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Author Topic: how much Ca is too much?  (Read 2892 times)

Offline quattlebaum

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how much Ca is too much?
« on: June 13, 2013, 09:20:40 pm »
So what is considered to much Calcium for yeast?  Also will it precipitate out of solution when added to mash and boil kettle?  This is going to be my water profile for my next batch (ESB). Ca 133, mg 5 , na 16, cl 56 and Sulfide 225  PH 5.46 with 2ml 88% lactic acid
« Last Edit: June 14, 2013, 07:39:17 am by quattlebaum »

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: how much Ca is to much?
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2013, 03:31:47 am »
You sometimes see 150 ppm listed as an upper limit.

BTW - It is Sulfate, not sulfide.
Jeff Rankert
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Offline jeffy

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Re: how much Ca is to much?
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2013, 05:49:26 am »
BTW - It is Sulfate, not sulfide.
BTW can you change "to" to "too" in the title?
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
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Offline quattlebaum

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Re: how much Ca is too much?
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2013, 07:35:09 am »
Dam spell check does that every time:). Also thanks for the insult on grammar "Jeffy"
« Last Edit: June 14, 2013, 07:36:51 am by quattlebaum »

Offline mabrungard

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Re: how much Ca is too much?
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2013, 10:06:22 am »
There should be little reason to exceed 150 ppm in practice.  Since calcium is paired with a variety of anions, boosting the calcium means that the water would also have high concentrations of some or all anions its associated with.  That could be a formula for minerally beer flavor. 

Considering that calcium complexes with phosphates in the mash and precipitates out, it may be undesirable to overdose the mash with calcium.  But considering that I know of brewers that have overdosed with calcium-containing minerals, it does not appear that the precipitation reaction is excessive or detrimental to the resulting beer.  So there isn't an upper limit for that reason. 

At 133 ppm Ca, there is no problem.
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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: how much Ca is too much?
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2013, 10:46:09 am »
Dam spell check does that every time:). Also thanks for the insult on grammar "Jeffy"
I have been fighting with autocorrect also.
Jeff Rankert
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Offline jeffy

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Re: how much Ca is too much?
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2013, 10:53:21 am »
Dam spell check does that every time:). Also thanks for the insult on grammar "Jeffy"
I would normally ignore that, but this time it just seemed more annoying than usual for some reason.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995

Offline yso191

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Re: how much Ca is too much?
« Reply #7 on: June 15, 2013, 09:28:04 am »
To all the ruffled grammar nazis:  "There, their, they're."
Steve
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“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” ― G.K. Chesterton