Safe for Lizards, is it safe for me?

(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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DeadFall
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Safe for Lizards, is it safe for me?

Post by DeadFall » Thu Dec 04, 2014 9:11 pm

I'm starting to look at water treatment and have a question about calcium carbonate. I can get a 50g tub of home brew specific stuff for £3-£5 if I search for precipitated chalk. If I search for calcium carbonate I can get it sold as lizard supplements at 500g for not much more.

I'm guessing that it's probably come from the same manufacturers at the end of the day, so is there any reason why I shouldn't get lizard powder?

edit: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Calcium-Carbona ... SKWG84EM37 £5/1kg + free delivery for example. I do know a few brewers and crafty types who will take excess off my hands.
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Eric
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Re: Safe for Lizards, is it safe for me?

Post by Eric » Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:18 pm

It likely contains nothing harmful to humans used to drinking alcohol.
That said, your questions raises two others, how much are expecting to use and why?
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DeadFall
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Re: Safe for Lizards, is it safe for me?

Post by DeadFall » Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:22 pm

Eric wrote:It likely contains nothing harmful to humans used to drinking alcohol.
That said, your questions raises two others, how much are expecting to use and why?
Dunno how much, it's meant to help recreate water from limestone heavy areas isn't it? A sh*t load of my genes come from Dundee, so the idea of paying £5 for 100g of something when I can get a kilo for the same price... I've seen a few brewers use it and like I said, I can get rid off the excess easy enough if 1kg is a stupid amount. I'm just coming into some money soon and window shopping :)
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Eric
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Re: Safe for Lizards, is it safe for me?

Post by Eric » Fri Dec 05, 2014 6:43 pm

There's not much actual calcium carbonate in natural or UK piped water supplies, it does not easily dissolve. Limestone does dissolve as you have suggested, but only because of the acid rainwater becomes by absorbing carbon dioxide. The resulting bicarbonates provide alkalinity, a bane to many brewers. I would have thought by your location, although don't know, that your water will contain at least as much alkalinity as you'd normally want for brewing, possibly to excess to even be in need of treatment to reduce it and avoid the many harmful influence that surplus can cause.

It is usual to specify hardness and alkalinity in terms of mg/L or ppm calcium carbonate, but that is a standard way to record those measurements. They give an amount of calcium carbonate that produces an equivalent degree of hardness or alkalinity, even if there is little or no calcium carbonate present.

For the moment you might care to hang on to your hard won cash as it might be better spent on more necessary items.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.

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DeadFall
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Re: Safe for Lizards, is it safe for me?

Post by DeadFall » Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:56 pm

Thanks, I'll be reading water over the weekend. BY then I should have a bit of a better idea of what I need and should be able to understand the water report.
Let's all go home, pull on our gimp suits and enjoy life

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millmaster

Re: Safe for Lizards, is it safe for me?

Post by millmaster » Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:57 pm

My inclination would be to ask the supplier for the analysis of the lizard dietary supplement. I'd be reluctant to put something that isnt specifically human food grade or better ( e.g. pharmaceutical grade ) into any brews without knowing what was in it.

You run the risk that non-food grade stuff has heavy metals ( stuff like Arsenic, Tin, Lead - all not good for people, in excess )( I have no idea if they are good or bad for lizards ) in it and putting in your brew means those heavy metals get into you. Fair enough, the amounts involved are low, but me, myself and I wouldnt want them in me if I could avoid them.

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Re: Safe for Lizards, is it safe for me?

Post by Dave S » Mon Dec 08, 2014 8:04 am

As Eric indicates, calcium carbonate is used to increase alkalinity. I would advise testing your water with a Salifert alkalinity kit to see what your alkalinity is before you go increasing it. And as Eric also points out calcium carbonate doesn't dissolve easily, so if you do need to increase it, bicarbonate of soda is probably a better choice.
Best wishes

Dave

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