Beer stone remover

[MashBag]

The reading I get from the TDS meter, when I dip it in our tap water is 280 (ppm I presume)

Bugger. Yes. The AMS adjusts the alkalinity, it doesnt affect the actual calcium hardness. Not my forte this water malarkey. I will get a good book on the subject, or reread some chapters in my more technical brewing books. Thanks again Eric. The stream iron will continue to get destilled water from the dehumidifier.

[Eric]

Most cheap TDS meters are calibrated for saline solutions and not drinking water. They are a conductivity meter, a meter that measures conductance (an inverse of electrical resistance) of a liquid, with a digital output representative of the mg/l of sodium chloride that would provide equivalent conductivity. Different compounds dissolved in water influence conductivity differently and therefore the TDS of your water was not 280 ppm.

It will however indicate changes in your water's TDS.

[MashBag]

I can't find the quote now, but I understood for brewing ppm and mg/l were interchangeable?

[Eric]

I can't find the quote now, but I understood for brewing ppm and mg/l were interchangeable?

For all practical purposes, brewers can use either ppm or mg/l without a pedantry act of differentiating between the two. A readout of 280 on a TDS meter set to determine the level of sodium chloride in water does not apply to any or every other solution of different salts. All it provides is its conductance is similar to that of a salt and water solution at that level.