Pond water test kit

[greenxpaddy]

This is hot topic for me now.

Was looking at the water treatment calculator a few days ago and worked out my averages based upon the UU report. We do have very soft water here in Ramsbottom. SO purchased gypsum Calcium chloride chalk and that other one for the next brew.

Now I need a bleedin ph test kit. And then what do we add to adjust the ph?

[testtube]

Your gypsum and calcium chloride should bring your pH down, just a check really. Other than that acid malt, sour beer, urine, they used fish scales for something as well.

Hey Lugsy, heated discussion's are good, so don't worry. If I'm wrong with something I'd like to know... If we can go through it, as water treatment is a headache, and help some people all the better, including me.. Hell I'm not a Master Brewer...

[testtube]

No, sorry... they check every 2 weeks on mine, at least. When it went up they might have got some water from somewhere else as they were running short, they do that with ours, pump it in from the lakes. Maybe they would send you a report? Something fishy here! Feel sorry for you fella's if it's like that.

This is a portion of the current report from united utilities for all bar one of the important brewing parameters for my water zone

The report details drinking water quality for the last 12 months. The information is updated weekly.

It does appear that they are taking more samples than they used to, but still not frequently enough, and most importantly they don't tell when the last reading was taken and what it was . . . and what it was on the day I drew the liquor to brew with. . . . . Could I accept the 'average' value . . . possibly, but not for alkalinity, which is why people need to measure it before brewing.

Code: Select all

Parameter	                 Min    Average    Max  Units     Regulatory Standard	Number of samples	% failed
Calcium                     16.4     33.7     54.7  mg Ca/l                                41            0
Chloride                     4.51     9.1     21.1  mg Cl/l           250                  75            0
Magnesium                    2.8      7.33    12.3  mg Mg/l                                41            0
Sodium                      10.2     19.1     28.1  mg Na/l           200                  41            0
Sulphate                     7.09    39.5    121    mg SO4/l          250                  70            0
Residual chlorine - Total    0.08     0.49     1.05  mg/l                                 115            0
Residual chlorine - Free     0.04     0.43     0.81  mg/l                                 115            0

Be at regular intervals I recon..

[Aleman]

I would say they didn't sit there for 3 days taking the result's for the year!

As I said it does look as though they are taking more readings now - but still not quoting alkalinity . . . probably because there is no legal requirement to actually take those readings, and in the normal course of events in the north west catchment area the alkalinity is well below any maximum permissible level . . .

Let us consider brewing an all pale malt beer, and make the assumption that my measurements (using both the salifert kit and titrating to pH 4.5) for alkalinity are correct.

The minimum level I have measured is 18mg/l . . . which for a pale ale is well below the recommended level of 30mg/l, so no water treatment is required (it could be argued that the alkalinity needs to be raised, either using sodium hydrogen carbonate, or an acidified calcium carbonate solution) . . . So therefore No CRS /sulphuric/hydrochloric acid needs to be added, and the only required water treatment is that to achieve the desired level of calcium and an appropriate sulphate chloride level. . . The mash pH will fall into the desired range (5.2-5.7) quite naturally, in fact from my notes it hit 5.34.

Now consider the other end of the scale when I have measured the alkalinity at 135 mg/l That all pale beer now has 105mg/l more alkalinity than desired which requires treating with

18ml of CRS or
63ml of 1 molar hydrochloric acid or
31.5 ml of 1 molar sulphuric acid for 30 litres of liquor.

Otherwise that same grist will produce a mash pH well outside the desired range . . . indeed it did at pH 4.9, and the result was a drier more astringent beer that i wanted . . . or liked . . . Lesson learned measure the alkalinity before you brew, every time you brew.

The water companies do not publish the required details frequently enough, and if we make the assumption that the water we are supplied with falls into the min or max or average levels published we can actually be wildly out

Randomly throwing chemicals into the liquor / grist without knowing what is in there is not water treatment, its more akin to witchcraft!!

As being myself an Honorary Bachelor of Science myself <snip> Bit pompus me thinks. PS -- Not chemistry.. was shit at it!

Pompous, pretentious, twat . . . That describes me pretty well . . . but if you want to throw degrees around my First Bsc was in biology, and the second one was in plant biochemistry . . . admittedly it was some time ago, and things like this do get rusty if you are not using it every day . . . . so I do try and check my facts first with people that are a lot more familiar with it first.

[testtube]

Meaning that they would do test's in a scientific fashion, regular basis etc..Wasn't meaning you, bit drunk me was! Just been looking up figure's for ok level's bicarb etc. all my book's value's vary! Helpful! I think he want's to know if treating with too much crs/ams is a problem.. Just if pH gets too low??