Water Treatment

[Andrew Booth]

Hi all this the report for Halifax I’ve tried putting the amounts in the calculator but come up blank can anyone point me in the right direction please?

Supply Zone:	Halifax 2004
Areas Covered:	Akroydon, Boothtown, Cornholme, Hebden Bridge, Luddenden Foot, Mytholmroyd, Siddal, Sowerby Bridge, Todmorden, Walsden
Report Period:	1st January 2021 - 31st December 2021
Water hardness type:	Soft
Water hardness average:	14 mg/l calcium

now

Substance	Typical Value	UK/European limit	Unit
Calcium	11.6		mg Ca/l
Magnesium	1.4		mg Mg/l
Residual chlorine - free	0.44		mg/l Cl2
Residual chlorine - total	0.53		mg/l Cl2
TotalColiforms	0	0	no/100ml
EColi	0	0	no/100ml
Aluminium	13.6	200	µg Al/l
Colour	2.9	20	mg/l Pt/Co Scale
Conductivity	122	2500	µS/cm
Fluoride	0.05	1.5	mg F/l
Turbidity	0.18	4	NTU
pHHydrogenIon	7.6	6.5 - 9.5	pH Units
Iron	25.5	200	µg Fe/l
Manganese	1.1	50	µg Mn/I
Nitrate	2.11	50	mg NO3/l
Nitrite	0.002	0.5	mg NO2/l
Sodium	11.3	200	mg Na/l
Copper	0.0214	2	mg Cu/l
Lead	0.17	10	µg Pb/l

 

[Sadfield]

You could try the calculator below with these numbers added in the Enter Your Water Composition row. You then just need to choose a water profile and add the volume of water to be treated.

https://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/water.html

 

[Andrew Booth]

Thanks

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Hi all this the report for Halifax I’ve tried putting the amounts in the calculator but come up blank can anyone point me in the right direction please?

Supply Zone:	Halifax 2004
Areas Covered:	Akroydon, Boothtown, Cornholme, Hebden Bridge, Luddenden Foot, Mytholmroyd, Siddal, Sowerby Bridge, Todmorden, Walsden
Report Period:	1st January 2021 - 31st December 2021
Water hardness type:	Soft
Water hardness average:	14 mg/l calcium

Most water companies include chloride (as opposed to chloriNe) and sulphate but for some reason Yorkshire Water don't. Still, the short version is that at 14ppm calcium (mg/l and ppm are effectively the same) your water is really soft so you can treat it almost as though it has no salts in at all, although it probably has say 10ppm sulphate and 10ppm chloride, something like that. So that's good, you have a blank canvas - but you will need to add some gypsum and/or calcium chloride just to get the calcium levels up, which you need for effective mashing and for dropping the yeast after fermentation.

 

[peebee]

No-one answering. There is a reason for that ... your water is quite alien to the over-whelming numbers of hard-water bathing rabble who can read your post. I was over the hill from Todmorden (i.e. Bacup) until recently so have some background knowledge of your area.

Your water is acid moorland surface run-off, probably to one of the dozens of small reservoirs dotted about there. It's got next to nowt in it! I can estimate from your conductivity rating: 122 * 0.67 = 81.7 (estimated ppm "total dissolved solids"); that's pretty low! Hence your water is described as "soft". That's all you need from "hardness", ignore it from here on (including the inconsistent calcium content figured from "hardness"; you might learn what's that about later, but don't need to).

From the rest of the report, you can take Calcium, Magnesium and Sodium. Dump the report now, it's given you all it's got to give.

Oh, @Northern_Brewer has answered ... yeah, add the missing sulphate and chloride as 10ppm. In reality these wobble about in these waters and you report is quite old, so those estimates are as good as anything. They "wobble" because they get in your water from windblown dust which is obviously (long term) weather dependant.

So, you've got five figures, one more to go ... bicarbonate. It does your "alkalinity" too. Alkalinity is a means for the hard-water bathing masses to punish you for having soft water! You don't need to know it. Let's say about 12ppm bicarbonate. That'll give you an "alkalinity" of about 10 measured in "some arcane unit designed to confuse you". Make any corrections to mash pH (in your calculator) with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Don't whatever you do use chalk; it won't dissolve! Your calculator should work with bicarbonate, if not, get another! If your pH is coming out too high or too low, don't try to alter it "live", you'll go mad! But alter the estimated bicarbonate figure for your water for next time (higher to increase the pH, lower to decrease); 5-10ppm increments will be fine.

That should get you going?

 

[peebee]

If you want to know a bit more, try this Webcast from a well-known water guy ... Martin Brungard. I'd always been wary of him because a few advanced UK brewers don't approve of what he says. But apparently, he's more laidback in this interview (two hours long by-the-way!).

To the point that my babbling above seems to support (be copied from even) his approach!

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/water_chemistry_simplified
He goes into hardness and alkalinity a bit more. Remember what I said: You (with "soft" water) don't need to know this stuff!