Liquor Treatment Calculator

[cnelsonplumber]

Use of the salifert kit will give you an accurate alkalinity on the day you brew. After a few brews you will see that it doesn't change much and you can brew with confidence without the need to keep checking it.

When you get the kit, have a couple of practices to get used to titration techniques and always use the more sensitive of the two test options. Only record the results in the calculator when you are getting the same result consistently.

Multiply the results by 50 and that will give you an alkalinity figure as CACO3.

It's really easy to get hung up on water quality but the trick is to concentrate on getting consistently good results from you beers first. Then you will have a bench mark against which to compare when you start dosing your liquor. Lots of other things will effect your beer more than CRS and gypsum, but it is one step closer to that perfect pint. : :

 

[oz11]

I would take an alternative view. Alkalinity can, and does vary. Particularly if you're water company can supply you from two, or more, sources. I test mine before each brew and it isn't consistent. If you have consistent readings you are lucky! :party:

 

[tazuk]

just got this in form of e mail of water people but some things missing still :wha:

Sodium – 33 mg/l

Sulphate – 104.442 mg/l

Chloride – 43.492 mg/l

Hardness – 234.56

 

[morebeer]

First brewday has finally arrived.... with almost everything ready.

I still need a little advice on water treatment if somebody would be so kind:

Chris advised that I use my water hardness (279.5) from my water report and my CRS calculated out to 49.5.

I have just tested my tap water using the Salifert kit and calculated the following:

Reading in ml = 0.72 = 1.48 Alkalinity in meq/l x 2 = 2.96.

2.96 x 50 = 148 CACO3

Almost half of what it was using the hardness figour in the water report?

The other details on water report include:

Ca 96.1
Mg 9.57
Na 62.3
SO4 138

Total water volumn 35.5
Mash water volumn 8.5

Am I doing something wrong......I know water readings change quite significantly, but can someone please confirm my calculations.

Thanks

 

[morebeer]

Well my first brew went well yesterday and managed to get 23+ lt into the FV. :

So many unanswered questions and still so much to learn. :hmm:

1. Should I have added DWB (Murphy's) into the the water following the CRS?
2. Do you calculate the DWB quantities from the water report?
3. My pre-boil gravity reading was 1034 and after-boil 1041 ...... is this good or bad?
4. I batch sparged starting with 8.5lt. After 90 mins topped it up with 11.7lt stirred it and let it settle for 10 mins, ran it through until clear. Then ran it off and refilled with 15.3lt, let it settle for 10 mins then repeated the runnings and added to the boiler. All looked good and I took the pre-boil reading at this stage.... right or wrong?
5. I went on a one day brewing course run by Paul Taylor from Murphys. He indicated that using Nottingham dry yeast..... a brew made on Saturday can be racked into the secondary fermenter on Wednesday and bottled on the following weekend? So based on this I plan to carry out the secondary fermentation next Wednesday or Thursday and bottle on Sunday.... but I guess this depends on how well the fermentation goes and gravity reading prior to bottling? :wha:

 

[cnelsonplumber]

First brewday has finally arrived.... with almost everything ready.

I still need a little advice on water treatment if somebody would be so kind:

Chris advised that I use my water hardness (279.5) from my water report and my CRS calculated out to 49.5.

I have just tested my tap water using the Salifert kit and calculated the following:

Reading in ml = 0.72 = 1.48 Alkalinity in meq/l x 2 = 2.96.

2.96 x 50 = 148 CACO3

Almost half of what it was using the hardness figour in the water report?

The other details on water report include:

Ca 96.1
Mg 9.57
Na 62.3
SO4 138

Total water volumn 35.5
Mash water volumn 8.5

Am I doing something wrong......I know water readings change quite significantly, but can someone please confirm my calculations.

Thanks

Sorry for the delay in getting back to the thread, work is a bit nuts at the moment.

I just checked my alkalinity again and compared it with my latest water report. there is quite a difference but no where near your results.

There are a couple of things that may be affecting the results:

1. You may have some inaccuracy in your test. Have a look at you tube video. TBH its not the best quality but it does have a reasonable demonstration. It is easy to misinterpret the Salifert instructions as they have been translated from a foreign language.

2. Use the 4ml test not the 2ml one as it is more accurate.

3. Check your indicator solution accuracy, using the check solution, to see if you achieve the dKH figure on the 'check solution' bottle. if you don't then the indicator has degraded.

If you are still getting the same result after the above then your results are good and you can dose your liquor with confidence. :

 

[cnelsonplumber]

just got this in form of e mail of water people but some things missing still :wha:

Sodium – 33 mg/l

Sulphate – 104.442 mg/l

Chloride – 43.492 mg/l

Hardness – 234.56

Hi Neil

Just had a read of Wikipedia as I am not sure if we can get the missing info from the hardness figure quoted. My conclusion is that I don't know without reading some more

I suggest you email your water authority again to be sure and highlight the problem :? I will have another look this evening as I have learn't a few things during the course of this thread and it's quite interesting :geek: :hmm:

 

[tazuk]

yes done that waiting for reply :thumb:

just got this in form of e mail of water people but some things missing still :wha:

Sodium – 33 mg/l

Sulphate – 104.442 mg/l

Chloride – 43.492 mg/l

Hardness – 234.56

Hi Neil

Just had a read of Wikipedia as I am not sure if we can get the missing info from the hardness figure quoted. My conclusion is that I don't know without reading some more

I suggest you email your water authority again to be sure and highlight the problem :? I will have another look this evening as I have learn't a few things during the course of this thread and it's quite interesting :geek: :hmm:

 

[mabrungard]

MoreBeer's water quality information is fairly complete. Plugging those values into Bru'n Water software shows that the cations and anions do balance somewhat reasonably. That balance is a mark that most of the ion concentrations are reasonable.

I note that the permanent hardness is fairly high with substantial chloride and sulfate concentrations. That reduces the utility of a pre-boiling treatment to reduce alkalinity and hardness, but that treatment is still feasible. That treatment is likely to drop the bicarbonate to about 80 ppm and the calcium content to about 70 ppm. Considering the fairly high tap water alkalinity, anything to reduce the amount of acid added could be helpful.

Considering the high chloride and sulfate levels, I would be cautious in adding any more chloride and would only add sulfate when brewing hop focused styles. I note the mention of sulfate/chloride ratio, but my experience is that the ratio is best used when the chloride concentration falls between about 25 and 100 ppm. When chloride is less than about 25 ppm, the levels are so low that the ratio doesn't really have an effect on taste. When you push chloride over 100 ppm, the liquor is becoming fairly mineralized and you run into the potential for antagonistic effects between chloride, sulfate, and sodium. Without these limits, I find that brewers tend to overuse the ratio and they can create some lackluster beers. The sulfate/chloride ratio is not a panacea for creating the flavor effects a brewer wants. It only provides a help in accentuating those perceptions in the beer. I find that maltiness and bitterness perceptions are more affected by other brewing and recipe factors and less affected by the water.

Do others have a differing perception?