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Oh hey, who wants to talk about water a little bit?


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#1 Big Nake

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 06:36 PM

Okay, not water chemistry specifically but this tidbit I found online while researching Chicago water. When you Google about water and pH, you might find forums about brewing, gardening, aquariums, etc. and these other hobbies seem to rely on much of the same information. I looked at my Ward Labs report which [surprisingly] is from 2006. I don't know all of those numbers off the top of my head but I know my report was...Ca 34Mg 12Na 13Cl 21SO4 27HCO3 138pH 6.6Look at this image I grabbed from another forum...Posted ImageDoes it seem possible for the municipal water supply to change this much in that time? I use this same water and if this is true, my water numbers have been bouncing around MUCH more than I would have anticipated. I think another sample should be sent over to Ward Labs to verify this.

#2 3rd party JKor

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 06:47 PM

Not surprising. The numbers can change quite a bit based on rainfall/snow melt. Numbers may spike after periods of heavy rain or excessive snow. There are seasonal changes, too. I'm pretty sure that the big breweries get their water tested weekly, but don't quote me on that.

#3 Big Nake

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 06:53 PM

I was under the impression that with the water coming from Lake Michigan and then going through the water distribution process (a facility known here as the Northwest Water District), that the water treatment facility was in the habit of keeping the water relatively consistent. It's very possible that this image I took from another site is not correct or that the village listed there (Schaumburg) didn't actually have Lake Michigan water at that time (no idea of that) and there is no reason to assume that this is correct. But... he did say that he got his results from Ward Labs and sent his sample through a carbon block filter which is what I do. Also, my meter used to measure my pH at 6.6 (the number agrees with my Ward report) but my new meter is closer to 7.5 which is closer to the pH shown in the image for 2013. Seems strange but an analysis is probably in order since my last one was now 9 years ago.

#4 neddles

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 07:00 PM

I can only add that a massive amount of water made its way into the great lakes between 2010 and 2013. They were at historically low levels in the late 00's. That situation which was viewed as dire and worrisome at the time was remedied in a very short period of time. Perhaps the increased mineralization came from the watershed runoff during that refill?


Edited by nettles, 08 April 2015 - 07:41 PM.


#5 3rd party JKor

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 07:24 PM

I don't know about lake michigan, the volume might make it different from more typical regional reservoirs. How do you get your water through a block of carbon?

#6 SchwanzBrewer

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Posted 09 April 2015 - 05:09 AM

Cigar city gets a water report from the city service daily and adjusts accordingly.



#7 HVB

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Posted 09 April 2015 - 05:33 AM

I am different seeing I am on a well but my pH changed 0.3 over a 3 years span.  2011 it was 7.4 and in 2014 it was 7.1



#8 shaggaroo

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Posted 09 April 2015 - 07:06 AM

How do you get your water through a block of carbon?

Carbon "block" filter = Just a standard charcoal filter.



#9 ChicagoWaterGuy

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Posted 09 April 2015 - 07:35 AM

Okay, not water chemistry specifically but this tidbit I found online while researching Chicago water. When you Google about water and pH, you might find forums about brewing, gardening, aquariums, etc. and these other hobbies seem to rely on much of the same information. I looked at my Ward Labs report which [surprisingly] is from 2006. I don't know all of those numbers off the top of my head but I know my report was...Ca 34Mg 12Na 13Cl 21SO4 27HCO3 138pH 6.6Look at this image I grabbed from another forum...Posted ImageDoes it seem possible for the municipal water supply to change this much in that time? I use this same water and if this is true, my water numbers have been bouncing around MUCH more than I would have anticipated. I think another sample should be sent over to Ward Labs to verify this.

The second set of numbers looks close to what I use from the Chicago report.

 

https://www.cityofch...ports/cca14.pdf



#10 haeffnkr

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Posted 09 April 2015 - 07:49 AM

My St Peters water is fed from 9 different wells and the St Louis City water which is the Mississippi river, the water composition changes daily if not hourly at my house.

While your water is coming from one source and might be a bit more constant it still will change as others have said.

 

This is why I use a RO filter and build back up as needed.

 

BTW

I was told by the father of a son working at AB brewery in ST Louis, they have a giant room full of RO filters. They dont use the water straight from the source/river.

 

Kevin



#11 mabrungard

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Posted 09 April 2015 - 12:35 PM

I'm pretty sure that Schaumburg is outside the Great Lakes watershed. A few years ago, the Great Lakes Compact went into effect and you could not supply Great Lakes water to areas outside the watershed since that water would not return to the lakes. I'm betting that the city had to revise its water source. 

 

Get used to the new normal!



#12 Big Nake

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Posted 09 April 2015 - 12:45 PM

I'm pretty sure that Schaumburg is outside the Great Lakes watershed. A few years ago, the Great Lakes Compact went into effect and you could not supply Great Lakes water to areas outside the watershed since that water would not return to the lakes. I'm betting that the city had to revise its water source.  Get used to the new normal!

Interesting. I also just went over to Brewer's Friend who lists a boatload of water profiles by city and there are 5 or 6 entries for Chicago... all of which are pretty close to the numbers I know and the latest entry there is from 2014. I *could* send a sample into Ward Labs but I have to say that my last 6-8 months has been spent on a lot of pale, finesse beers like pils, helles, kolsch, blonde & cream ales and they have been stellar so it's not like something mysterious is happening. Thanks for the reply Martin!

#13 Dave McG

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 07:13 PM

I'm pretty sure that Schaumburg is outside the Great Lakes watershed. A few years ago, the Great Lakes Compact went into effect and you could not supply Great Lakes water to areas outside the watershed since that water would not return to the lakes. I'm betting that the city had to revise its water source. 

 

Get used to the new normal!

 

Martin, nearly all of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs are on a common wastewater treatment district. Both Schaumburg and Ken's town are a part of it. I am aware of the compact, and I don't know how it's actually handled, but most of the wastewater even from Chicago proper goes to the Mississippi. In fact, most of Chicago isn't in the Great Lakes watershed at all. Given the flat geography, there's a minor divide between the Chicago river system and the Des Plaines river. The proximity of these rivers was pivotal to early traders and to establishing the city and even to westward expansion. 

 

Here's a link with a list of cities in the water reclamation district:

httpss://www.mwrd.org/irj/portal/anonymous?NavigationTarget=navurl://ff98e83a296995b10e33bb30fa978744

 

Regarding Ken's question, you posted that chart with testing done at different dates three years apart, and it states that both samples were through a carbon filter. I have to wonder about the filters themselves. Was it the same one, identical models, old, new, could one of them been some type of combo filter that could have other attributes? I want to know more before I base any conclusions on the chart. The numbers that you have from Ward Labs and that ChicagoWaterGuy has are the same ones I have seen for years, and I check the water dept. analysis pretty regularly. I've compared them to numbers for Milwaukee and Green Bay and all of the Lake Michigan water seems pretty close year after year.

 

https://gbwater.org/...ng-information/

https://milwaukee.go...onfidenceReport




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