Ever wondered how chalky your water is?

[stevey]

After reading the section on water chemistry in Graham Wheeler's book, I decided to boil my water before brewing.
I knew my water was chalky, living in North Kent, but I was actually amazed at the amount of chalk that came out of solution after a 15 minute boil.
This is a 50 litre pot so there must be well over a teaspoon stuck to the sides and bottom.
I think water chemistry is going to be the next part of my learning curve.:shock:

 

[Gazmond]

I have a very similar problem - the water boards water report lists my water as having something like 304 calcium thingumies.

I bought a salifert water hardness kit and the thing didn't think about changing colour until I was on my second 1ml syringe of the mixing solution. I've taken to using CRS which seems to be working ok for me at the moment but many of my pans end up looking like yours if I need to boil water for any length of time

 

[Robin54]

Since I live on the South Downes, Ive given up worrying about it. I know that Shepherd Neame in Kent draw their water from a well, but that water would have passed through chalk aquifers so god knows what they add if anything

 

[BeerCat]

Cool experiment. The same happens when you distill water. After a weeks use there is a load of sludge left in the bottom.This is why i only drink Reverse Osmosis water(cheaper than using a distiller and faster). All that gunk in the pan would of ended up inside you.