Water treatment

[Cononthebarber]

So am wanting to start treating my water using the above calculator and with my water report figures it saying to add chalk (calcium carbonate)...where exactly can you buy said ingredient? I've looked on ebay and have found some sellers selling limestone flour (calcium carbonate) as feed for reptiles/horses and other animals...stupid question maybe, but is this the right stuff?

 

[bunkerbrewer]

Play safe and get food grade stuff, it's only a quid from the forum sponsor :)

 

[mabrungard]

Unless you are brewing fairly dark beers and your tap water has low alkalinity, you won't typically need to add alkalinity. In addition, chalk does not provide appreciable alkalinity to water or the mash since it is very slow to dissolve and REQUIRES an acid in order to dissolve. In practice, it increases mash pH by about 0.1 to 0.2 units and then provides no more pH adjustment...no matter how much chalk you add to the mash. Better alternatives are to use slaked lime or baking soda to provide alkalinity (assuming its really needed in the first place). Unfortunately the calculator above does not provide reliable guidance on how much alkalinity your mashing water actually needs. And another important factor is that only mashing water needs alkalinity, sparging water never does.

Review the Water Knowledge page on the Bru'n Water website to learn more about what you should do with your brewing water.

 

[pittsy]

1 2nd that , brun water is a lot better as you can add your grain as well as your water and it does give you a lot of info too

 

[bobsbeer]

Looks like a really useful little program.

 

[jonnymorris]

Looks like a really useful little program.

But really complicated (to my mind). I've not worked it out yet.

 

[pittsy]

Looks like a really useful little program.

But really complicated (to my mind). I've not worked it out yet.

True but the information is there to read through , i had to read it a few times with a few days to think about it :grin: and with the help of Palmers water treatment info also it's starting to sink in .

 

[bobsbeer]

Looks like a really useful little program.

But really complicated (to my mind). I've not worked it out yet.

:lol: :lol: I downloaded it and had a brief look. But not tried it in anger yet. So anger may be the right word. :lol:

 

[Cyclops]

Looks complicated for me, lol

 

[Cononthebarber]

Thanks for that, the Bru'n spreadsheet look interesting but complicated, may take me a bit of figuring out before I can use it! :lol:

 

[Cononthebarber]

After a load of reading I think i'm finally getting my head around this treating water malarky. Going to purchase a alkalinity testing kit and wanted to check that THIS is what I'm looking for? Apparently it can be used for testing both pH and KH and is pretty accurate (if youtube is to be believed...)

 

[jonnymorris]

I bought a Salifert KH Marine Test Kit for about £7.50. Still not sure what to do with the result and figured I'd spend my time concentrating on yeast rather than water for now.

 

[pittsy]

In order to do treatment you'll need to know your calcium , magnesium , sulphate, chloride and your carbonate also your alkalinity too , my water report is very poor however it did have my sulphate and chloride so i got test kits for calcium , alkalinity and magnesium . The magnesium test was for marine water which is useless for us and it starts at 30ppm so i've had to guess at mine (i've opted for 5ppm as i know it's under 30 and 30 is the max wanted ) This is the main disadvantage in diluting your brew water by resulting in too low a magnesium total but is most likely the best option if like me wish to lower the sulphate to chloride ratio as more sulphate promotes better for hoppy beer while lower sulphate to chloride favours more malty brews (like i do ) Remember it may be useful out of interest to know your water ph but this means nothing , knowing your ph of the mash wort (that has had 20 mins in sacc rest then cooled to room temp) is the vital thing , you want your mash ph to be around 5.2 to 5.6 (5.8 ok too ) so if you have 6.0 upwards at mash then you'll most likely get astringent in your beer (like i did on some brews before all this crap) Crs (also lime etc) and diluting to lower mash and chalk to raise ph (i think , i need to lower so i haven't looked into raising much as for me it won't ever be needed with my water) my heads hurts again now lol.

 

[Cononthebarber]

Thanks for that. I have my water report which has values for Sodium, sulphate and Chloride but does not have values for Calcium or Magnesium. I called Severn Trent water and I spoke to three different people in the end and the last person I spoke to told me that if the report doesn't have a value on it then the level is zero. I do however suspect that he was just trying to get me off the phone...

 

[stuey]

Hey Conon,

You could always get a water analysis done by Murphys and Sons. About 18 quid all in and if you tell them the different styles of ale you want to brew they will tell you what you need to add to get the water right for that style.

Stu

 

[pittsy]

thanks Stuey i thought it was more like £100 , :thumb:

 

[Cononthebarber]

That's interesting, I may just send them an email cheers :thumb:

 

[Cononthebarber]

Had a quick look and their website says £46. Did you get some special discount or have I got the wrong place? :lol:

 

[stuey]

Try here : http://www.murphyhomebrew.com/laborator ... d_104.html

Posting from phone so struggling with the lack of technology

Make sure you call them or put a note in asking for treatment advice for your listed beer styles otherwise you won't get specific advice :)

 

[stuey]

thanks Stuey i thought it was more like £100 , :thumb:

Thankfully not :thumb:

46 quid for a full on professional brewery test or 17.95 for the homebrew one.