about water softeners?

[svenito]

As our water is as hard as rocks here (317ppm) we have a salt based water softener installed.

As far as I understand this works by replacing Ca ions with Na ions in certain ratio?

Is it possible to work out, knowing the calcium concentration from a water report, roughly how much sodium is added by the softener? I'm not expecting accurate numbers, but some sort of ballpark, so I can work on dilution etc

 

[IainM]

I think you'll be hard pressed to get even a ballpark figure. We've got a heavy duty one which feeds into the hot water system, installed by the previous owner, which the plumber said was overkill. At the moment Yours might be a different spec altogether, different sodium phosphates, flow rates, number and size of exchange spheres and so on. I use Ashbeck or Chase Spring water from Tesco for brewing, and haven't had a water report, but I remember a post in another forum where someone got one done on the softened water, with Ca less than 10 and Na in the 90s if I remember rightly.

 

[svenito]

Fair enough. Was being a bit hopeful expecting to work it out. I guess I'll either be making a switch to Ashbeck 100%. Or if the analysis from our local spring comes through ok, that'd be a cheaper option

Thanks

 

[chthon]

It works bij replacing 1 Ca++ ion with two Na+ ions. Since the atomic mass of Ca is 40, and that of Na is 22, the replacement is approximately the same in ppm.

However, your hardness is not only calcium, but also carbonates. So you actually need to know how much calcium and how much carbonates are in your water.

The current Brülosophy experiment is actually about NaCl in beer. The comment section is insightful: too much salt makes your beer bitter. But the experiment shows also that a little bit of salt actually improves the taste of beer.

 

[MarkF]

Okay, not sure, but I have a water softener (17 years, its had to go in for a refurb )and we have a cold water drinking tap which is prior to the water softener, that is where I take my water from, I have had it analysed and add chemicals according to that, my water softener company advised to drink from the mains rather than the soft water any way? Same for watering the garden, its the hose bypassing the water softener.

 

[svenito]

I need to have a chat with our softener guy. We moved in a few years back and never saw a water softener before, so I don't know what it's connected to and what not. I do usually get my water from outside, so if it's bypassed (which makes sense, who wants a salty lawn?) That'll be fine. We have a fridge which dispenses water through a filter which is where we usually drink from. I guess I just need to check where the filtered water goes.

Although I keep forgetting to top up the salt :p

 

[simon12]

My parents have some sort of similar system and on there kitchen sink it has 2 cold taps 1 softened and 1 drinking water.

 

[Druncan]

I'm in the 320ppm CACO3 but, I discovered that it is temporary water hardness. So, if it is boiled it drops to 110ppm. But sadly I also lose some calcium. The salifert kit was great to get the actual levels cheaply and experiment with boiling times etc.
I'm hoping to be going for a reverse osmosis set up when I go FG BIAB. This setup is what Pickerings Gin use in Edinburgh, another hard water area?
I am only an extract brewer though,
However, our current stouts, dark beers and AIPA seem to sell OK! I realise that could not look at lager,,, probably just as well. :beer6:

 

[svenito]

I've brewed a few good beers with my tap water alone. The last dunkelweizen was very popular. So I guess for the dark beers I am ok, but for lighter ones I should experiment more with additions. Got calcium chloride and gypsum atm, will probably need to buy some epson salts at some stage.

Bloody water.... I am sure there's a market for bottled brewing water in different profiles :)