I have access to 2 different water sources, belwo there listed.
I have not dug into water to much yet so pretty much a newbie. I have been playing around with EZ water calc and bruns water. Looking for some tips.
One water is pretty hard and the other is soft
Any tips on using these? I am thinking the hard one I can keep just about as is for stouts.
THe other looks ok for amber colored beers. I assume with the little knowledge I have I will be using the #2 option for most of my beers.
Maybe leave as is and add a little gypsum for hoppy beers and cut with distilled if I want something lighter but then some of the content drops pretty low.
THis is from ward labs and I beleive I have to take Sulfate, SO4-S multiplied by 3?

#1
pH 7.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 407
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.68
Cations / Anions, me/L 7.4 / 7.3
ppm
Sodium, Na 10
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 82
Magnesium, Mg 34
Total Hardness, CaCO3 347
Nitrate, NO3-N 2.6 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 5
Chloride, Cl 27
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 372
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 305
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit




#2
pH 8.2
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 141
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.23
Cations / Anions, me/L 2.2 / 2.1
ppm
Sodium, Na 6
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 12
Magnesium, Mg 15
Total Hardness, CaCO3 93
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 5
Chloride, Cl 13
Carbonate, CO3 6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 72
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 69

I'm not sure that the first one is suited for stouts. The alkalinity is pretty high and the residual alkalinity ends up pretty high too. On top of that, the magnesium is a little high. I'd say that cutting the first water with RO or distilled would probably work for stouts, say 1 to 1.

The second water looks pretty good. The mineralization isn't too high and that allows you some room for increasing some of those ions as desired for flavor effect. The alkalinity is a little too high for some lighter styles, but a bit of acid or acid malt would likely take care of that.

cool, thanks. LActic acid for the mash on the second one