Water Test and Salifert KH + Alkalinity Profi-Test Kit

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

Greetings Tim,

Needless to say, water is a very complex issue and I am certainly no chemist.  I can tell you, however, that pH and hardness have little to do with one another.  Hardness is a measure of calcium and magnesium ions in water where pH is a measure of acidity.

If your water pH is measuring out at 5.2 (that's quite acidic BTW) you'll no doubt have to add alkalinity to your mash to try and maintain the 5.2 - 5.6 needed for proper enzyme conversion.

My suggestion is to read the book called Water, A Comprensive Guide For Brewers, by John Palmer.  Further, I would suggest sending a sample of your water to a testing lab for a full analyses; the quality of your brewing depends on as accurate water profile as you can get, then you can use that information in BS2.

An alternative is to simply use bottled reverse osmosis water and build it up from their.

Lastly, 5.2 pH water is very acidic and my main concern would be on how to neutralize it.  Typical tap water has a pH of around 7.0.

Good Lock and keep us posted!!