How To Use Salifert Alkalinity and Calcium Test Kits

[chuffer]

Yea ive found it, this thread was gold, cheers steve!

 

[Neil Whittaker]

Read all of your posts on water treatment Steve and they have been great, this one is no exception.

 

[cushyno]

Need to get one of these kits and start treating my water.

Am I right in thinking hard water is generally better for darker brews than light? My stout efficiency is way higher than my pale ales.

Yes, hard water balances out the acidic effects of dark malts and vice versa, meaning the pH of the mash land up in the right range and you get better mash efficiency. My simple understanding of it.

 

[MattGuk]

I just done 2 brews in the last 6 weeks, my waters alkalinity varied massively.
1st brews alkalinity was something like 189 and 2nd brews alkalinity was about 70 which I thought was odd

 

[marshbrewer]

It is odd, unless your water comes from two differing sources, such as a reservoir and a bore hole, then it could fluctuate quite a lot, I suppose.

 

[MattGuk]

My supplier is Thames, not sure about if they have different sources for my area, thought it just came from the same reservoir all year round, could be wrong though

 

[strange-steve]

I just done 2 brews in the last 6 weeks, my waters alkalinity varied massively.
1st brews alkalinity was something like 189 and 2nd brews alkalinity was about 70 which I thought was odd

Assuming you've tested it correctly then as jjsh mentions it could come from more than one source. See if you can get an online report which should tell you max, min, and mean values.

 

[MattGuk]

Got all of that, 1st brews was within the min, med, max, can't fathom the 2nd brew.
If I can figure how to post a pic I could show my report

 

[strange-steve]

Got all of that, 1st brews was within the min, med, max, can't fathom the 2nd brew.
If I can figure how to post a pic I could show my report

My point was if there's a big difference between min and max values on the report then you'll know that it's a normal fluctuation rather than some measurement error on your end.

 

[MattGuk]

Oh I see, well not a great variation min is 141 and max is 165 lol

 

[peebee]

Need to get one of these kits and start treating my water.

Am I right in thinking hard water is generally better for darker brews than light? My stout efficiency is way higher than my pale ales.

Yes, hard water balances out the acidic effects of dark malts and vice versa, meaning the pH of the mash land up in the right range and you get better mash efficiency. My simple understanding of it.

No.

Sorry @cushyno, I'm using you to illustrate how screwed up this "hardness" (and "Alkalinity") business has become. The penny never dropped for me until not that long ago and since then I've tried to make it my calling to try and un-befuddle those that haven't quite "got it" (not saying I have "got it", I've just got "enough of it"):

Once we had "Permanent Hardness" and "Temporary Hardness". The answer is "Yes, <temporary> hard water balances out the acidic effects of dark malts …". But this was apparently all too simplistic and we were given "Alkalinity" to do our heads in with. The water from Burton-on-Trent contains (some well sources, not all) 275ppm calcium: That is as hard as nails, Calcium is responsible for the majority of (permanent) hardness. Burton-o-T is well known for it's part in creating India Pale Ale.

London water has loads of "temporary" hardness. It is better known for its darker ales (like "Porter" in the early IPA days) because "<temporary> hard water balances out the acidic effects of dark malts". Actually, the same information source quoted for Burton-o-T water above has it down with 270ppm bicarbonate which is what "temporary" hardness is mainly; but that just makes things more complicated!

"Alkalinity" is also mainly due to bicarbonate, but to measure it you do not test for bicarbonate but titrate to find a particular pH "end-point". And it is not pH 7.0! Which is why you mustn't confuse "Basicity" with "Alkalinity".

Hang on. Just need to check my 'ead ain't exploded … Okay:

The "end-point" is pH 4.5 (I think in reality it something like 4.3, but it has been agreed to use 4.5).

 

[peebee]

Bah, using this forum software is harder than understanding Alkalinity: Please ignore (delete) this post.

 

[strange-steve]

Oh I see, well not a great variation min is 141 and max is 165 lol

In that case I would double check your salifert test results.

 

[strange-steve]

I'm using you to illustrate how screwed up this "hardness" (and "Alkalinity") business has become.

I think I got tired of saying hardness ≠ alkalinity to the point where I rarely bother correcting it now.

 

[peebee]

I think I got tired of saying hardness ≠ alkalinity to the point where I rarely bother correcting it now.

You probably didn't correct me about it not so many months back! But you are now giving me space to do my bit of "spreading the word". I'll also get tired of it soon and slip back into anonymity, but meanwhile if I keep scribbling this stuff out it'll eventually embed itself in my head.


@cushyno: I know what I picked you up for was written months ago and your view may have changed, but this thread got reawakened and became something to be "corrected".

 

[cushyno]

You probably didn't correct me about it not so many months back! But you are now giving me space to do my bit of "spreading the word". I'll also get tired of it soon and slip back into anonymity, but meanwhile if I keep scribbling this stuff out it'll eventually embed itself in my head.


@cushyno: I know what I picked you up for was written months ago and your view may have changed, but this thread got reawakened and became something to be "corrected".

Happy to be corrected on my omission of the word "temporary".

As a simple concept that I can get my head around on a daily basis, temporary hardness can be negated by using more acidic dark malts.

I have been known to geek out on science/maths on occasion, though where I'm currently at with my brewing I am happy to know just enough to put my water in the right ballpark. I'll be in touch when I need to level up!

My last 4 brews have all been within a gnats whisker of 5.3pH thanks to a few basics, especially @strange-steve 's water treatment guides and a few bits from M. Brungard.

 

[MattGuk]

The new Salifert test kits are different to the ones I used to use, like I say, maths is not a strength of mine and the conversion I find now, is a bit harder

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Sorry if I’m being a bit thick but I’ve just tested my water for carbonate hardness/alkalinity using this guide and all worked fine, I think. However, I’m thrown by the first photo in the Op showing the contents of this kit. What is the bottle on the far left for?

 

[strange-steve]

Sorry if I’m being a bit thick but I’ve just tested my water for carbonate hardness/alkalinity using this guide and all worked fine, I think. However, I’m thrown by the first photo in the Op showing the contents of this kit. What is the bottle on the far left for?

Good question, I probably should have mentioned it in the OP. It's a check solution of a specific alkalinity, which I believe is used to ensure accuracy of the test kit. To be honest I've never used it.

 

[MattGuk]

CRS won't affect the calcium content but test the raw water anyway.

I'm no expert by any means, but i read that CRS also reduces Calcium, also checked my Calcium before and after CRS and seemed it drops it it by quite a lot