Water Softner - Ion Exchanger

Bru4u · Aug 11, 2011

New house and new water, I bored a well to 400', we have no mains here, thank god cos it's ****. However, my samples are off for testing but I know there will be excessive magnesium salts as a tempoary hardness. I will have to put in an ionexchanger and have allowed for to set up twin water systems, there is no point in flushing treated water down the toilet and outside taps etc. The treated water is for showers, washing machine and so on. Kitch sink is also direct from the well, as is the workshop but I can easily run another line to the workshop through the duct for treated water for brewing.
My question is that are there other exchange salts that I can use which will not lace the liqour with sodium and will it be detrimental to brewing pales. Stouts and dark beers are fine but my thing is pale ales. The option of buying ro water is out due to the amount I use.
In my old house I had lovely soft water (with excess iron) and pale ales were top class but alas no more. there is a tinny, watery taste with little mouthfeel.
Boiling 100 ltr to precipitate out the hardness is something I'd prefer to not have to do, gas aint cheap ya know.
Is my only option to buy an RO plant for brewing and add salts as required to create the desired water profile

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Bru

Aleman · Aug 11, 2011

Bru4u said:
New house and new water, I bored a well to 400', we have no mains here, thank god cos it's ****. However, my samples are off for testing but I know there will be excessive magnesium salts as a tempoary hardness.

Unusual for temporary hardness to be due to magnesium carbonate though more likely calcium carbonate to be the culprit, not impossible for it to be magnesium though

Bru4u said:
I will have to put in an ionexchanger . . . . <Snip> . . . . My question is that are there other exchange salts that I can use which will not lace the liqour with sodium and will it be detrimental to brewing pales.

You can get ion exchange resin that swaps out cations for Hydrogen ions and anions for Hydroxide ions . . . thereby producing pure water, which you would have to treat to brew with. The real issue with these resins is that their capacity is limited and recharging them is not a trivial task, so they are mostly used in a throw away capacity . . . making them damned expensive. They are commonly used on the outlet of an RO unit, to clean up anything left behind by the RO . . . which makes them more economical.

Bru4u said:
The option of buying ro water is out due to the amount I use.

Then buy your own RO unit . . .can pick up a good basic 5 stage one for around 80-90 quid nowadays . . . although one with most of the bells and whistles is around 150 quid

Bru4u said:
Boiling 100 ltr to precipitate out the hardness is something I'd prefer to not have to do, gas aint cheap ya know.
Is my only option to buy an RO plant for brewing and add salts as required to create the desired water profile â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬

Not the only method, you can use acids, to force out the carbonate. . . CRS is available commercially or you can 'mix your own' using Hydrochloric and sulphuric acids. . . .Of course depending on what your starting profile is will depend on what you get left with. Once you have your water analysis, post it here and I'll have a play.

If I get time, between the forum, UK homebrew, and the CBA website/articles, I do intend to knock up web page that does my water analysis, I have it in spreadsheet form, but a web page would be easier to share.

Bru4u · Aug 11, 2011

Thank you for your usual excellent and informatave reply :thumb: .
Once I get the results back I'll post them so as to cut out my guesswork.
Bru

Bru4u · Aug 19, 2011

The results are in

Conductivity 344
ph 7.6
total hardness 108
T Alk (HCO3) 146
Iron 0.04
Calcium 35
Magnesium 5
Manganese less than 0.01
Sulphate 37
Chloride 26
Nitrates 2
Sodium 15

All in ppm.