LaMotte Water Testing Kit

[Wolfbayne]

I am looking for any input from the HBT group on the LaMotte Water Testing Kit (s). I received one for Christmas this year and really surprised as to how easy it is to use.

Has anyone had trouble with 1) using the kit and getting off numbers based on a Ward Lab test, or 2) difficulties plugging in the numbers to your water spreadsheet of choice to get your required profile results?

This might be a broad stroke questioning, but which water sheet is the easiest to use with the measurements from the test kit?

The slide ruler in Palmer's How to Brew book seems to be really simple tying in the results but then that requires extra math..lol.

Thanks HBT family! Cheers!

 

[Oginme]

I picked up the LaMotte kit when it was on sale last fall. It does give basic numbers for the main components pretty easily. If I have one issue with it, it would be the lack of resolution for the sulfate test. 0 ppm to 50 ppm is quite a step when you are in an especially soft water region. Previous lab tests peg my sulfate level between 10 and 12 ppm, and the visual test provided just does not cut it.

In terms of matching up to other test labs, I pulled out a water test report from when I bought my house 12 years ago. Most of the test parameters match up pretty well considering that I am on a private well. Another test my wife did a couple of years ago with a water treatment company (looking to put in a water treatment system) came out with comparable numbers. It is amazing what they will test for you if you have a specific concern that they might be able to address.

For entering information into one of the water treatment spreadsheets, I have had no issue with Bru'n water, Palmer's sheet or EZ water.

 

[Wolfbayne]

I have to agree the sulfate test is alittle week based on the users visual abilities verses hard numbers.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[mabrungard]

The nomograph in How to Brew is total crap. Even John Palmer disavows it. It will screw up your beer. I afraid that a little more math is a necessary thing to brew a wide range of beer styles well.

The Lamotte equipment is typically pretty good, as long as the reagents are not out of date. It can be a great tool, especially when the quality of the water supply varies.

 

[ajdelange]

I have to agree the sulfate test is alittle week based on the users visual abilities verses hard numbers.

Yes, but it's better than nothing and it took quite a while for the various manufacturers to put them out. The basic principle involves the formation of insoluble barium sulfate when soluble barium chloride is added too water which contains sulfate. Hach has a pretty good test which in which they add something to the BaCl2 to keep the BaSO4. The absorption of the suspension is measured at 430 nm (blue) in a Vis spectrophotometer. If the system is calibrated with standard solutions (for each new batch of chemistry) you can get a pretty good reading (better than 1 mg/L).

If a method has a minimum sensitivity of 50 mg/L you can improve that by concentrating the sulfate. Measure a large volume of water and boil 90% of it away. If you measure between 50 and 100 ppm in that concentrated water the concentration in the sample was between 5 and 10 mg/L.

 

[RyanDe680]

I just listened to a podcast with Jamil and Palmer and they seemed to really like the LaMotte kit, but then again Jamil received it for free, which he disclosed....

 

[mabrungard]

Um? And John Palmer was a paid consultant to LaMotte for their brewing water products. You may have missed that in the podcast.

LaMotte's products are still pretty good, even though there was a big conflict of interest in their recommendations. My recommendation is 'conflict-free' ;-)

 

[RyanDe680]

Um? And John Palmer was a paid consultant to LaMotte for their brewing water products. You may have missed that in the podcast.

LaMotte's products are still pretty good, even though there was a big conflict of interest in their recommendations. My recommendation is 'conflict-free' ;-)

Well yes but the point was a simple search here will yield similar results that it's a pretty decent kit. Jamil and John could have avoided the whole paid or freebie thing but they didn't - That was my point.

 

[dragonfire540]

Can anybody chime in on what the difference and when to use either upper or lower line in the lamotte brewlab?

Is one more accurate? Why two?
I have been crawling the net looking for an answer and can find nothing
Thanks

 

[Oginme]

It is in the instructions with the kit or available for download on-line which you will need for the conversions for each test. The two lines have a different multiplier with the lower line being a higher range (larger multiplier) and therefore less precise.

 

[Chesterbelloc]

Are there other test kits out there?

If we could source out and piece together from Amazon starting with the Salifert alkalinity test and working from there.