Sunday, December 28, 2008

Homebrew Digest #5477 (December 28, 2008)

HOMEBREW Digest #5477 Sun 28 December 2008


FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
HELLO ALL (Fred Scheer)
Water ("Keith Christian")


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Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:43:42 +0000 (UTC)
From: Fred Scheer <fredscheer07 at comcast.net>
Subject: HELLO ALL


Merry Christmas to all of you and a Happy New Year.

Fred & Trish Scheer


UPDATE: Responses to my request about Bottle conditioning
procedure and priming sugars.

125 Homebrewers (off and on the Forum)
12 Brewpubs and Micros

Please keep the emails coming about the subject.


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Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:25:02 -0800
From: "Keith Christian" <keithchristian at roadrunner.com>
Subject: Water

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the info on using StarSan with softened water. I thought
that my softened water would not be appropriate for sanitizing or
brewing.

What I have been doing with some success is use RO water for Pale beers
and add a couple gallons of tap water for dark beers. My brewing setup
has evolved and I am not sure of what effects each change has had on the
final outcome. But before living in Anaheim, I was able to brew both
pale and dark beers using my tap water. I miss those days. I may try
adding softened water in place of the couple gallons of tap water.

Thanks,

Keith

Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:45:32 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Water

"Keith Christian" <keithchristian at roadrunner.com> wrote:

> My Anaheim CA water is unbelievably hard. When sanitizing, I have
> been using RO water with StarSan. I want to use my tap water that has

> gone through the water softener instead. Will that work alright? I
> want to stop using the RO water for sanitizing.


If your water has temporary hardness, i.e., it contains bicarbonate
ions rather than sulfate ions, then your softened water will still
have a high level of alkalinity.

This means that StarSan made up with softened water will still
sanitize, but it won't keep long.

StarSan is effective as long as it is clear (and of proper
concentration, of course). It will go cloudy if the pH rises too high.

It's not hardness (calcium and magnesium ions) per se that causes
StarSan to go cloudy and ineffective, but the alkalinity from the
bicarbonate ions typically associated with the calcium and magnesium.

A water softener does not affect the alkalinity of water. It
substitutes sodium ions for calcium and magnesium ions. It doe not
change the anions associated with the sodium and magnesium.

RO water is cheap enough that I use it to make up StarSan and it
keeps for weeks.

Jeff
- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrenner at umich.edu "One never
knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #5477, 12/28/08
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