Maybe this is a silly question, but WTF?! If reports provide CaCO3, why does BeerSmith ask for HCO3? Wouldn't it make more sense to ask for the information that's provided?
I'm from Galveston Texas. I have two broad questions, but bear with some background information first: 2016 Water report: Ca 2+ 37 Mg 2+ 7 HCO3 - 127 SO4 2- 38 Na + 37 Cl - 51 pH 8.1 (their measurement) pH 7 (my presumably much less accurate measurement at the faucet) I only...
Since there really isn't a beer style HCO3 ppm target, the purpose of baking soda, or any source of HCO3, is solely to raise a low mash PH to the ideal mash PH - typically only needed for dark styles The amount of baking soda added to the mash should be based on what is required to hit the target mash PH.
This assumes that HCO3- has one alkalinity equivalent and that CaCO3 has 2 alkalinity equivalents. As a result you mulyiply [HCO3-] with 50 and divide by 61. The result is 0.5ppm alkalinity as CaCO3. But there is a problem. The actual alkalinity contributed by CaCO3 was not one equivalent but 2.
My most recent Lab Wards report shows my Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 as 89, my Bicarbonate, HCO3 as 97 and my pH as 8.1. I had read that for pH under 8.3 Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 = 50/61 * Bicarbonate, HCO3. That does not hold true for my numbers. My report also lists Carbonate, CO3 as 6. Does...
To quote him from an email: "HCO3 (bicarbonate) is a fractional part of CaCO3 (units of the total alkalinity), by means of the molecular weights 100.086 to 61.016 (61.016/100.086 = 0.6096). This concerns mass units only. This says HCO3 is 60.96% of the mass of CaCO3. The titration test for these is the same, using Sulfuric Acid.