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Bell's water profile

chrismhaney

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Toured Bell's last weekend. The guide said they use Kalamazoo city water. Does anyone have the analysis? My searches came up empty.
 
They're a public government entity, this information is freely available (FOIA) IF YOU ASK. Just call the K'zoo Water Department, M-F between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at (269) 337-8149 or email them at cokpublicservices@kalamazoocity.org. However, where the brewery actually sources its water from may be different. Based on the limestone-derived geology of almost all of southern Michigan, the water it likely to be rather hard, with a lot of dissolved Ca+ and Mg++ and other particulates. I've never been there, but the brewery likely filters (reverse osmosis, distillation, etc.) depending on the beer style.
 
Further to my post, I also suggest visiting the USGS Water Quality website - http://water.usgs.gov/owq/hardness-alkalinity.html. The USGS water-resource division is an outstanding, science-vetted outlet (I used to work for them) with information most useful for brewers. This link has a map that has a general alkalinity map of the 48 states of the USA. Haven't found a similar map for Canada, but, with the exception of the Niagara Escarpment, areas with glacial till deposition, the prairie lands and eastern Rockies, a lot of the water is derived from very old geology and thin soils, thus is quite soft.
 
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