 2 10 150 2
Vienna 200 60 8 125 120 12
Burton 275 40 25 450 260 35
Dublin 120 5 12 55 125 20
Edinburgh 120 25 55 140 225 65
London 90 5 15 40 125 20

These water compositions have played an important role in the development of world beer styles. In London, Dublin and Munich, the high bicarbonate content is needed to balance the acidifying properties of the dark and roasted malts used in porters, stouts and bocks. When brewing pale beers with this type of water, the mash pH generally needs to be reduced through an acid rest, the use of acid malt or directly adding lactic or phosphoric acid to the brewing liquor to reduce its alkalinity. The water at Burton is extremely hard, and the high concentrations of sulfate and magnesium ions lend a dryness that accents the hoppiness of English bitters and pale ales from this region. On the other end of the spectrum is Pilsen, which has very low concentrations of dissolved ions (which is not the same as being very soft). [Note: “Soft” water simply has low concentration of Calcium and Magnesium cations. It can have higher concentrations of other dissolved minerals. “Soft” water is the opposite of “hard” water, which makes it “hard” for soap to lather due to high concentrations of Calcium and Magnesium. A home water softener operates on the principal of ion exchange, substituting sodium for calcium (not a desirable outcome for brewing). “Soft” and “hard” water are thus not very useful brewing terms.] The adoption of decoction mashing may have been in part due to the lack of minerals in the water, along with the use of undermodified malts. The elaborate series of temperature steps in a decoction mash helps the various enzymatic reactions proceed at a reasonable rate, even though the enzymes are working slowly due to the lack of calcium.

[Chris Norrick]

I wanted to forward this memo to remind you, as stated in last month’s media advisory notification, that beginning Wed. July 16, the Evansville Water Utility will be switching back to its normal disinfectant (chloramines) and away from free chlorination. This process will likely take a few days for full replacement of our present disinfectant in the holding tanks and distribution lines around the city.

[Chris Norrick]

Code: Select all

Date       pH Tap        Ca Hardness       Mg Hardness       Chloride       Sulfate       Alkalinity (CaCO3) 	
7/31/2014   7.9               102                46             24             44            78

[Jam095]

I am working on getting a water report from chandler utilities, but the ladie I spoke to doesn't seem to understand what I'm looking for... Does anyone keep up with Chandler water, or know who to contact and exactly what to ask for?

[Jam095]

This what I finally got from chandler utility. (I actually live in boonville, but outside city limits.) she said these figures don't change much because it is ground water.

[Chris Norrick]

Code: Select all

Date       pH Tap        Ca Hardness       Mg Hardness       Chloride       Sulfate       Alkalinity (CaCO3) 	
8/31/2014   8.0               108                42             32             59            92

[Chris Norrick]

Code: Select all

Date       pH Tap        Ca Hardness       Mg Hardness       Chloride       Sulfate       Alkalinity (CaCO3) 	
11/31/2014   8.0               98                46             16             57            92

[Chris Norrick]

Code: Select all

Date       pH Tap        Ca Hardness       Mg Hardness       Chloride       Sulfate       Alkalinity (CaCO3) 	
5/31/2015   8.0               94                50             21             47            88

[Chris Norrick]

I figured a monthly average would be better data than just the last day of the month.

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Date       pH Tap        Ca Hardness       Mg Hardness       Chloride       Sulfate       Alkalinity (CaCO3) 	
6/2015 Ave.   7.9               102                48             20.2             52.8            89.3

[Jeremy Dunn]

I recently installed a RO system in my house and sent a sample to Ward Labs for analysis. I also had my unfiltered tap water tested for the hell of it. Tap water report is below.


Tap Water
pH = 7.9
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm = 362
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm = 0.60
Cations / Anions, me/L = 4.4 / 4.6

Sodium, Na = 27 ppm
Potassium, K = 2 ppm
Calcium, Ca = 40 ppm
Magnesium, Mg = 14 ppm
Total Hardness, CaCO3 = 158 ppm
Nitrate, NO3-N = 0.6 (SAFE) ppm
Sulfate, SO4-S = 20 ppm
Chloride, Cl = 38 ppm
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0 ppm
Bicarbonate, HCO3 = 137 ppm
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 = 113ppm
Total Phosphorus, P = 0.03 ppm
Total Iron, Fe = 0.02 ppm

"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

[Don]

If your water report gives Sulfate as Sulfur (SO4-S) such as a Ward Lab's report does, multiply by that by 3 to get SO4.

[Chris Norrick]

FYI: The Evansville Drinking Water Plant plans to make the annual disinfectant switch over to free chlorine beginning Wednesday, August 12, 2015 and lasting until September 9, 2015.

[Chris Norrick]

The Evansville Drinking Water Utility scheduled disinfectant switch back to Chloramines is set for Monday, September 14, 2015.

[Chris Norrick]

August 2015 Average:

Code: Select all

Date       pH Tap        Ca Hardness       Mg Hardness       Chloride       Sulfate       Alkalinity (CaCO3) 	
7/2015 Ave.   7.9               98                38             16.7             31.9            98

[SkyBrew]

hooray