Well, now I've followed Bobby M's advice and I've sent my water out for testing. So, I'm thinking, how cool is this, I'll be able to change my water to fit the style of beer I'll be making... cool but: how will I know if my small salt additions will get me to my target? Is close good enough? So, with this thinking I realized, duh, I'm in the swimming pool industry (IT for a large distributor) and we sell LaMotte products - www.lamotte.com ...
If you go to their page check out the beverage link and you can see they sell this wicked computer thing that sucks in a sample of beer and can tell you everything from color to alcohol % way more than I wanted to test but wow.. another dream to have along with conicals etc etc... and I was just interested in minerals...
I called them and they put together a package for me that could measure everything except Sodium ions. I was bummed about that but it seems if you knew everything else you could come close to estimating the sodium.. anyhow the point is I could test my changes and see if I hit the mark.
The kicker: I would have to pay $300 bucks to be able to do 50 tests! Seems like a lot to pay but I suppose if you could test 25 batches, assuming you ran 2 tests while you adjusted the water it would cost 12 bucks a batch ;p .. So that seems a bit expensive On the other hand, I just sent 16.50 away to test my water. A brew club could buy the kit and be able to test 50 water samples for 6 bucks each. Certainly if anyone is interested let me know but I realize this is expensive... (edit - I now realized that this price includes the pH tester so subtract 85 for just the water tests - so 215 for 50 tests...)
Sigh... well so the next thing I checked into was a pocket pH tester. This thing will give you a pH reading down to the 100th and ranges from 0 to 14. It remembers the last 14 readings.. The only thing is you have to be under 150F for accurate pH. It also measure temp up to 190F. I guess you could grab some mash, put it in a saucer and cool it down a bit and then pH it...
Anyhow if anyone thinks they might want a very accurate handheld pH meter I can get you one for $85 plus UPS... The LaMotte pH Tracer.
Specs:
Display Multifunction LCD with Bar graph
Operating Conditions 32 to 122°F (0 to 50°C) and < 80% RH
pH Range & Accuracy 0.01 to 14.00/±0.01 pH typical
Temperature Comp. Automatic from 32 to 194°F (0 to 90°C)
Temperature Range 23 to 194°F (–5 to 90°C)
Temperature Resolution 0.1° up to 99.9 the 1° thereafter
Temperature Accuracy ±1.8°F/1°C [from 23 to 122°F (–5 to 50°C)]
±5.4°F/3°C [from 122 to 194°F (50 to 90°C)]
Measurement storage 15 tagged (numbered) readings
Power Four CR2032 button batteries (see Page 6)
Low battery indication ‘BAT’ appears on the LCD
Auto power off After 10 minutes of inactivity
Dimensions 1.4 x 6.8 x 1.6” (35.6 x 172.7 x 40.6 mm),
3.85 oz (110g)
If you go to their page check out the beverage link and you can see they sell this wicked computer thing that sucks in a sample of beer and can tell you everything from color to alcohol % way more than I wanted to test but wow.. another dream to have along with conicals etc etc... and I was just interested in minerals...
I called them and they put together a package for me that could measure everything except Sodium ions. I was bummed about that but it seems if you knew everything else you could come close to estimating the sodium.. anyhow the point is I could test my changes and see if I hit the mark.
The kicker: I would have to pay $300 bucks to be able to do 50 tests! Seems like a lot to pay but I suppose if you could test 25 batches, assuming you ran 2 tests while you adjusted the water it would cost 12 bucks a batch ;p .. So that seems a bit expensive On the other hand, I just sent 16.50 away to test my water. A brew club could buy the kit and be able to test 50 water samples for 6 bucks each. Certainly if anyone is interested let me know but I realize this is expensive... (edit - I now realized that this price includes the pH tester so subtract 85 for just the water tests - so 215 for 50 tests...)
Sigh... well so the next thing I checked into was a pocket pH tester. This thing will give you a pH reading down to the 100th and ranges from 0 to 14. It remembers the last 14 readings.. The only thing is you have to be under 150F for accurate pH. It also measure temp up to 190F. I guess you could grab some mash, put it in a saucer and cool it down a bit and then pH it...
Anyhow if anyone thinks they might want a very accurate handheld pH meter I can get you one for $85 plus UPS... The LaMotte pH Tracer.
Specs:
Display Multifunction LCD with Bar graph
Operating Conditions 32 to 122°F (0 to 50°C) and < 80% RH
pH Range & Accuracy 0.01 to 14.00/±0.01 pH typical
Temperature Comp. Automatic from 32 to 194°F (0 to 90°C)
Temperature Range 23 to 194°F (–5 to 90°C)
Temperature Resolution 0.1° up to 99.9 the 1° thereafter
Temperature Accuracy ±1.8°F/1°C [from 23 to 122°F (–5 to 50°C)]
±5.4°F/3°C [from 122 to 194°F (50 to 90°C)]
Measurement storage 15 tagged (numbered) readings
Power Four CR2032 button batteries (see Page 6)
Low battery indication ‘BAT’ appears on the LCD
Auto power off After 10 minutes of inactivity
Dimensions 1.4 x 6.8 x 1.6” (35.6 x 172.7 x 40.6 mm),
3.85 oz (110g)