Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

(That's water to the rest of us!) Beer is about 95% water, so if you want to discuss water treatment, filtering etc this is the place to do it!
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Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by timtoos » Thu Aug 11, 2016 8:49 pm

Hi guys,

Just tested my water. I am on a private spring and have no idea of what the waters all about. I had thought about a professional analysis but thought Id give this a shot first.

The pH of my water is 5.2
I added 0.04 ml (2 drops was enough to turn it pink) from the 1ml syringe to the Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit- giving 15dkH / 5.36meq/L.

I take it this is carbonate hardness. What does this mean exactly? Is this information useful to plug into beer smith and if so where does this test information go? I am using the latest beer smith 2.35. If I enter it under the Calcium (Ca) section then the limits are 50 - 150.

I thought my water here was soft. Theres no scale ever in the kitchen kettle.

Any advice is really appreciated.

Cheers

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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by Kev888 » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:20 pm

The Salifert KH test kit is a very good first step to take in water treatment. The results give you the 'total alkalinity' of your water (they sell a different kit for testing calcium).

I don't use beer smith so can't help with that specifically, but total alkalinity is (confusingly) often expressed as if it were all derived from CaCo3. If you need to convert your meq result to equivalent CaCo3, multiply by 50. Be sure to enter it in the alkalinity field though, there may be another for CaCo3 itself.
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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by timtoos » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:25 pm

So that would give me a CaCo3 figure of 268. Isn't that a bit high?

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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by Kev888 » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:32 pm

The 'reading' column in the kits table is the syringe reading, NOT the amount of reagent used, I think that may be why. If you used 0.04ml the 1ml syringe would be reading 0.96, giving you essentially 0.1 meq/L alkalinity.

You can verify that you are using the kit correctly bu testing the supplied check solution. TBH water this low in alkalinity is a bit beyond my experience, hopefully some more expert members can help advise how to tackle it.
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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by timtoos » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:48 pm

Ah right. That clears that. It seems awfully low now.

I don't think I received a test solution :-(

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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by Eric » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:51 pm

Yes, your water is almost certainly soft. I think you might be misreading the table with the Salifert kit as already observed with alkalinity as calcium carbonate being about 5mg/l.

Without a full test it is difficult to know what that water contains, but as the alkalinity is little different to that of rainwater, it is likely that water has very little mineral content. Sounds like the spring is either from impervious rocks or surface water.
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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by timtoos » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:57 pm

Do you guys recommend a full professional water analysis?

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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by Good Ed » Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:21 pm

timtoos wrote:Do you guys recommend a full professional water analysis?
Yes, pm WallyBrew on here for a test at £25. I think he is on hols at the moment so you may wish to wait a couple of weeks.

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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by Eric » Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:31 pm

timtoos wrote:Do you guys recommend a full professional water analysis?
Part of me says yes and part says no. I've had my water tested several times and benefited greatly from them. I now use a £5 TDS meter that allows me to very quickly tell what is in my water which is heavily mineralised yet varies vastly.

If your water has been tested for purity and found uncontaminated I would say that as mineral quantities are likely to be so small as to be insignificant, there would be no difference if you did or didn't take them into account. However, it could be the best £25 investment you ever made in brewing.
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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by Kev888 » Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:57 pm

Yes a little hard to call if the water sees a lot of variation (and Eric is far more knowledgeable than I). If you are likely to be using the water long term it could help to get it tested a few times in different conditions, to build up a picture of the ranges involved. But even main-stream tap water can change as suppliers fiddle around, let alone spring water, so testing each brew with the KH kit will still be worthwhile even if just as verification. You could also consider their calcium kit as a next stage.

I missed part of your OP, but the alkalinity you are testing for with the KH kit gives an indication of the waters buffering power, which in turn helps to predict the mash PH when water and grain are combined. Different grains have a different PH (often roughly correlated with their darkness) so there are general ballparks that one would try to get the water's alkalinity into depending on the grist about to be used.
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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by orlando » Fri Aug 12, 2016 9:16 am

timtoos wrote:Do you guys recommend a full professional water analysis?
Yes, as a fellow alumni on this forum would say, if not everything else you do borders on Witchcraft. :D By the way the pH of your starting water is irrelevant it is the buffering capacity of it that matters and yours is very low. Good for Pales and Pilsners but you will struggle with dark beers as darker grains and crystal malts acidify the water, that will probably drop your mash water into pH values that will cause you problems.
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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by AnthonyUK » Fri Aug 12, 2016 11:20 am

It may be worth doing but remember the test is only valid for THAT sample. It's possible that your water will never change but always worth a quick check with the Salifert kit anyway.
As yours requires only two drops it should last a lot longer than mine which requires at least one whole syringe.

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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by orlando » Fri Aug 12, 2016 12:20 pm

AnthonyUK wrote:It may be worth doing but remember the test is only valid for THAT sample. It's possible that your water will never change but always worth a quick check with the Salifert kit anyway.
As yours requires only two drops it should last a lot longer than mine which requires at least one whole syringe.
That is true, but a TDS meter should be able to indicate a change and if you use a calculator that let's you know if the water balances you have a second chance.
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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by Dave S » Fri Aug 12, 2016 12:24 pm

orlando wrote:
AnthonyUK wrote:It may be worth doing but remember the test is only valid for THAT sample. It's possible that your water will never change but always worth a quick check with the Salifert kit anyway.
As yours requires only two drops it should last a lot longer than mine which requires at least one whole syringe.
That is true, but a TDS meter should be able to indicate a change and if you use a calculator that let's you know if the water balances you have a second chance.
Yes, a reliable analysis, a Salifert Kit and a cheap TDS meter is the way to go.
Best wishes

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Re: Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

Post by timtoos » Fri Aug 12, 2016 6:22 pm

What TDS meter would you recommend?

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