Wort chiller and ppm.

Two silly questions:

I brewed today and everything seems to have gone well - the ESB extract kit from morebeer.com. I did my second full boil so I used my wort chiller to chill the wort. My silly question is that with the chiller in, the pipes that bring the water in and out prop the lid of the brewpot open. I tried to seal around the edges with foil, but it doesn't work well. Being a beginner, of course, I worry about infection. How do you experienced people handle this? I've seen no mention in any of the books.

My second silly question concerns water. I'm using Crystal Geyser spring water. I wanted to enter it's chemistry into Beersmith, but the only analysis I could find ( on the mineral waters of the world site) gives minerals in mg/l. How does that translate into ppm?

Thanks, and happy brewing!

I don't know about the second question but the first one is pretty simple...boil and cool with the lid off.

Its easy. 1 mg/l = 1 ppm

As for mine, I just leave the lid off.

bearymore said:

) gives minerals in mg/l. How does that translate into ppm?

Click to expand...

mg/l is parts per million.

I always thought the mg/L expression was kind of odd sense it is relative to water. 1kg of water at room temp is 1L by volume. so 1mg of 1 Kg of water is 1/1,000,000 or one part per million.

Apologies if this makes no sense.

some things which are at the limit of my two-in-the-morning thought processes.

ppm is, I presume, measured by weight, ie mg/kg. So, a L of distilled water weighs a kg. If that L has, say, 200 mg of sodium chloride dissolved in it, however, (making the salt density 200mg/L and thus, theoretically, 200ppm) that would be adding mass without adding volume (correct? that's how solution works?). So then the final mass of that L of saltwater is 1.0002kg, which means it's not 200ppm (200/1,000,000) but instead (200/1,000,200).

So basically, which of these options are correct:
-ppm and mg/L are not quite exactly equivalent
-'ppm' is a convention, and it actually goes like I said
-I'm an idiot and something I said is incorrect, like the assumption that volume will stay the same with dissolution of the salt.
-I'm an idiot spouting absolute nonsense and the sober light of day will make all things plain.

Well, technically, you are right. mg/L is actually not a true ppm form, as ppm must be unitless (mg/kg for instance). mg/l is using the 1L water has a mass of 1kg trick. It is written as mg/L only to make the water report more legible for general public who has a much easier time dealing with volume of water instead of mass of water. In actual fact the measurements are all in kg, not L.

"So then the final mass of that L of saltwater is 1.0002kg, which means it's not 200ppm (200/1,000,000) but instead (200/1,000,200)."

Well, your close.
The mass of the water is 1kg. The mass of the salt is 200mg. Thus the ratio of salt to water IS 200pm (200 mg/1000000 mg = 0.0002 with no unit). And the TOTAL mass is 1.0002kg.

You made the mistake of thinking that ppm in a water sample is a representation of parts of salt per million parts of total, not parts of salt per million parts of water.

Follow?

Wow, this thread brings me back to high school chemistry. JimC is right about the parts of salt water total, not parts of salt per million parts of water. The ppm related to mg/L is also going to depend on the mass of the compound which you are accounting for, sugars are normally heavier than salts, but the 1:1 ration is close enough for government work, haha.

I do leave the lid off for the boil and replace it when I'm cooling. I'm gathering from your comments that it is fine to leave the lid off for the whole cooling process. Isn't there the chance of airborne infection during the period after the temp reaches 160?

JimC said:

Well, technically, you are right. mg/L is actually not a true ppm form, as ppm must be unitless (mg/kg for instance). mg/l is using the 1L water has a mass of 1kg trick. It is written as mg/L only to make the water report more legible for general public who has a much easier time dealing with volume of water instead of mass of water. In actual fact the measurements are all in kg, not L.

"So then the final mass of that L of saltwater is 1.0002kg, which means it's not 200ppm (200/1,000,000) but instead (200/1,000,200)."

Well, your close.
The mass of the water is 1kg. The mass of the salt is 200mg. Thus the ratio of salt to water IS 200pm (200 mg/1000000 mg = 0.0002 with no unit). And the TOTAL mass is 1.0002kg.

You made the mistake of thinking that ppm in a water sample is a representation of parts of salt per million parts of total, not parts of salt per million parts of water.

Follow?

Click to expand...

Followed. Thanks.

Kal i just ordered your 30 amp panel. Question is that i have the 5500W heating elements. Will they work with this panel ?