Difference between revisions of "At home water testing"
From German brewing and more
Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
[[Image:GH_KH_test_kit.jpg|frame|right|'''Figure 1''' - A typical GH&KH test kit for aquarium use. It contains test tubes, test chemicals and instructions. The total price for kits like these is around $6 and while there are more expensive test kits available for fish owners they are useless to brewers since they test water parameters that aren't of interest for brewing.]] | [[Image:GH_KH_test_kit.jpg|frame|right|'''Figure 1''' - A typical GH&KH test kit for aquarium use. It contains test tubes, test chemicals and instructions. The total price for kits like these is around $6 and while there are more expensive test kits available for fish owners they are useless to brewers since they test water parameters that aren't of interest for brewing.]] | ||
− | To do that water testing we brewers can use water test kits that are available for aquarium owners. The kind of test kit that we need is one that tests GH and KH. GH stands for General Hardness and measures the total hardness of the water. In water speak the total hardness is the amount of calcium and magnesium ions present. It is commonly measured as either dH (German Hardness) or ppm as CaCO[sub]3[ | + | To do that water testing we brewers can use water test kits that are available for aquarium owners. The kind of test kit that we need is one that tests GH and KH. GH stands for General Hardness and measures the total hardness of the water. In water speak the total hardness is the amount of calcium and magnesium ions present. It is commonly measured as either dH (German Hardness) or ppm as CaCO[sub]3[\sub]. Both these units are equivalent measures. That measns that they don't express the weight of the calcium and the magnesium ions but their number multiplied by their electrical charge. The latter is 2+ for both of them. With knowledge of the atomic weight and an guess on the calcium to magnesium ratio commonly found in water one can estimate the calcium and magnesium content of the analyzed water [DeLange]. |
− | KH stands for Karbonat Härte (German for carbonate hardness) which is the alkalinity of the water. Like total hardness or GH it is measured as either German Hardness (dH) or ppm as CaCO[sub]3[ | + | KH stands for Karbonat Härte (German for carbonate hardness) which is the alkalinity of the water. Like total hardness or GH it is measured as either German Hardness (dH) or ppm as CaCO[sub]3[\sub]. The conversion of 1 dH = 17.8 CaCO[sub]3[\sub] is true for both total hardness and alkalinity. |
|} | |} |