Where to buy CaCl & CACO other than LHBS

[Truman42]

Ive never used chalk before, this was the first time and I only had to add .5 grams to the mash and .3 to the sparge.

Why is it that no one seems to like using chalk?

 

[pk.sax]

They're all eating it with the blue cheese and saisons.

 

[drsmurto]

Are you going to post anything useful?

pH is not deemed useful by you?

I'm trying to ascertain whether Truman is adding salts to his mash tun because the mash pH he measured was out of range.

I'm far more useful than people like you who proudly sport grammatical errors in their signature. Proudly ignorant is still ignorant.

 

[QldKev]

pH is not deemed useful by you?

I'm trying to ascertain whether Truman is adding salts to his mash tun because the mash pH he measured was out of range.

I'm far more useful than people like you who proudly sport grammatical errors in their signature. Proudly ignorant is still ignorant.

I'd rather sport grammatical errors than come across as a dickhead like yourself!

 

[manticle]

Ive never used chalk before, this was the first time and I only had to add .5 grams to the mash and .3 to the sparge.

Why is it that no one seems to like using chalk?

In brewing science texts on water/mash adjustments, there are a bunch of negatives often brought up relating to carbonates in brewing liquor and very few positives.That's theoretical from my perspective (although the negatives are actual, observed and tested). If not dissolved properly it will have very little effect on pH anyway so you just have mash with chalk in it (pH will drop but not as effectively as it will if properly dissolved).
When I have used CaCO3, I've not been a fan of what it seems to bring to the palate (personal experience).
It also seems counter intuitive to me to add things like calcium which drop pH then add carbonate to bump it back up (and it needs to be dissolved in acid which also seems counter-intuitive but my chemistry is probably out in that regard). I'm able to adjust my pH without using it so I prefer to take that route.

I think dark beers will cope with chalk (most other beers won't) but I'm not convinced they are significantly improved by it.

I think braukaiser has an interesting article on adding chalk to mash and dissolving in carbon dioxide so I'll see if I can hunt it up. I think there might be a section in brun water as well. (or at least an online discussion of it somewhere recently)

I need to do some more home testing to really ascertain if my dislike of chalk is really justified but I'll get to that.

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Building_brewing_water_with_dissolved_chalk

 

[Midnight Brew]

Didnt wanna start a new thread but had a small question in regards to CaCl.

I can get Calcium chloride (flaked 74%) from the local pool shop pretty cheap or I can go through a HBS where its flaked 77% but more pricey. Is the pool shop stuff just as good?

I'm guessing they're almost the same product and on a homebrew scale just use the same amount as the 3% would make little difference on a homebrew scale.

 

[Not For Horses]

I brew with CaCl from the pool shop. Works fine for me.

 

[TheBeerKitchen]

In brewing science texts on water/mash adjustments, there are a bunch of negatives often brought up relating to carbonates in brewing liquor and very few positives.That's theoretical from my perspective (although the negatives are actual, observed and tested). If not dissolved properly it will have very little effect on pH anyway so you just have mash with chalk in it (pH will drop but not as effectively as it will if properly dissolved).
When I have used CaCO3, I've not been a fan of what it seems to bring to the palate (personal experience).
It also seems counter intuitive to me to add things like calcium which drop pH then add carbonate to bump it back up (and it needs to be dissolved in acid which also seems counter-intuitive but my chemistry is probably out in that regard). I'm able to adjust my pH without using it so I prefer to take that route.

I think dark beers will cope with chalk (most other beers won't) but I'm not convinced they are significantly improved by it.

I think braukaiser has an interesting article on adding chalk to mash and dissolving in carbon dioxide so I'll see if I can hunt it up. I think there might be a section in brun water as well. (or at least an online discussion of it somewhere recently)

I need to do some more home testing to really ascertain if my dislike of chalk is really justified but I'll get to that.

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Building_brewing_water_with_dissolved_chalk

Carbonic acid will dissolve chalk in water, just put it in a PET with water (same you use for the mash) and use a carbonator cap .

I don't like the idea of adding too much of any salt, and it is hard to know with the calculators how they determine the final dissolved amount in the mash, usually they compensate for the inability of the chalk to dissolve and tell you to add twice as much, which isn't a good thing.

However, it has it's place in the treatment of brewing water I believe. That said.. If you can get the exact same result without it, go for it.