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Lansing City Water (Read 195 times)
Rogue Vassar
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Lansing City Water
06/17/10 at 1:06pm
 
I've just begun all-grain after doing extracts in the past.  Do I have to make any adjustments if I'm using city water?
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plaztikjezuz
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Jolly Beer

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Re: Lansing City Water
Reply #1 - 06/23/10 at 10:17pm
 
i did not adjust the water for years unless i was making a stout or other english style then i used burton water salts.
 
now i adjust the pH with lactic acid to get a better conversion. lansings pH is around 8 or 9 if i remeber right.
 
any water question for the city of lansing can be directed to Bill Mair, the Water Quality Administer at BWL 517-702-6813. he loves to talk to homebrewers about water and beer.
 
the last water analysis i have is from 2003.
 
Analyte / typical concentration / range
calcium 50 40-60
magnesium 40 30-40
HCO3 15 10-25
Na* 44 30-60
SO4* 70 40-150
C1* 46 10-100
total hardness* 90 85-100
Chloramine** 2 1-3.5
 
* these parameters will more likely to be at the high end of the range durning high demand periods in the summer months of june, july, and august.
 
**I suggest treating the chloramine with potassium metabisulfite aka camden tablets.
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Rogue Vassar
Occasional Beer Fan (beginner)
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I love to make beer

Posts: 12
Re: Lansing City Water
Reply #2 - 06/28/10 at 4:35pm
 
Thanks!  From what you said, it looks like I'll be okay focusing on learning to do all-grain and then adding that in when I'm more comfortable with it all.  Hopefully that won't take too long  Wink
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Rogue Vassar
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I love to make beer

Posts: 12
Re: Lansing City Water
Reply #3 - 07/11/10 at 8:02pm
 
Thanks for the suggestion to contact Bill Mair.  He got right back to me and it looks like the chloramine is the only thing to worry about. I compared the other value's to Jon Palmer's How to Brew and they all look pretty close except the sodium bicarbonate is low for ales so I might also try to adjust for that.  Thanks again and here are the updated stats in case anyone is interested (sorry the format is wonky here but you can probably cut and paste it into excel to make it look better:
 
 
 
Analyte      Reported as      Typical Concentration      Range
Calcium      CaCO3      48      40-60
Magnesium      CaCO3      38      30-40
Total Hardness1      CaCO3      90      85-100
Carbonate (CO3)      CaCO3      20      15-30
Bicarbonate (HCO3)      CaCO3      15      10-25
Total Alkalinity      CaCO3      35      25-60
Sodium1      Na      48      40-60
Iron1      Fe      0.3      0.1-0.7
Sulfate1      SO4      90      40-120
Chloride1      C1      44      30-100
Silica1      SiO2      11      9-13
Fluoride      F      1      0.6-1.4
Phosphate, Tot      P      0.3      0.2-0.8
Phosphate, Ortho      P      0.2      0.1-0.5
Chlorine      C12 (@ plant tap)      2.0      0.8-3.0
pH      pH Units      9.4      9.2-9.8
Turbidity      NTU      0.1 NTU      0.1-0.5
Conductivity1      uS/cm      300      250-750
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hobe
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Re: Lansing City Water
Reply #4 - 07/30/10 at 9:35pm
 
Hi,
 
Did Bill Mair say if there is any significant variance based on where location in Lansing?
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Rogue Vassar
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Re: Lansing City Water
Reply #5 - 08/04/10 at 3:40pm
 
No mention of it but he was very helpful so you could always email him about it.
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