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  • new place has a well.

    So while setting up our new building we sent ourt our well water to have it anallized by ward labs.

    We have historically had issues with our previous location having high calcium and this place is no exception. People in these parts have issues with kidney stones.When we removed an old water heater(only3 years old) the thing was loaded so badly it would not drain.

    So here goes:
    PH 7.5
    Electrical conductivity .38
    Cations 4.0/4.0


    PPM:
    Sodium 2
    Potassium <1
    calcium 41
    magnessium 23
    total hardness 198
    nitrate< .01
    sulfate<10
    cloride 2
    carbonate <1.0
    Bicarbonate 199
    Total Alkalinity 163
    Total Phosphorus<0.01
    Total iron .06

    We will add a chlorine injector in the system downstream from the brewery for public consumption just because we were told we had to.

    Would you fine people have any advice you could give?

  • #2
    My two pennyworth

    Dose in acid to achieve pH 7- my personal preference would be sulphuric, but phosphoric or lactic fine if you prefer, and might be better if you want to brew pilsener lagers, where you probably would prefer to have lower sulphate levels. Don't use hydrochloric as this will be very aggressive towards stainless pipe, pumps, etc. You probably then need a degassing system, at least somewhere for the water to sit for a few hours to allow the CO2 produced to flash off before pumping anywhere. You could trickle down a packed column through which air passes or spray out of a spray head. Keep an eye on fouling of the sprayhead of course.

    Get the lab to calculate the dose rate of whichever acid you choose to use, and check with a pH meter on a regular basis. Also get them to calculate / re-measure to ions after acid treatment so you know what you are using for brewing.

    And then add mineral salts to suit the style of beer - liquid, dry addition to the grist - whatever suits the rest of your setup.

    If you are using steam, you will probably want to treat the boiler water with ion exchange rather than simple acid treatment.

    And use something other than chlorine for sterilisation of water for brewing uses - UV, ClO2 etc.
    dick

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    • #3
      water

      Thank you Dick. At the previous place we just added acids to the mash with varrying results but eventually we were able to dial it in to the proper mash ph.

      So as for brewing salts we never felt the need to add much because all of our beers seemed to do very well with the town municipal system that we were accustomed to.

      We planned to add a uv light to our system to avoid any bacterial issues with the well but we will need to add chlorine to any water that is served to the public and for our bathrooms.

      But the big thing i see as a problem is the calcium. It make the cleaning and descalling a PITA. And it must be done fairly frequently.May be good for beer but not so much equipment or kidneys.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by BSBC View Post
        Thank you Dick. At the previous place we just added acids to the mash with varrying results but eventually we were able to dial it in to the proper mash ph.

        So as for brewing salts we never felt the need to add much because all of our beers seemed to do very well with the town municipal system that we were accustomed to.

        We planned to add a uv light to our system to avoid any bacterial issues with the well but we will need to add chlorine to any water that is served to the public and for our bathrooms.

        But the big thing i see as a problem is the calcium. It make the cleaning and descalling a PITA. And it must be done fairly frequently.May be good for beer but not so much equipment or kidneys.
        At almost 12 grains per gallon total hardness your water is indeed hard, but far from the worst we've seen. A water softener followed by an RO system would be the typical solution.

        Russ
        Water Treatment Systems & Supplies www.BuckeyeHydro.com
        Info@buckeyehydro.com 513-312-2343

        Comment


        • #5
          Thank you for the reply. Yes i now realize that what we have is hard water. But with no iron of sulfur to deal with, I quess we can live with some calcium. We did install a 3 filter setup consistin g of string, pleated paper and carbon in series and this has done wonders for the water on its own. An R/O system would be best for the elements but i figure frequent cleaning is needed anyhow. It tastes fine and has no chlorine and once we install a new propane fired on demand hot water system , we will not even need to clean hlt elements anymore.

          Comment


          • #6
            Does the on demand heater your looking at have a maximum allowable hardness spec?
            Water Treatment Systems & Supplies www.BuckeyeHydro.com
            Info@buckeyehydro.com 513-312-2343

            Comment

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