For the home brewer
The concentration and composition of dissolved minerals in your brewing water can affect your mash pH, the behaviour of yeast during fermentation, and ultimately the flavour and mouthfeel of your finished beer. As beer is made up of about 90% water, it is no surprise that water is an important ingredient in your brew.
While SA Water provides long-term average mineral composition for regions of the network, the composition of water supplied to your home or brewery may vary considerably. Therefore, we offer a suite of tests that will help you to understand and adjust the make-up of the water you are using in your brewing process.
These results can be used with brewing software or online calculators to adjust your brewing salts and help you achieve target mash pH, Chloride to Sulphate ratios, and consistently brew the perfect beer.
Our home brew testing suite includes tests for sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper chloride and chlorides such as sodium chloride, alkalinity, bicarbonate and hydroxide, pH, sulphur, sulphate, conductivity and total dissolved solids.
Step 1. Quote
After we receive your application for testing, we email you a Customer Service Request for your review and acceptance. This is an important step, as we cannot progress the process until we receive the signed agreement in return.
Step 2. Home brew water sampling kit
As per the agreed quote, you can:
- collect the home brew contamination water sampling kit from our Adelaide or Melbourne laboratory.
- have the sampling kit couriered to your residential address, or
- opt for an AWQC field technician to collect the samples.
Please note: We can only accept samples from bottles supplied by us as these have been quality-checked. We do not accept samples that have been collected in the other containers.
The home brew sampling kit comprises bottles and a small esky container that is used to keep the samples chilled.
Step 3. Collecting the samples
It is important to follow the sampling instructions included in your home brew water sampling kit if you are collecting the sample.
If you have requested the sample to be collected by an AWQC field technician, you won’t have to worry about collecting the sample or delivering back to our lab.
Step 4: Submit your sample
Deliver within 24 hours of collection - to our Adelaide or Melbourne laboratory.
Step 5. Test results
Test results will be issued within 10 business days of receiving your sample. Reports are emailed to you in PDF and Microsoft Excel CSV formats.
The report will let you compare your results to the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. For interpretation of the test results, please contact:
South Australia
SA Health’s Scientific Services on (08) 8226 7100
Victoria
Department of Health Victoria - Water Unit 1300 761 874
Contact us if you don’t receive your laboratory test results within 10 business days.
Phone: 1300 653 366
How do I know if the water is safe for use?
AWQC cannot interpret the water quality test results. For interpretation of the test results, please contact the SA Health’s Scientific Services on 08 8226 7100.
| Customer collects water samples. Sample bottle set collected from our laboratories | Customer collects water samples. Sample bottle set couriered to customer. | |
|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan Adelaide, as described with the red lines in this map. | $175.45 | $202.07 |
| Non-metro. Adelaide | $175.45 | $208.12 |
Prices are inc.GST and for testing one sample set only. Please contact AWQC (customerservice@awqc.com.au or telephone 1300 653 366) for prices for additional sample sets.
Proceed with testing
To proceed with testing please complete the application form below.
Soon after receipt of your application, we will email you a formal Customer Service Request (CSR) for your review and acceptance. The CSR will describe a proposed sample date (if you have opted to have the sample collected by AWQC Field Officers) and the tests we will perform. Following your review of the information in the CSR, you will will need to provide us a response to our email confirming the details are correct or advising us of any changes before we can accept your application.
^ Please note. AWQC Field Services are unable to service all regional areas. Following receipt of your application, we will advise you if we cannot collect samples from your property.