Some help with water report would be nice...

[ACBEV]

I may be being a bit thick, so go gentle with me.

I'm trying to get to grips with water chemistry and get away from bottled water. From various places I gather I need some basic parameters. But my water report doesn't have a value for Calcium (Ca), I seem to remember that Ca is 40% of CaCO3. This is where I need to be put right...

From my water report...

Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3)- 346
Hardness (Total) as CaCO3- 345.6
Alkalinity as CaCO3 - 278.25

So which CaCO3 do I use to calculate Ca? and is 40% of CaCO3 the right formula?

Also some calculators require different parameters...
Such as CO3 (maybe thats whats left after taking Ca out?)
and HCO3... Can I work this out with what I've got?

 

[IainM]

You can get a lower limit of the total amount of Ca from calcium carbonate, but not the actual amount due other calcium compounds like calcium sulphate.

 

[ACBEV]

@IainM Thank you... So I use the larger Calcium Carbonate number... 40% of that gives me 138.4 Ca without adding in other calcium compounds.

Seems I need to add some more calcium, but the water reprot doesn't list any. At a guess-imate, how much more Ca is needed?

 

[IainM]

@IainM Thank you... So I use the larger Calcium Carbonate number... 40% of that gives me 138.4 Ca without adding in other calcium compounds.

Seems I need to add some more calcium, but the water reprot doesn't list any. At a guess-imate, how much more Ca is needed?

Ah, this isn't exactly what I mean. The CaCO3 mentioned in your water report is only one source of calcium. There are others (calcium sulphate and calcium chloride are the main ones), so the actual amount of Ca in your water will be higher than if you only consider the Ca from CaCO3. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess at to what the real calcium level is, because these other things could contribute anything from almost nothing to quite a lot.

 

[Hoddy]

@IainM Thank you... So I use the larger Calcium Carbonate number... 40% of that gives me 138.4 Ca without adding in other calcium compounds.

Seems I need to add some more calcium, but the water reprot doesn't list any. At a guess-imate, how much more Ca is needed?

Your best option is to either contact your water company and see if they are able to give you a more detailed report on the water supply in your area. Or use the BrewUk service to get your water tested by Murphys which will tell you everything you will need plus some good basic water adjustment recommendations for base beer styles.

 

[ACBEV]

Thanks @IainM and @Hoddy ... You have been very helpful.

I will contact Thames Water and send a sample for testing.

I already know what water adjustments I want, for style, grain bill, water quantity ect. But can't nail it down without Ca.

I have an excel recipe calc. which works out all the usual stuff automatically, water adjustments is the last piece of the puzzle.