Need help understanding my water hardness

[WelshPaul]

Hi folks,
after a recent house move I was looking at the water info for my area and found the summary below:

Now, does this "average hardness" value refer to calcium carbonate or to other minerals as I didn't see any information regarding this or magnesium in the detailed breakdown?

Thanks.

 

[Dr Mike]

"Hardness" is a measure of the total Calcium and Magnesium. Unfortunately it doesn't tell you how much of the associated anions is carbonate and how much is sulphate.

There are different hardness scales. If you look up hard water on Wikipedia, the explanation of the different scales is not too bad.

 

[mabrungard]

They mislabeled some of the columns.

The Average Hardness is actually the Hardness (as CaCO3). As Dr. Mike mentions, that designation does not identify if that is Total, Temporary, or Permanent Hardness. It could be any.

The hardness is actually the calcium concentration in mg/L

 

[Aleman]

The hardness is actually the calcium concentration in mg/L

No, it is the sum of the amount of calcium and magnesium ions in solution . . . and just to make matters worse it is expressed as equivalents of calcium carbonate i.e if it was all derived just from calcium. . . . and just to confuse matters that is the way alkalinity is expressed as well

If you see the words hardness or total hardness put your fingers in your ears and start saying lalalalalalalalala very loudly until you've forgotten it. Don't get all excited just because you've found a figure with CaCO3 after it, a hardness figure no matter what terms it is expressed in is of no use

 

[WelshPaul]

OK, I'm just trying to work out how much CRS I should be using. Since I've recently moved from London where just a glass of water needed soaking in limescale remover, I'm currently going without CRS due to the relatively soft water.

 

[Good Ed]

you need a Salifert kit to test for alkalinity, water reports are ok as a guide but no substitute for what is coming out of your tap. Costs about £8 and lasts for a good while.

 

[mabrungard]

No, it is the sum of the amount of calcium and magnesium ions in solution . .

I agree with you fully in any other case. Hardness is the sum of Ca and Mg ions. But in the case that was presented above and confirmed by the alternate hardness descriptors (degrees Clark, degrees German), it is just the Ca that is reported as 'hardness' there.

Aleman makes a very good point that hardness is of little concern in brewing. It is alkalinity that is far more important in brewing. But, this is not to say that hardness is irrelevant. When within bounds, hardness is a good thing to have in your brewing liquor. Something I note in reading through the past posts on this forum is that some brewers might be adding too much additional hardness through DLS, gypsum, or calcium chloride in order to achieve a particular sulfate or chloride concentration or ratio. Sometimes you can't "add" your way out of bad brewing water. Sometimes dilution or complete replacement with distilled or RO water is necessary. Mineral water is not an asset in a finished beer.

 

[Swazi]

Sometimes you can't "add" your way out of bad brewing water. Sometimes dilution or complete replacement with distilled or RO water is necessary

This is an important point that anyone who is messing with their water should take note of. RO water can be bought cheaply from some pet shops that sell marine fish.