greenbirds
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2008
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So I have a conundrum. I use Palmer's spreadsheet to adjust my (somewhat soft) water. When mashing dark beers I need to up the residual alkalinity to avoid having the pH drop too low.
The problem is that adding CaCO3 seems to be about 3 times less effective on a per gram basis at increasing residual alkalinity as NaHCO3. To get the residual alkalinity up to ~200 ppm, I must add 15 grams of CaCO3, and my calcium levels are through the roof at 400+ ppm (I assume this is bad). If I use NaHCO3, it only takes about 5 grams, but the Sodium level is creeping upwards of 100.
So which route is the lesser evil?
My base water profile from Ward Labs is as follows (ppm):
Ca - 31
Mg - 19
Na - 12
SO4 - 32
Cl - 29
Hardness as CaCO3 - 157
CO3 - 3
HCO3 - 37
CaCO3 - 36
pH - 8.7
The problem is that adding CaCO3 seems to be about 3 times less effective on a per gram basis at increasing residual alkalinity as NaHCO3. To get the residual alkalinity up to ~200 ppm, I must add 15 grams of CaCO3, and my calcium levels are through the roof at 400+ ppm (I assume this is bad). If I use NaHCO3, it only takes about 5 grams, but the Sodium level is creeping upwards of 100.
So which route is the lesser evil?
My base water profile from Ward Labs is as follows (ppm):
Ca - 31
Mg - 19
Na - 12
SO4 - 32
Cl - 29
Hardness as CaCO3 - 157
CO3 - 3
HCO3 - 37
CaCO3 - 36
pH - 8.7