Boiling to lower alkalinity

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MattGuk
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Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by MattGuk » Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:56 pm

So, I decided to boil my brewing water tonight to see how much Alkalinity it would remove.
I started with 156.8ppm Alkalinity according to Salifert.
Boiled 35 liters of water for 30 mins and re tested, the end result was 64.2ppm Alkalinity.
I wanted to try this as I'm brewing a cream ale tomorrow, and Adding about 16ml of CRS adds a lot of Chloride and Sulphate and doesn't seem as smooth as it could be.
I'm actually amazed at how much Alkalinity is removed by boiling and I'm now thinking of doing this on every pale beer I brew.
Tomorrow I will decant from the BrewMonk to my fermenting bucket then transfer back.
Anybody else find this worth doing?

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by f00b4r » Tue Dec 29, 2020 8:53 pm

Really interesting to see those results and also to see what others get by doing there same (or shorter/longer boils); it might be another tool in the armoury for very specific styles of beer, where CRS on its own might not be the best approach.

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by Eric » Tue Dec 29, 2020 8:55 pm

Did you decant the boiled water? If not you might care to recheck alkalinity tomorrow lest it absorbs enough CO2 to reabsorb the deposited calcium carbonate.

I don't as it doesn't work for me due to the amount of magnesium in my water.
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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by MattGuk » Tue Dec 29, 2020 9:08 pm

I have just decanted so I will test and let you know, however, even if it raises to say 100ppm, means I use less CRS particularly for this style, which means a less " minerally " beer I guess?
Cool experiment to try none the less

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by MattGuk » Tue Dec 29, 2020 10:29 pm

Just to update, re tested and I'm reading 70 ppm so my conclusion is that boiling to reduce alkalinity is worth it, for me at least.
How well this works for other with higher Alkalinity, I'm not sure but must be worth a try.
I know it's costs more in electricity or gas, but It took 45 mins including the 30 mins of boiling so I think it's definitely worth trying

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by Silver_Is_Money » Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:37 am

65 ppm Alkalinity is about the low end limit for boiling, and it requires sufficient calcium excess to make it work. It appears you did well by it.
Developer of 'Mash Made Easy', a free and complete mash pH adjustment assistant spreadsheet

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by Eric » Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:53 am

Yes Matt, less minerality, less reduction of unwanted compounds, less British, less taste, less satisfaction.

40% of the reduction in alkalinity is a reduction in calcium. 40% less protection for the essential enzymes from premature destruction. 40% less deposit of phosphates and oxalates as hot break. 40% less free amino nitrogen that stimulates yeasts and fermentation.

Boiling does not reduce the magnesium content as it is far more soluble, meaning it bonds with oxalates and secondary phosphates to reach the finished beer instead of being deposited with calcium in the kettle.

You can, of course, add some gypsum and calcium chloride to redress those losses or prefer drinking American style beers.
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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by MattGuk » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:56 am

I understand that I will have removed quite a bit of calcium too, which I will check shortly, which I will most likely use some Calcium Chloride to up the level a bit.
I have no issues with CRS, however I find for lighter style beers, especially for a cream ale, using it adds too much Chloride and Sulphate.
I certainly wouldn't do the boiling method when brewing something like a Bitter or a darker style beer, but even For a Pale Ale, I don't see why it would be a bad thing to boil before hand and use less CRS?

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by MattGuk » Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:23 am

Also just tested Calcium levels and I'm at 120ppm, retested Alkalinity and that's settles at 73ppm.

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by Eric » Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:00 pm

MattGuk wrote:
Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:23 am
Also just tested Calcium levels and I'm at 120ppm, retested Alkalinity and that's settles at 73ppm.
If your water has 120 ppm calcium after removing 80 ppm alkalinity, then you have none of the concerns I raised. That also suggests the initial calcium content was in excess of 150 ppm, an unusually high level for a British domestic supply. Have you had your water analysed at any time?
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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by Silver_Is_Money » Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:09 pm

Do you know what your ppm calcium was before boiling?
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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by MattGuk » Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:11 pm

Not had it analysed but I use the Salifert kits for testing both Alkalinity and Calcium levels.
To be honest I didn't check my Calcium befor boiling but I did brew last week and had in the region of 175ppm Calcium according to salifert

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by Silver_Is_Money » Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:56 pm

I just whipped up a simple Alkalinity reduction via boiling spreadsheet calculator which can be downloaded and then ran in Excel or LibreOffice Calc at the Google Drive link seen below. Click on the 'Down Arrow' seen next to the printer icon in the upper right of the linked website to download it. The spreadsheet presumes that Alkalinity reduction will limit out at a best case scenario of about 65 ppm.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RvCxqM ... sp=sharing
Developer of 'Mash Made Easy', a free and complete mash pH adjustment assistant spreadsheet

https://mashmadeeasy.yolasite.com/

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by MattGuk » Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:47 pm

Just got done brewing for the day, was a really good brew day, although took a while to drain the grain basket, which I did think would happen as I use both perforated plates at the bottom of the grain basket.
Now I may post a brew day thread.
Cheers guys

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Re: Boiling to lower alkalinity

Post by Carnot » Wed Dec 30, 2020 9:03 pm

Matt,

I follow Eric's observation in that you calcium is high, or even super high. Are you reporting as Ca mg/L or CaCO3 mg/L. The hardest water I ever came across was in Swindon where it came in at 120 mg/L as Ca. I sold a water softener to the sports centre and they had avalanche of foam coming out of the showers as customers used normal levels of soap/ shampoo. I wonder by chance if you have a conductivity determination for your water. It would be interesting

I for one would be interested to know what you water analysis is.It would be interesting to know the background sulphate , chloride, and total hardness. Whereabouts do you live?

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