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Water tab issue

merfizle

Grandmaster Brewer
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Hi, when adding water salts to my RO water profile, slaked lime, among others, isn't a choice. I would think all water agents would be available? I tried the Add Salts button but that doesn't seem to do anything. I attached a picture of what water agents I"m able to add to my water profile, and the ones that are truly available in the Misc. Ingredients section.

Thanks,

Mark
 

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I looked hard at adding slaked lime but the chemistry is quite complicated as it is not just a matter of adding a bit of lime in the mash.  You need to add the lime, wait a while and precipitate the Calcium.  Also it can be complex to calculate exactly how much will precipitate and what the final ion content will be without a test kit.

It is something I'm looking at for the future but it will likely be a separate step or tool as its not the same as the other salts.

Brad

Brad
 
Ok, thanks for the explanation Brad!

I don't use the lime to precipitate calcium. I use it to add calcium as well as increase mash pH. The calculator I currently use gives me the option to boil (precipitate chalk) and also to precipitate calcium if using slaked lime.

Thanks again,

Mark
 
BeerSmith said:
I looked hard at adding slaked lime but the chemistry is quite complicated as it is not just a matter of adding a bit of lime in the mash.  You need to add the lime, wait a while and precipitate the Calcium.  Also it can be complex to calculate exactly how much will precipitate and what the final ion content will be without a test kit.

It is something I'm looking at for the future but it will likely be a separate step or tool as its not the same as the other salts.

Brad

Brad

Hi Brad, thanks for your clarification. I am missing Magnesium Chloride as well though. Sometimes is quite difficult to achieve some aggressive chloride levels without it, also the current calculation tool seems to tend to neglect magnesium additions over calcium ones.
 
To revive this old thread, I'd also love to see the ability to add CaOH2 in my brewing water calculator, as well as in my mash addition, for instance if my mash PH hits too low, instead of adding acid i need to add a base obviously. I've always added just a touch of CaOH2 and retested when this happens (pretty infrequent).

Another question I have, is in beersmith when the Chalk addition is required, does it assume you're adding that Chalk to Carbonated water, and adding that water, or is it assuming you're adding that amount of chalk directly to the Mash, as it seems the results will be quite different in those scenarios.
 
You are correct that the results would be different when adding chalk to the mash versus adding it after dissolving in in carbonated water.  Chalk (CaCO3) has a very limited solubility in water, which is why the only effective way to use chalk is to predissolve it in carbonated water. 

I would not assume that BeerSmith has this in its routine calculations. Personally, I exclude chalk from my mineral balance calculations due to the fact that it does not take into account the low solubility of CaCO3.

On a somewhat related note:  When adding mineral salts to your water to affect the mash pH, it is always best to add the salts to your mash water at the very least the night before to allow the salts to fully dissolve.  I have tried adding the salts to the mash water just before doughing in and found highly variable pH results.  When I predissolve the salts, my mash pH is highly predictable. 
 
My mash PH's are usually spot on. I rarely have issues, and really have only had once instance with a stout that had lots of carafaIII and Chocolate malt it ran a bit lower than desired, I adjusted on the spot with CaOH2 back up to 5.3, my target. Planning on doing a Tripel soon and was wanting to adjust with chalk which is something I've always skipped due to the "trouble" of it, but was planning on using it this go-round for kicks.

I prefer not to let my water sit overnight, although I know its all in my head, I swear I can taste a metallic note, perhaps because I'm starting with RODI water that picks up anything it can?
 
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