Water treament guide?

[OldThumper]

Definitely KH Chris!

I got to 34 drops (340 CaCO3)and the water has still not turned lime so I gave up. Not sure how else I can test this except to buy the Salifert alkalinity test and hope that works for me. I don't see how this test can only work with 5ml of water as per instructions

I can only assume this KH test is not testing what we think it is. Adding 1ml of CRS to 2L of water should (as you say) reduce the CaCO3 level by 90 but as I got to 340 CaCO3 without reaching the end of the test it must be wrong as not way can my water be above 430 CaCO3 (340 + 90). right?

If you are sure the Salifert test works then I will just take the hit and order that and retry this 2L of water test again......

[OldThumper]

Ah right, KH (carbonate hardness) should be the correct test then. The only thing I think I can do then is to use the figure of 170 CaCO3 to calculate the amount of CRS the next time I brew and meaure the pH of the mash to see if 170 is about right.

Hopefully some others thinking about starting off in water treatment got some use out of this thread as well!

[OldThumper]

Yeah, Cadnam is where I got my kit as well.

Chris, what reading did you get from Southern water/your own tests then? I mean how different is it to the Nutrifin test of 170 you just did? If it is just a small amount then I doubt it matters too much but if it is way off then my 170 figure is probably going to be quite a bit off as well and I should get a Salifert kit.

[rick_huggins]

My Salifert kit arrived today and my harness was 2.97 meq/l which equated to 15 drops.

So 2.97 x 50 = 148.5 TA expressed in CaC

Now to get some CRS, fire in a tsp of gypsum, same again with epsom salts and jobs a good un!

Edit... What's the little tub called alkalinity for? I used this initially because I didn't read the instructions correctly and emptied the 1ml syringe (no change) before I re-read, LOL

[OldThumper]

Okay, I best get a Salifert kit then!

Cheers.

[OldThumper]

Chris, I have ordered a Salifert kit but it won't be dispatched until the end of next week as they are out of stock (must be all the beer boys sucking them dry after reading these threads!).

I will let you know the CaCO3 reading when it arrives in a weeks time or so.

Cheers again....

[GARYSMIFF]

Had a man from the Anglian water call me to say my area (Canvey Island, Essex) receives water from Hanningfield reservoir and a results are
low of 140 High of 205 and a mean of 178mg/l CaCO3 and yesterdays (11th June, 2009) was 164mg/l CaCO3.


so If you are seviced by Hanningfield reservoir this may help.

Now do I pick the 178 reading and work out what :

Porter/Stout:
Mild:
Pale/Bitter:
Larger:
Values are for CRS and DSL are:

what are the values for the Wheat beer please?


Well done Anglian Water.


I think the chap from the lab was a fellow brewer, but did not get a change to chat.

[OldThumper]

Chris, I had an unexpected call from Southern Water today to say that the lab has now reported my average levels as:

252 CaCO3
307 HCO3 (307 / 1.22 = 252 so these 2 figures match at least)

They sound like much better figures. They are average figures and I have no idea how much they can vary but if they can very a lot then using a test kit everytime you brew is the only way to get the best possible water treatment it seems. I don't know how many houses have variable total alkalinity, or may be I should say "significantly variable" to affect brewing.

So basically it seems that:

1) If you believe your total alkalinity CaCO3 level does not vary much (I doubt you can prove this without using a test kit over a period of time) then you can use the same amount of CRS each time you brew (same per L of water)
2) OR failing the above, If your CaCO3 level varies then you need to establish how much variation to the figure does it take to cause problems and therefore you have to buy a test kit and use it each time you brew.

3) Oh, just buy a test kit and stop pfaffing around!!

[OldThumper]

Chris, you just bought the Salifert kit from Creature Comforts?

I went in there last week looking for a Salifert Kit but could only see the Nutrifin ones. I saw some Salifert products but they were not test kits....