Water Profile Help

[Dr Brown Ale]

I've had my water tested and got the following results sent to me

I don't understand a thing here, so need it broken down as if I'm 5 please

10.2KH or 3.65meq/L
40mg/L Cl
60mg SO4


What do I need to do with this water to make it useful for brewing IPAs, Stouts or Porters.

By the way, that's the Leixlip supply, near Coolock Village

[nigel_c]

Looks similar to my water. Sulfate is a bit higher though.

[Dr Brown Ale]

do you use treatments?

[Beerbuddha]

It's not a thing that I find can be explained simply. I use bru'n water calculator. Google it and read the first page of what's what and what each mineral does.
When that's done you pop ur value from report into table and choose your type beer and it tells you what to add to make profile for each.
YouTube brun water there is a guy who gives great explanation I stop started few times to get the hang of what he is doing. You need to do some research I'm afraid. If your brewing process is spot on then look into this one step at a time but that's how I did it. Then said balls to this and got RO system .

I'm sure others are better at explanations just the way I did it.

[nigel_c]

do you use treatments?

Yes for most of my beers but your gonna have to put in the time and do the research til you get your head around it. No easy fix when it comes to water treatment.

[mr hoppy]

Have a look at the water section of Braukaiser's site. It's very good.

[Dr Jacoby]

I've had my water tested and got the following results sent to me

I don't understand a thing here, so need it broken down as if I'm 5 please

10.2KH or 3.65meq/L
40mg/L Cl
60mg SO4


What do I need to do with this water to make it useful for brewing IPAs, Stouts or Porters.

By the way, that's the Leixlip supply, near Coolock Village

10.2KH = carbonate hardness. It's the equivalent of 180ppm which is pretty hard. Good for stouts and porters. Not so good for paler IPAs (but easy enough to work around - you might need to add more of the salts below [or acid] to lower the pH in the mash for paler beers).

40mg/L Cl = calcium chloride. Decent starting amount. Grand for pale ales. You could increase it to over 100ppm for stouts/porters to give a fuller mouthfeel.

60mg SO4 = calcium sulphate. Decent starting point. You could leave it as it is for stouts/porters but increase it above 100ppm for IPAs or other hoppy beers. Sulphate accenuates crispness and adds bite. 

There's one really important thing to remember about water testing: it only offers a snapshot. Leixlip supplies are known to be very variable so if you want to get into water treatment I'd recommend buying an alkalinity testing kit to get more accurate (and up to date) readings.

[Leann ull]

Yep and Imark was posting the swing before brewdays and the variance was interesting