Water Treatment – Alkalinity/Calcium

[Kegman]

Hi,

Trying to get my head around this, the Anglia Water website lists for my area:

CaC03 (Alkalinity) - 242mg per litre (does the Alkalinity seem a bit high?)
Ca (Calcium) - 129mg per litre

The Brupacks Water Treatment page http://www.brupaks.com/water%20treatment.htm

Says, “Original Alkalinity in ppm x 0.4 = Calcium in ppm”.

Therefore since I understand that ppm is the same as mg/l: 242 X 0.4 = 96.8

96.8mg and 129mg seem quite far apart to me, should I be taking the Brupacks calculation with a pinch of salt (not literally obviously)?

Thanks,

Kegman.

[mark]

The values on the website will be averages for a particular period.
That alkalinity value is high, but totally possible.
Best practice seems to be to buy a Salifert alkalinity test kit and test your liquor before each brew. That way you can work out the correct CRS and salt additions each time you brew.

My alkalinity figure is quite variable.
I also read about a brewer whose liquor went from 10ppm CaCO3 to almost 100ppm overnight. Turns out that due to a water shortage his water board were sending him a blend of bore hole extraction and reservoir water....normally he just gets reservoir water.

I test alkalinity for each brew and use the waterboard average figures for everything else.

Hope that is of help

[Kegman]

Excellent, a lot of help thanks!

Just seen the Youtube video for it as well

Thanks,

Kegman.