Does the Ez watercalculator accounts for bound H2O in the brewing salts?

[Elysium]

I have already asked this question in the beginners' brewing forum, but I think I need to ask it here to if I wanna get to the bottom of this.

Firstly....does anyone know how to contact the person who created the EZ watercalculator? I would love to ask this question directly from him/her too.

Secondly.....the ion content of the water in the sheet is expressed in ppm, but the salt additions are expressed in grams...which is fine, but each important salt (CaCl2, CaSO4-gypsum and MgSO4 -epsom salt) seem to be there in its pure form, while there are bound to water (except for the CaCl2 which probably only has traces of water and it makes it all insignifant to even mention in this post).
However........gypsum and epsom salts are bound to water. A relatively high amount of water.
Gypsum is bound to 2 H2O and epsom to 7 2 H2O. 7 H2O???

So, 1st thing I did was to count what part of these salts is water and what part is the actual salt.
This is what I came up with:
CaSO4 has a total molecular weight of 172.17 g/mol of that 79.08% is the gypsum and 20.92% is the water.
MgSO4 has a total molecular weight of 246.47 of that 48.84% is the epsom salt and 51.16% is the water.

Now you might stop reading and say to yourself: “this guy is retarded”....which is just fine, but hear me out. 2 out of the main salts that we are interested in have little to no water bound to it, but the epsom salt has 51.16% water. Half of it is made up of water.

If the Ez water calculator calls for 3 grams of epsom salt, I add 6.14 grams because I suppose that the spreadsheet doesnt take into consideration the fact that 51.16% of my epsom salt is made up of water.

Now....if I am wrong, then I actually add double the required amount of epsom salt. This is why I am here asking this....because it just simply seems to be too much of the difference (between 3 grs and 6.14 grs).

Any thoughts on this? I am sure you guys will say "brew on, dont worry", but I am really into brewing and broadening my knowledge on all parts of it.

UPDATE: Adding 100 mg (0.1 g) of CaSO4.2H20 to 1 liter of water using the EZ water calculator.....I got 23 mg/L Ca and 56 mg/L SO4 added to the water.
Adding 100 mg (0.1 g) of MgSO4.7H20 to 1 liter of water using the EZ water calculator.....I got 9 mg/L Mg and 39 mg/L SO4 added to the water.
Since mg/L is ppm....so no conversion or whatsoever is necessary.

My conclusion with the special help of A.J. is that the EZ water calculator does account for naturally bound water to the main salts. (Obviously I am not talking about humidity, but to the naturally bound water to gypsum (2 H2O) and epsom salt (7 H2O).

Thanks A.J. for being so patient with me on this matter.

 

[GotPushrods]

I believe it does use the most common forms (i.e. Calcium Chloride dihydrate). You can do a quick test by inputing a mash of 1 liter of water and 1 gram of CaCl2. What does it calculate for the mash concentration of calcium and chloride? Are the results as expected?

 

[ajdelange]

If you add 100 mg of CaCl2.0H20 to a liter of water you would have 36.1 mg/L Ca and 63.9 mg/L Cl
If you add 100 mg of CaCl2. 1H20 to a liter of water you would have 31.1 mg/L Ca and 55.0 mg/L Cl
If you add 100 mg of CaCl2. 2H20 to a liter of water you would have 27.3 mg/L Ca and 48.2 mg/L Cl
If you add 100 mg of CaCl2. 4H20 to a liter of water you would have 24.6 mg/L Ca and 43.5 mg/L Cl
If you add 100 mg of CaCl2. 6H20 to a liter of water you would have 18.3 mg/L Ca and 32.4 mg/L Cl

In fact most calcium chloride is about 76 - 82% CaCl2 and the rest water and other salts.

If you add 100 mg of CaSO4.2H20 to a liter of water you would have 23.3 mg/L Ca and 55.8 mg/L SO4

If you add 100 mg of MgSO4.7H20 to a liter of water you would have 9.9 mg/L Mg and 39.0 mg/L SO4

Put those salt levels into the spreadsheet and see what ion levels it reports. This will make it clear whether water of hydration is being considered. I cannot imagine that it would not be.

The author of the EZ calculator posts here as TZ or TH (I think).

 

[Elysium]

.

If you add 100 mg of CaSO4.2H20 to a liter of water you would have 23.3 mg/L Ca and 55.8 mg/L SO4

If you add 100 mg of CaSO4.2H20 to a liter of water you would have 9.9 mg/L Mg and 39.0 mg/L SO4

Did you mean MgSO4.72H2O?

 

[ajdelange]

I did indeed. Copy and paste is great but.....

 

[ajdelange]

(Obviously I am not talking about humidity, but to the naturally bound water to gypsum (2 H2O) and epsom salt (7 H2O).

Humidity is at issue to a minor extent with epsom salts and gypsum but is a big problem with calcium chloride. You can put some calcium chloride (any hydration level in a weigh boat on a balance and watch the weight climb before your eyes as it takes up water from the air. Go away for a while and come back and the boat will be full of liquid. Be sure to open calcium chloride containers for the minimum amount of time necessary to take out what you need and re-close tightly ASAP. Even so your CaCl2.xH2O will show increasing x over time.