salifert kit

[johnluc]

received my kit today and did a test, used all reagent in small syringe it just about turned from blue to virtually colourless with very very faint hint of pink,re did test same results,does that sound right.would i use top figure from chart or is something wrong.
johnluc.

 

[Good Ed]

Hi Johnluc, when the reagent turns pink you read the amount left in the syringe, say 0.60, you then read from the chart what is the alkalinity in meq/L, in this case 2.29, then multiply by 50 = 114.5 CaCO3 in mg/L. You can then work out how much carbonate reducing solution to add to reduce your alkalinity. Say you want to get down to 30ppm , then 114.5 - 30 = 84.5 is the amount you want to reduce by, using AMS this means you add 0.46 of AMS per L of liquor. Aleman's tip on this is to only add 75% first time, then do another test and add the final amount accordingly; this prevents overdosing.

 

[johnluc]

Hi ed,understand how it works,my problem is there is nothing left in syringe to read and solution has only the faintest tint of pink,if i use maximum figure, do calculation treat with 50% crs and re test,would that work.

 

[Good Ed]

are you saying you have to use 100ml of KH reagent to turn the solution pink? there's something wrong there. 4ml of your water into the test vial with 2 drops of KH-Ind indicator, then slowly add the KH reagent.

 

[johnluc]

are you saying you have to use 100ml of KH reagent to turn the solution pink? there's something wrong there. 4ml of your water into the test vial with 2 drops of KH-Ind indicator, then slowly add the KH reagent.

yes ed i have to use 1.00ml of reagent,the instructions say use "4" drops of KH-ind to 4ml of water.

 

[Good Ed]

The kit I have, KH/Alkalinity Profi Test, uses 2 drops for 4 ml of water. On your instructions for say the reading at 0.50 what do they say?
Mine has KH value in dKH = 8.0 and Alkalinity in meq/L = 2.86

 

[johnluc]

The kit I have, KH/Alkalinity Profi Test, uses 2 drops for 4 ml of water. On your instructions for say the reading at 0.50 what do they say?
Mine has KH value in dKH = 8.0 and Alkalinity in meq/L = 2.86

at 0.50 dKH = 7.7 meq/L = 2.73

 

[Good Ed]

so not too far off, I would say that you should only add 2 drops of indicator to 4ml of water, it would appear there is a discrepency in the instuctions between the UK and France (not for the first time, cough , you may wish to contact the manufacturer to see if they could shed some light on the matter.

 

[johnluc]

thanks for your help ed,the kit i got is KH/Alkalinity profi test Nov 2010 version which they say is more accurate than previous version by approx 0.3 dkh lower which accounts for our different values. also bought it through amazon uk.anyone else got this version and had any problems, ie 2 drops or 4 KH-ind.
johnluc.

 

[Good Ed]

all mine says is that it is a version introduced, on basis of received feedback, in February/March 2008. so who knows, and here were we thinking we were being very scientific, and it could be all cobblers I would say that your readings do go off the chart, meaning that you have very, very, very, hard water.

Looking forward to the tour starting; I follow Nicolas Roche :thumb:

 

[johnluc]

we do know we have hard water got through 3 kettles in 6 years,probably harder than i thought. have made some great beers with it though just using campden tab, thought i would go up a level perhaps i should leave well alone. :wha:

tour came very close to us 2 years ago fantastic spectacle they go so quick :shock:

 

[Good Ed]

maybe the thing is to treat your water and se what difference it makes; you would have to do several tests and addditions of CRS, anyway vive la tour :thumb:

 

[johnluc]

cheers ed will have to play around with it and see how it turns out,if i can make better beer then i will be very happy and so will the rest of the brits who have helped me get through 35 gallons since january. :drunk:

 

[Aleman]

If you have to use more than 1ml (not unheard of) then rather than use a table you can use the following formula to calculate your Alkalinity as CaCO3 directly

ml Used * 50 * 5.71

So if you use a full syringe plus .23ml then the calculation is 1.23 * 50 * 5.71 or 351mg/L as CaC03 . . . Quite hard water then

Another way of doing it is to add 1/ml per litre of CRS to the liquor . . .give it a stir and 5 minutes . . . Then do the test to determine what the remaining alkalinity is ( the 1ml per Litre CRS reduces the alkalinity by 180mg)

My test is in the brewery so I can't get access to the instructions but I am fairly sure that it was 4ml and 2 drops (or 2ml and 1 drop for the less accurate test) . . . but my test is from 2009 they may well have 'improved' the kit and the method . . . Go with the instructions in your kit :thumb:

 

[johnluc]

thanks aleman,was thinking along those lines of adding a small amount of crs and then redo test.instructions definetly state 4 drops, even on reverse side in french & german. as our water is so hard is it surprising that my beer is turning out so good,(all bitters)
johnluc

 

[Aleman]

as our water is so hard is it surprising that my beer is turning out so good,(all bitters)

Not all that surprising, it is pale beers with no dark malts that really suffer from High Alkalinity (Hardness is a different thing). I know several commercial brewers in Essex with hard water that do not treat their water at all and produce damn fine beers

 

[johnluc]

taking how hard our water is what would you suggest i need to order to treat water.

 

[johnluc]

sorry for being a pain going on about this kit,found a website for kit instructions and that says use 2 drops of KH-ind,cant find anywhere to contact makers,their website not available.


also a free reference/check solution is included with no instructions with it,anyone know what its for?


just did a test using the reference/check solution instead of tap water,way off what it says on bottle(6.7dKH 2.4meq) using 4 drops as per instructions,re did test using 2 drops of KH-ind and it came up spot on, p....d off no end, obviously major error on instruction leaflet, spent f.....g hours sorting it and used half the kit retesting,cost me £16 and i cant get hold of the makers, also markings wearing of the 1ml syringe allready, must say this kit is a piece of s..t :evil: anyone buying a new kit beware. rant over
at least i know whats what with the kit,
johnluc