Dublin city center water Profile

[beerfly]

have not got around to reading the water book yet and dont really play around with the water much.  sulfates can increase hop chrispness, you can use gypsum or epson salts for that, you only need to add 3-5g.
if using bottled water it should have most of the componets on the bottle, it can vary alot between brands

[Jonnycheech]

I managed to get a water report from the Dublin lab last summer. If I can find it I'll post it here, I'm sure the values are still the same.

[Simon_]

I've gotten onto Irish Water about getting my local profile (Raheny). I'm in the dark blue section on the linked map and down as BME / Varty / LXE / BME.  I'll see how that goes.

In the meantime without knowing my water profile is there any sense in trying to add Gypsum to my water for better IPAs? Sulfate is really low for the profile Ronan posted above. Anyone had improved hop presence adding a spoonful?

[Will_D]

I've gotten onto Irish Water about getting my local profile (Raheny). I'm in the dark blue section on the linked map and down as BME / Varty / LXE / BME.  I'll see how that goes.

No Linky!

[brian_c]

Let me know how that goes Simon. I'm in Belmont Park so would imagine that the water profile is similar.

[nigel_c]

What are the companies that do the testing. I'd love to get a proper breakdown of my water. Without if its a lucky guess or RO to get what I need.

[Leann ull]

http://laboratory.murphyandson.co.uk/our-products/water/
Their agent here HBC may offer the service
Problem is the profiles can vary a lot depending or what is being fed to treatment works even though the treatment is the same so periods of heavy rainfall v's September which is the lowest point for reserves can be quite different.

[Simon_]

No Linky!

http://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/content//WaterWasteEnvironment/DrinkingWater/Documents/WaterSupplyAreas.pdf

[Simon_]

Let me know how that goes Simon. I'm in Belmont Park so would imagine that the water profile is similar.

Will do. I'm on the next street. Grange Park Road.

[molc]

Also interested as I'm the other side of the tracks

[Beermonger]

The info Ronan's posted is really interesting. There's a massive difference between it and the usual profile given for Dublin in all the American sources (including Beersmith). Most significantly, I'd always been led to believe that Dublin water has about 200 ppm bicarbonate and thus is good for dark beers (you'd think, right?).... but it's more like 32! The low calcium is also noteworthy - 20 instead of Beersmith's 115. I'll definitely be adding gypsum or CaCl₂ in future.

I think the seasonal variation, and the variation between water supply areas, is worth thinking about, but if you were already fiddling with water chemistry on the basis of information from homebrewer sources... then there's no reason not to take Ronan's data as a better starting point.

[Beermonger]

ballymore and vartry/ballymore seem almost identical

I'm inclined to believe you (especially as it makes my life simpler:), but where does this info come from? Were samples from both areas tested? Curious.

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

An interesting anecdote is a few years ago a city centre company bought in water dispensers into their offices, within a short while all their kettles failed and had to be replaced due to build up on the elements. They now have signs in the kitchens advising not to use bottled water for tea/coffee. Mineral water by definition has been pulled up from a well and will contain minerals and will be hard water, water taken from a lake/reservoir eg Vartry will have much less minerals and will be soft as it is basically collected rain water. I haven't checked but the Tesco bottled water could and may be harder than any of our municipal supplies including Leixlip?

[Jonnycheech]

The water coming from Ballymore Eustace is definitely quite soft. I think the water coming from Leixlip is hard. Comparing these two there is obviously a huge amount of difference between different sources so this needs to be taken into account when considering your profile. The water profile on Beersmith must be based on Leixlip as I believe this was the water that was used to brew Guinness initially.

[molc]

I've gotten onto Irish Water about getting my local profile (Raheny). I'm in the dark blue section on the linked map and down as BME / Varty / LXE / BME.  I'll see how that goes.

In the meantime without knowing my water profile is there any sense in trying to add Gypsum to my water for better IPAs? Sulfate is really low for the profile Ronan posted above. Anyone had improved hop presence adding a spoonful?

Any joy getting that report? Getting tempted to start looking into water this winter in my brewing