Treating hard water with Lime, my experience - Page 4

**D_Ranged_Eskimo** · 01-26-2012, 09:10 PM

Thanks for posting this Drcast. I have been purchasing water for lighter beers (and figuring even the crappy SA water can't overpower darker beers). I really would like to learn more about water chemistry to cut down on costs and use the water straight out of the tap.

What part of the city are you in, and do you get your water through SAWS or BexarMet? I'm not sure how different their water makeups are, but it would be beneficial to know which water company makeup the numbers of your first post reflect.

afr0byte · 01-29-2012, 12:33 AM

I have my own success story to mention! I successfully produced just over 9 gallons of ~3dH water (The color seemed like it may have changed at 2dH (drops in the kit), but I wanted to air on the side of slightly higher alkalinity.). I'll be interested to see how my beer turns out! It's certainly cheaper than bottled water in these parts (We don't have RO machines in these parts). For a light beer I often have to buy ~7.5 gallons of water, which is around $8-9.

Drcast128 · 01-30-2012, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D_Ranged_Eskimo

Thanks for posting this Drcast. I have been purchasing water for lighter beers (and figuring even the crappy SA water can't overpower darker beers). I really would like to learn more about water chemistry to cut down on costs and use the water straight out of the tap.

What part of the city are you in, and do you get your water through SAWS or BexarMet? I'm not sure how different their water makeups are, but it would be beneficial to know which water company makeup the numbers of your first post reflect.

No problem, I hope it helps! I live right across the street from the medical center and I believe my water comes from SAWS, based on the service area charts I found online. I brewed two batches of beer this weekend with my lime treatment and CaCl additions. I tried the water before brewing and the difference between the two is night and day! I'm going to lager one and do a pale ale for the other one so I'll let you know in a few weeks how it all turns out (fingers crossed). I would encourage you to at least try the lime treatment. So far its really not as hard as I thought it would be. If you have any questions let me know.