Beginners Guide to Water Treatment (plus links to more advanced water treatment in post #1)

[strange-steve]

steve
soon as you mention the syringe & the scales....it all makes sence.
as you imagine with the other addiction (online shopping) ive got scales ans the syringe.
its all going to me m8...
take my hat out to you....teaching Bri Ducker is going to be a mare.....but now I'm shown I feel enlighten lol
thx once I get the crs be all action stations lol:thumb:

Glad it's making sense to you now :thumb:
There were many very patient people who kindly answered my multitude of questions when I started brewing so I'm happy to try to pass on what little I can.

 

[strange-steve]

And what other addictions do you use your scales*and syringes for, Bri? :whistle::lol:





* Joking aside I have some of those cheapo ebay jewellers scales and their really accurate. I calibrate them using coins and they never seem to lose accuracy.

:lol:
How do you use coins to calibrate them? I've never actually checked the accuracy of mine, but they are amazingly sensitive.

 

[MyQul]

:lol:
How do you use coins to calibrate them? I've never actually checked the accuracy of mine, but they are amazingly sensitive.

My scale are a bit different to the ones you linked but are more or less the same. I use 1p & 2p coins (dont use a pound coin because there's so many dodgy ones in circulation. Noone is going to bother to forge a 1p or 2p coin are they :lol:). A 1p coin is supposed to be 3.56g and a 2p coin is 7.12g. I have a calibrate function on my scales but I've never needed to use it as the coin weights are always what they should be, and I have my scales for about 3-4 years now

 

[Manxnorton]

And what other addictions do you use your scales*and syringes for, Bri? :whistle::lol:





* Joking aside I have some of those cheapo ebay jewellers scales and their really accurate. I calibrate them using coins and they never seem to lose accuracy.

HAHAA!!!!ive just pmsl.....ya crazy..made me laugh.
the ones I use seem to be accurate...especially for measuring my stash:mrgreen:

 

[cheeseyfeet]

@cheeseyfeet that's some nice water you've got there. To answer your question, yes you can indeed treat all the water at once.

With an alkalinity of 9ppm I wouldn't bother lowering that, it's plenty low for any style even a lager. For a kolsch I'd maybe lower the calcium a bit to around 60 or so because it's a clean style and probably shouldn't be too mineraly.

As for your other question, the sulphate and chloride aren't actually needed in the mash (they are for flavour in the finished beer) so really they can be added at anytime before fermentation. However the calcium helps to lower the mash ph which is partly why it's added to the mash water. If brewing dark beers with low alkalinity water, the calcium addition in the mash water can actually cause the mash ph to drop too much, in which case it can be a good idea to add the calcium salts to the sweet wort just before the boil. This sort of thing though complicates a subject that can be complicated enough, which is why it was left out of the OP.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Steve, I think I am really lucky with my water.

To keep it simple and because I only ever brew pales and light ales I'll just treat the total water volume for my first brew with additions and see what difference it makes.

I appreciate there's so much more to this that you navigated us around to get started, thanks again!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[Manxnorton]

Hi Steve n all,
Now I've got the gears!
N the hard part putting it all together...
Might wait til I have brew day n do it properly..start to finish lol

Still researching and just looking at it at small time so I don't get info overloaded lol

 

[strange-steve]

Hi Steve n all,
Now I've got the gears!
N the hard part putting it all together...
Might wait til I have brew day n do it properly..start to finish lol

Still researching and just looking at it at small time so I don't get info overloaded lol

Good work. As a little trial run you could take a litre of water and add 0.3ml of AMS then test the alkalinity. It should be somewhere around 20ppm.

 

[geetee]

Interesting, thanks Geetee, at the risk of opening a can of worms, aren't the chlorides and sulphates needed in the sparge and eventual volume going into the kettle for any flavour characteristics?

Or is their work done after the mash?

Cheers!

Only needed for the mash*, my info comes from the Brewlab course where we routinely put the salts into the mash tun . Never had to treat the alkalinity as it was OK in Sunderland and there was an excess of calcium so only the chlorides and sulphates were important.
Calcium needed for correct fermentation and flocculation of yeast and excess calcium is not too important.
Sulphates to enhance bitterness and chlorides for mouthfeel ( obviously depends on beer style)

*what I mean is having added once they remain in the wort and you dont add them again later!

 

[geetee]

My scale are a bit different to the ones you linked but are more or less the same. I use 1p & 2p coins (dont use a pound coin because there's so many dodgy ones in circulation. Noone is going to bother to forge a 1p or 2p coin are they :lol:). A 1p coin is supposed to be 3.56g and a 2p coin is 7.12g. I have a calibrate function on my scales but I've never needed to use it as the coin weights are always what they should be, and I have my scales for about 3-4 years now

I have a small set of calibrated weight that used to check the balances where I worked. They are out of calibration now but still useful as I am not being checked by anyone.

 

[Manxnorton]

Good work. As a little trial run you could take a litre of water and add 0.3ml of AMS then test the alkalinity. It should be somewhere around 20ppm.

Thx Steve,
On it now!
Love ya testing my knowledge and not treating me like a dunce!!! Lol
It's great to learn again....
A litre it is.....
I'll report back when I'm finished...
BRB

 

[MyQul]

I have a small set of calibrated weight that used to check the balances where I worked. They are out of calibration now but still useful as I am now being checked by anyone.

I could have bought some small weights off fleabay but thought coins would be cheaper

 

[Manxnorton]

Thx Steve,
On it now!
Love ya testing my knowledge and not treating me like a dunce!!! Lol
It's great to learn again....
A litre it is.....
I'll report back when I'm finished...
BRB

Here we go Steve,
The first thing I noticed that cold water was cloudy as...so I ran it for a few seconds..

Notice the water spill!! One handed is a PITA!!
Got the reading from the syringe (get in! I spelt it right :-) )

(0.86= 1.9)
= 34.01ppm
One q do I use the small syringe without the pink top? I didn't..got the 0.3ml..
Ova to you mentor :-)

 

[MyQul]

Here we go Steve,
The first thing I noticed that cold water was cloudy as...so I ran it for a few seconds..

Notice the water spill!! One handed is a PITA!!
Got the reading from the syringe (get in! I spelt it right :-) )

(0.86= 1.9)
= 34.01ppm
One q do I use the small syringe without the pink top? I didn't..got the 0.3ml..
Ova to you mentor :-)

You need to leave the pink top on.

 

[Manxnorton]

You need to leave the pink top on.

B***icks!!!
Back to square one.....ha ha!!
Least I'm getting experience of the kit!!! Doo!

 

[Manxnorton]

Round 2..
Is this better with the AMS?

Got this time


(0.90- 1.2)
= 21.48ppm
Bloody nearly on Steve....

 

[Manxnorton]

I think you doing this lesson with the 1l...for a reason..lol
So I'll wait to ask the obvious question on my next brewday mash n sparge water..
I'm impressed lol
Should I do the calcium test with the 1l?
Or just hold on Brian..your getting carried away!! That when I make mistakes...lol

 

[MyQul]

Round 2..
Is this better with the AMS?

Got this time


(0.90- 1.2)
= 21.48ppm
Bloody nearly on Steve....

Yup, thats right :thumb:

 

[strange-steve]

Yeah leave the pink top on because it makes the drops smaller and therefore gives a more accurate reading. CRS/AMS have been known to be quite variable in their strength but that looks pretty good.

 

[Manxnorton]

Thx my m8.
Chuffed ta bits!
Just done calcium test
45ppm

 

[strange-steve]

I think you doing this lesson with the 1l...for a reason..lol
So I'll wait to ask the obvious question on my next brewday mash n sparge water..
I'm impressed lol
Should I do the calcium test with the 1l?
Or just hold on Brian..your getting carried away!! That when I make mistakes...lol

There's not really any point in doing the calcium test until you have a way of accurately measuring the gypsum. You'd need to be able to accurately weigh less than 0.6g (solubility limit for gypsum) accurately to make the test worth while. But as soon as you get your jewellery scales then by all means have a go at it :thumb:

Edit: Ha too slow, I see you've done it already :lol: What did you add to the water?