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To show how merely dreaming up an ideal water profile fails miserably, I've conjured one up: Ca = 100 ppm Mg = 5 ppm Na = 15 ppm Cl = 70 ppm SO4 = 70 ppm Alkalinity = 30 ppm When I checked for cation/anion balance I got the following: Cation mEq/L = 6.05 Anion mEq/L = 4.03 A miserable...

There is one thing I assuredly know about water, and that is that it has to be real. And to be real means definitively that its mEq/L of cations must equal its mEq/L of anions. 99.999% of water profiles that people merely dream up out of the blue will fail this test miserably. But real water...

Ah, I just now went back to your water providers Mean/High/Low data and saw there where you stated 216 alkalinity as HCO3 (bicarb), and I totally mistook it as being referenced to CaCO3. 216 mean mg/L (as HCO3-) x 50/61 = 177 mg/L alkalinity (as CaCO3). That agrees well with Murphy's 161 mg/L...

Then I found this in Murphy's technical sheet on 75% Phosphoric Acid: 32 mg/L /50.04345 = 0.6394 mEq/L of alkalinity 0.6394 mEq/L x 100 L = 63.94 mEq's of alkalinity 63.94 mEq's / 10 mL ~ = 6.4 mEq/mL for 75% Phosphoric Acid 6.4 mEq/mL vs. my presumption that it is closer to 12.1 mEq/mL...

I found this in the Murphy's technical sheet on AMS (formerly CRS): 64 mg/L /50.04345 = 1.2789 mEq/L of alkalinity 1.2789 mEq/L x 100 L= 127.89 mEq's of alkalinity 127.89 mEq's / 35 mL = 3.654 mEq/mL for CRS/AMS Close enough to 3.66 mEq/mL in my book

As I understand it, Calcium in the mash has at least this list of benefits (to which there may be additional benefits): 1) Stabilizes the Alpha Amylase enzyme so it does not get degraded as rapidly at mash temperature. 2) Precipitates malt oxalates in the mash that may lead to downstream haze...

I believe so.

I've made an initial estimate that CRS/AMS has an acid strength of ~3.66 mEq/mL. It's not available here. Would someone more versed in its actual use please let me know if this initial estimate sounds about right.

I don't sparge, but if I did I would add non-alkaline minerals to both mash and sparge water to achieve the same ppm's for both, and add alkalizing minerals (only if called for) exclusively to mash water. Calcium in the mash is beneficial, so many choose to add minerals to mash only, and treat...

MW of CaCO3 = 100.0869 Equivalent weight of CaCO3 = 100.0869/2 = 50.04345 (since Ca is +2 in charge) 216/50.04345 = 4.316 mEq/L alkalinity 30L x 4.316 mEq/L = 129.5 mEq's 129.5 mEq/12.1 mEq/mL = 10.7 mL of 75% phosphoric acid to take the water to 4.3 pH and thereby achieve zero alkalinity...

I would just use the water company medians.

The mean values balance for cation and anion mEq's if you presume roughly 62 ppm sodium. 9.5 mL of your 75% phosphoric acid will treat 30 Liters to a pH of between about 5.4 and 5.45. The extremes are not as extreme as I would initially have expected. Your water should be usable. I just...

Don't tell that to a Belgian Trappist Monk who happens to brew pricey world class ale! They commonly add 15-20% by grist weight of what is often merely plain old granulated beet sugar to their Trappist Ale's.

@Lee Brown, did your water authority ever give you a response as to their blending practices?

Your water authority must routinely switch its sources, and or blend them differently. It's the only explanation I have. If they are not single sourced for water, you are out of luck.

Which Salifert test would that be?

I see where the Salifert kits are available in the USA, and the calcium test kit does say it's measuring calcium (as opposed to total hardness). But with Ward Labs being so inexpensive here, it's hard to justify the added cost of the Salifert test kits. Also, it appears that the kits are for...

The main thing you'll need a solid grasp of is alkalinity. Followed by total hardness, from which can be workably inferred Ca and Mg.

My thought is that the Salifert Kit does not measure calcium ions directly (regardless of reporting units), but rather measures permanent hardness as CaCO3 and also alkalinity as CaCO3 (mostly if not all of which alkalinity is from temporary hardness). But being in the USA I have never seen a...

The Salifert value of 75 ppm for hardness (again, not calcium ions) correlates rather well with a Clark hardness of 5.41.