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

[Manxnorton]

Ru thinking about adding the Gypsum to make 100ppm...
Looking at your guide and if I have 45ppm so far..I'd add 0.02g
(A increase of 46ppm)
= 91...
But it's suggested a 100ppm minimum...
So I add 0.3 Gypsum
(A increase of 69)
= 114ppm
Bri goes to lye down now!!! Phew!!!
Thx guys

 

[Manxnorton]

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?

Haha!!!
Ohhhhhh!!!! Online shopping!!!!! Loves it I does!!!
I look at getting the small one like in the thread...thx

 

[strange-steve]

Ru thinking about adding the Gypsum to make 100ppm...
Looking at your guide and if I have 45ppm so far..I'd add 0.02g
(A increase of 46ppm)
= 91...
But it's suggested a 100ppm minimum...
So I add 0.3 Gypsum
(A increase of 69)
= 114ppm
Bri goes to lye down now!!! Phew!!!
Thx guys

Yeah that's what I meant. You have calcium of 60ppm, so take a litre and add 0.2g of gypsum then test for calcium, it should be a bit over 100ppm. But there's no way you could measure out 0.2g without jewellery scales.

 

[Manxnorton]

ehhhhhh!!! wheres the pic of your scales pal....thought it was on last nite!!! mind i had a drink and slept my that time..
remember diamond or somthing....lol

 

[Manxnorton]

like this one pal???
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electroni...hash=item3f5b952fa9:m:mwrF7SNkI4IOJMQ2CY3RFVQ

 

[strange-steve]

This is the one I have
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Portable-...9255-0%26rvr_id%3D1161451728153&ul_noapp=true

I just checked the accuracy using MyQul's coin method



Out by 0.02g on both, not too bad for £3.00 :smile:

 

[Manxnorton]

This is the one I have
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Portable-...9255-0%26rvr_id%3D1161451728153&ul_noapp=true

I just checked the accuracy using MyQul's coin method



Out by 0.02g on both, not too bad for £3.00 :smile:

Ha ha!!
£3 lol is a smitchen of a hair when your doing this.....yeahhh! It is! Lol

 

[Manxnorton]

Ohhhh shiny shiny...I've promised myself not to Internet shopping this week!!! That went out the window quickly I know!!

 

[cheeseyfeet]

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!

Thanks, I think I'm getting this now,

For example, my Kolsch recipe has simple volumes -

12l strike water, no need to adjust alkalinity as I'm at 8.95ppm already, to add 50ppm calcium I can add 2.22g of calcium chloride, straight into the tub on top of the grain.

20l sparge water, no need to treat it at all?

Or treat the full 32l with 5.93g calcium chloride in the hlt?

Thanks for bearing with me!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[strange-steve]

Thanks, I think I'm getting this now,

For example, my Kolsch recipe has simple volumes -

12l strike water, no need to adjust alkalinity as I'm at 8.95ppm already, to add 50ppm calcium I can add 2.22g of calcium chloride, straight into the tub on top of the grain.

20l sparge water, no need to treat it at all?

Or treat the full 32l with 5.93g calcium chloride in the hlt?

Thanks for bearing with me!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

You do need to treat your sparge water also (or else add gypsum to the boil) because if you don't then you will be diluting the calcium and chloride in the wort. From the figures you've given you would have about 27ppm of calcium in total.
The easiest way is to treat all your water at once.

 

[cheeseyfeet]

You do need to treat your sparge water also (or else add gypsum to the boil) because if you don't then you will be diluting the calcium and chloride in the wort. From the figures you've given you would have about 27ppm of calcium in total.
The easiest way is to treat all your water at once.

Excellent, by jove I think I've got it :)

Can't wait for a brew day now!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[geetee]

You do need to treat your sparge water also (or else add gypsum to the boil) because if you don't then you will be diluting the calcium and chloride in the wort. From the figures you've given you would have about 27ppm of calcium in total.
The easiest way is to treat all your water at once.

The way I work out the salts is based on the target brewlength, using this in the calculation ensures that the final brew (25 litres usually for me) has the correct ppm of salts for fermentation.. most of the microbrewers round here I have been to add to the mash in the same way.

It's no big deal putting in mash or HLT but as you rightly say there is a possibility of diluting if you don't use the correct volumes in the calculation

 

[strange-steve]

The way I work out the salts is based on the target brewlength, using this in the calculation ensures that the final brew (25 litres usually for me) has the correct ppm of salts for fermentation.. most of the microbrewers round here I have been to add to the mash in the same way.

It's no big deal putting in mash or HLT but as you rightly say there is a possibility of diluting if you don't use the correct volumes in the calculation

Yeah I understand what you're saying, rather than split the salt additions between mash and sparge water you put it all in the mash. Tbh the salts can be added at any time during the process, but the calcium level in the mash can be manipulated by how much of the salts are added to the mash, which in turn will impact the mash pH.

That means that if brewing a dark beer with low alkalinity water you could hold back some of the salts from the mash and add them afterwards to prevent a too low pH. Or conversely you could add most or all of the salts to the mash if brewing a pale beer with relatively high alkalinity in order to push the pH down without using too much acid.

This is a little more advanced than the scope of this how-to though, and something that the vast majority of us don't need to worry about. I just split the salts between the mash and sparge water for simplicity.

 

[Manxnorton]

Were getting there...

 

[Jcdonnan]

Cheers for this, always wondered why my ipas were decent but all my stouts haven't been great, bought the alkalinity test thing last week and it turned out its only 16.11. Hopefully this will improve my stouts and porters.

 

[Manxnorton]

Hope today Steve I'll a brewday started...
This time 23l..
The last time I struggled getting the mash water reading and adjusting it!!
For all the '1 litre' test you set for me was spot on,..
I've now got the mini scales and all the Gypsum etc.
The gf is 14.30l and the sparge is 16.90 (think you said don't worry so much with the sparge water.
I'll use the small gf HLT..until I get my new 27l HLT sorted.
Half of a tablet of camptons, alkalinity test, calcium test and test the PH..
I'll let you know how I get on..
TBC

 

[Manxnorton]

Alkalinity 85.92ppm
Calcium 50ppm
No idea for lager....
Thx

 

[strange-steve]

Alkalinity 85.92ppm
Calcium 50ppm
No idea for lager....
Thx

For a lager you want to keep the mineral content low so don't bother with gypsum or calcium chloride, just use campden tablet and lower the alkalinity to about 20ppm by adding approximately 0.35ml/L of CRS to both the mash and sparge water.

 

[Manxnorton]

For a lager you want to keep the mineral content low so don't bother with gypsum or calcium chloride, just use campden tablet and lower the alkalinity to about 20ppm by adding approximately 0.35ml/L of CRS to both the mash and sparge water.

Thx Steve
Phewww!! Didn't bother with Gypsum and I got 0.35ml/l in.
Now in my note pal
Thx again

 

[cheeseyfeet]

Me again, after having a long spate of brewing very pale ales and Kolsch I fancy something different.

I did a Deuchars IPA clone from the bible a while ago that I may rebrew but with water additions.

Using the initial guidance -

For a pale beer <20ppm
For an amber beer ~35ppm
For a brown beer ~75ppm
For a black beer ~120ppm

What's the recommendations for alkalinity for something like a Deuchars? Should I target about 50ppm?

Maybe I should test the Edinburgh water next time I'm there!