Calcium chloride in the water calculation tool

Hello,

I was trying to use the water calculator tool and noticed that calcium chloride is shown as CaCl. Its formula is CaCl2.

Is this just a typo and the software is still actually calculating weights based on two chlorides? Or is the software only using 1 chloride per 1 calcium in the calculations?

I didn't do my own calculations by hand to determine this yet, because I thought it would be easier to just ask it here.

I'm about to do the calculations, but hopefully someone knows for sure and can tell me.

Thanks!

I'd also like to ask if the calculations take into account waters of hydration.

Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (MgSO4 * 7H2O).

Gypsum is calcium sulfate dihydrate (CaSO4 * 2H2O).

Just asking.

While I cannot say with any certainty, I have tested my water before and after addition of water salts (CaCl2, MgSO4, CaSO4) and the numbers seem to align with CaCl2 * 6H2O, which is what I have on hand for CaCl2.  I am using the LaMotte kit and the addition level and accuracy of the test is good enough to rule out the lower hydrated forms.

The calculations are based upon the paper I have attached and which Brad has referred to in his blog.

Oginme said:

While I cannot say with any certainty, I have tested my water before and after addition of water salts (CaCl2, MgSO4, CaSO4) and the numbers seem to align with CaCl2 * 6H2O, which is what I have on hand for CaCl2.  I am using the LaMotte kit and the addition level and accuracy of the test is good enough to rule out the lower hydrated forms.

The calculations are based upon the paper I have attached and which Brad has referred to in his blog.

Click to expand...

Hi.

Yes, I just used Excel to do the calculations. I included the waters of hydration and the numbers worked out the same, so Beersmith does take that into account.

But, when I calculated ppm for CaCl2 I got different numbers for some reason. I'm basing it off anhydrous calcium chloride, which is what I have.

Just looking at the numbers in Beersmith, it does look like the proportion of chloride to calcium is indeed 2, so I guess it's just a typo.

But, I wonder why I'm getting different numbers.

So I just used molar masses of everything:

CaCl2 = 110.98 g/mol
Ca2+ = 40.08
Cl- = 35.45

So per gram of salt, the number of mg of ion would be:

Ca2+ = (40.08/110.98)*1000 = 361.1 mg

Cl- = (35.45*2/110.98)*1000 = 638.9 mg

Then, mg/L (ppm) for every gram added to every gallon (3.7854 L) would be:

Ca2+ = 361.1/3.7854 = 95.39 ppm

Cl- = 638.9/3.7854 = 168.8 ppm

Please correct this if it's wrong!

But when I enter 1 gram of salt for 1 gallon of water in Brewsmith it gives:

Ca2+ = 72.0 ppm

Cl- = 127.4 ppm

To me it seems like this is the result of a hydrate salt of calcium chloride. I have anhydrous and that's the only way I've seen it.

You say you have a hexahydrate form? I don't. Mine is anhydrous and it becomes a puddle of mush if you let it sit out in humid air for very long because it sucks up so much water from the atmosphere, so it's hard to imagine a hydrate salt with a definite number of waters.

Well, anyway, I guess you helped me figure it out. I didn't realize it came as a hexahydrate.

It would be nice if Beersmith specified this within the tool somehow. Also, it would be nice to be able to use different forms of each salt, because even though Epsom salt is most common, sometimes you see anhydrous MgSO4 and it would be nice if Beersmith allowed you to pick which form you have.

Also, now that I'm trying this out, I realize that I won't be able to replicate this water profile without using sodium sulfate.

Ca2+ 187 ppm

Mg2+ 41

Na+ 113

Cl- 85

SO42- 720

HCO3- 0 (or very low)


It's one set of values listed for "Burton Water" and it looks like there is no way to get that level of sulfate without overdoing the calcium. So you have to use sodium sulfate. It makes the sodium level work out too.

Crazy, because that is not even listed among the typical brewing salts.  :-\

First, understand that this is the first time we have had this water profile tool with pH estimation.  Given that, in my system it is pretty close.  My water is pretty close to RO water to begin with, so anything that I add in is what I see.

Now, your calculations are based upon anhydrous CaCl2 (which is why it turns to mush when you leave it open for a while.  The anhydrous form is really hydroscopic and will soak up water out of the environment really fast.  Most of the CaCl2 sold for brewing is one of the hydrated forms so that the packager doesn't have to worry about the gain in water. 

In your calculation, which is correct for the anhydrous form, the comparison to the calculation in BeerSmith will be off because it is using a hydrated form.  Based upon your calculations and the BeerSmith prediction, it would seem that the program is actually using the dihydrate form of CaCl2. 

CaCl2 MW=110.98
H2O  MW = 18

Formula weight would be 110.98 + 2 * 18 = 147

CaCl2 portion of a gram of salt would be 110.98 / 147 = 75.5%

Take your calculation of 95 ppm * 75.5% = 72 ppm of CaCl2. 

So it would appear as though the program is using Calcium chloride dihydrate for its calculations.

My salt comes from a chemical supplier we purchase materials from at work.  They clearly state it is the hexahydrated form of CaCl2 and it certainly acts that way -- very clumpy and sticky.