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Mixing phosphoric acid, gypsum and calcium chloride in HLT

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  • Mixing phosphoric acid, gypsum and calcium chloride in HLT

    Not sure if this is the right forum or not, but anyways...

    We've been mixing phosphoric acid 75% along with calcium chloride and gypsum directly in our 15bbl HLT. I thought everything was working fine but after a few brews it seems that it may not be getting mixed up very well. When we completely empty the tank there appears to be a decent amount of sediment that drops out to the bottom of the tank. Today I tried to wash it down the drain and got some of it, but some of it seems to have gotten stuck to the bottom of the tank. I'm not too worried about getting rid of it, I think some chemicals will dissolve it fairly readily.

    My question is how is everyone else mixing their water treatments and acid for their brews? Are you doing it in the mash tun, or directly in the HLT? Is there a better way to get it to mix up than just dumping it straight in with the pump recirculating things? Any tips, tricks or ideas would be helpful. Thanks!

  • #2
    We add dry components at the mill and liquid acid into the HLT.
    Regards,
    Chris Mills

    Kereru Brewing Company
    http://kererubrewing.co.nz

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    • #3
      You could confirm that precipitation is occurring by mixing all water treatment additions into a slurry in a bucket, then adding the already dissolved mix back into the HLT - any precipitation that occurs should be due to the mineral content of the water and not to undissolved CaCl2 or gypsum

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      • #4
        We mix everything in a bucket so it can be stirred and ensure its dissolved. I dump the bucket into the HLT once it's fully dissolved. Pretty simple.

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        • #5
          WaterEng is correct about calcium phosphate precipitating out; not usually an issue but it can happen. How long does the treated water sit in the HLT? If it's much more than 8 hours or so you can lose significant minerals to precipitation. You could theoretically lose all your Ca additions to phosphate precipitation, but it would take at least 24 hours, probably much longer if the liquor is hot and pH is less than about 6.0. Dupont (the chemical company, not the brewer) has a lot of literature on phosphate precipitation if you want to go googling.

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          • #6
            To stand a chance of even distribution within the bulk of liquid, you will need to recirculate the HLT reasonably vigorously. In addition to having the calcium phosphate being precipitated, if I remember correctly, calcium sulphate is slightly less soluble in hot water than cold water. As mentioned by other posts, you are probably as well off adding the mineral salts in dry form with the grist, and just adding phosphoric acid to the liquor. But unless you are adding this to neutralise excess carbonate / bicarbonate, why are you adding this anyway? If the carbonate / bicarbonate content is low / non existant, the addition of calcium salts (again, if necessary to achieve 25+ ppm Ca in the final product to protect against oxalate hazes in particular will normally reduce the mash pH adequately.
            dick

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