mixing up a calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) solution

[ebbelwoi]

I recently bought some food-grade calcium hydroxide in hopes of it replacing the baking soda I currently use in certain styles. I have very soft water with an estimated 5ppm of carbonates.

I understand that calcium hydroxide can be dangerous to work with. Someone in this thread suggested to create a solution by dissolving 100g in 900ml water. Seems logical to me, and it seems like it would make it easier to handle as well as more accurate to measure. I decided to scale it down and make a 100ml solution with 10g calcium hydroxide.

The problem is that it doesn't want to dissolve. It's currently at room temperature (about 27C these days). Should I add another 100ml? Another 400ml? It's currently in a glass jar. Would a PET bottle be safe for storage?

@Silver_Is_Money , you seem to be quite knowledgeable on the subject... any thoughts?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

@ebbelwoi, per Wikipedia the solubility of Ca(OH)2 in water is:

1.73 g/L (20 °C)
0.66 g/L (100 °C)

At 27 °C it may be on the order of about 1.70 g/L.

 

[ebbelwoi]

Thanks for the quick response. At that rate, would it even be worthwhile to make a solution, or would I be better off just adding it directly to my strike water for every batch?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Thanks for the quick response. At that rate, would it even be worthwhile to make a solution, or would I be better off just adding it directly to my strike water for every batch?

What is the need for adding it? I would not make a solution, but I would like to know the reason for mentioning a need for adding it to "every batch". Do you make exclusively beers on the order of Porter and Stout?

As an aside, you certainly don't want it in Sparge Water.

Plus note that a little goes a long way, as Ca(OH)2 is rather potent by comparison to Baking Soda.

Baking Soda would generally be my preference.

 

[ebbelwoi]

Every batch of porter and weizen (the "certain styles" mentioned in my first post).

Thanks for your help.

 

[VikeMan]

Every batch of porter and weizen (the "certain styles" mentioned in my first post).

A typical Weizen grain bill wouldn't need added alkalinity, with any real life base water. If I were you, I would double check my water model and my pH meter.

 

[ebbelwoi]

A typical Weizen grain bill wouldn't need added alkalinity, with any real life base water. If I were you, I would double check my water model and my pH meter.

After reading this article, I bumped the residual alkalinity to about 5 or 6 (from an untreated -4), and I've noticed an improvement. The higher pH also seems to work well for the ferulic acid rest.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

A linear based presumptional "guess" would be that at typical mash temperatures the solubility of Ca(OH)2 in water is in the rough ballpark of 1.12 g/L. This permits an addition on the order of somewhat more than a magnitude greater than I would imagine to be adequate for the task for even the most robustly dark beers, so for all practical purposes solubility should not be a concern. There are however other concerns which have changed my mind about using Ca(OH)2. See my thread titled "A few words of warning regarding the use of Ca(OH)2 (Calcium Hydroxide) in mash water or in the mash"