Can you see chalk?

[ECW]

I know it seems a daft question , but what I really mean is this:

There are a lot of suggestions on these fora about boiling water for 15 mins and leaving to cool before using it to brew in order to remove the chalk/carbonate. I don't know if my water needs it. However, I've done the boiling and I'm waiting for the cooling. If my water is chalky, will I see anything when it cools and the chalk precipitates? If the answer is yes, and I don't see anything, I'll assume that I shan't need to boil it next time - hence the question. So far, there is no precipitate, and it's almost down to room temperature.

I appreciate the question is considerably more complex than my simple formulation - but if the answer is a simple yes or no, then it moves me a good step forwards in my brewing career!

[Graham]

If the water report you posted in the water report section refers to your area, then a good deal of your "hardness" is bound to sulphate, leaving a smaller amount bound to carbonate.

Doing a few sums on the hardness and sulphate figures in the table, using hardness as 92 to 134 as CaCO3, and sulphate as 28 to 64 mg/l (as per the report) gives: Calcium 37 to 54; Carbonate 37.7 to 41.6, which is not a busting lot of either.

The carbonate is alkalinity under another name. Expressing the carbonate as calcium carbonate gives 62.9 to 69.4 mg/l alkalinity as CaCO3. Incidentally, this adequately illustrates that hardness and alkalinity are not the same thing, and that the simplistic instructions given by Brupaks for their CRS is prone to huge error in some circumstances because sulphate is not taken into account.

The carbonate is a bit high, but might be liveable with. Boiling, (using the proper procedure), will reduce the carbonate to below about 20, meaning that the remaining 20mg/l is all that that is available to come out. This is unlikely to be visible. Indeed, there is so little to come out that, although the chalk will come out of solution, it may remain in suspension because the crystal size is too small to be heavy enough to fall out of suspension by gravity.

That last little bit of carbonate, below 50, is the hardest bit to get out.

[Dr. Dextrin]

In my experience, yes you can see the chalk deposit. But then my water is high in carbonates (260ppm CaCO3). If you add gypsum, I suspect you'll always get a chalky deposit, but some/all of it will probably be the gypsum you put in, as it's a devil to dissolve.

Also, I find quite a lot of the "deposit" actually clings to the sides of the boiler (and to the element if I use electric heating). Having lived in various areas, I think this characteristic varies quite a lot. In some places, lime scale builds up in your kettle and is really hard and difficult to remove, but in others it flakes off easily and sometimes it doesn't really stick at all and ends up in your cuppa instead. I guess this reflects the exact mineral content in different areas.

[ECW]

The water report is the one posted in the relevant thread (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6494&start=45#p289104) - good spot, Graham - and yes I am in the US - well remembered, Chris. Sorry, I should have put the details in here.

From an initial glance, I suspected that the numbers were neither high nor low and as additional evidence, whilst the kettle doesn't fur up, the soap doesn't over-lather either (you think like me, Dr. D). Now, this is only my 2nd AG, so given that the consensus is that the figures aren't too bad, I think I'll leave water treatment until I can get the brewday below 7hrs! I wanted to know if it was likely to cause a big problem, and therefore that fixing it would radically improve my beer. I've got some Burtonisation salts I'm going to add this time, we'll see if they make much difference.

That said, once I've got the brewing process sorted, then I will indeed do some water analysis and attempt some corrections, (can't resist tinkering ) so thank you for the detailed advice, Chris. I've seen your videos on YouTube; what I particularly like is the lack of a soundtrack, so many other videos are ruined by the presenter waffling away.

Anyway, typing this won't get the Bass brewed...

[ECW]

So I thought, I'll use the water I boiled last night anyway. I opened the tap on the boiler to pour it into the HLT and came back to the computer to double check the recipe. Did I check the tap on the HLT? Did the kitchen flood?

At least it was only water, not wort like last time (tap on boiler leaked). Long story short. Tried to bodge the tap on to avoid paying $$ for a kit one. Wasn't bodgeable. Bought tap kit. Took tap kit apart and realised it was made from parts easily obtained. Next time will make own. I'll post a thread for US brewers showing how to make tap kits that don't leak. They don't have water butts out here, so you can't get the handy tap attaching bits you all keep posting pictures of on your lovely new boilers.

Back to the brewing...

[Dennis King]

So I thought, I'll use the water I boiled last night anyway. I opened the tap on the boiler to pour it into the HLT and came back to the computer to double check the recipe. Did I check the tap on the HLT? Did the kitchen flood?

how many times have I done that

[ECW]

At least the floor has been washed now.

Funnily enough, that's what my wife said!

Anyway, mash on now, 66 degrees in the coolbox mash tun. Made it myself for $35 all in - you can buy a conversion kit for $87, or a ready made one for $150! Seems to work well, last time it lost 1 degree in 90 mins. I tasted the brew when I racked it to the secondary, and again when kegged and it seemed pretty good. (Dave Line and DaaB London Pride).

This time I'm doing DL Draught Bass. According to GW's Beer Engine the hops schedule gives 56EBU, but Bass should be about 26. I know DL has too many hops and most people reduce by 20-25%, but the Beer Engine seems to be suggesting a 50% reduction. Any suggestions?

[befuggled]

It's a bit late; I have only just found this thread. This is what I get after boiling about 65L for 20 mins, with gypsum as mentioned earlier.
It is all over the sides and at the bottom. Thames Water, probably from Farmoor reservoir.