steve_07 I don’t know about lockhills but ashbeck has changed recently for me anyway and the bicarbonate is now 46mg which I believe is much more boiler friendly.
Can you maybe post a picture of the Ashbeck label with Bicarbonate at 46mg please? I just checked some newer bottles I have in the garage and mine are still showing 25mg. I will try to remember to have another look next time I’m at Tesco, but I think I bought those bottles only a few weeks ago.
Mine is the same, I just checked. I also notice that the Calcium has increased from 11mg to 17mg…
I may well have the wrong end of the stick here, but I have to admit that my top priority has been to minimize scale, with less consideration for getting to SCAA, SCA recommendation.
Time will tell.
You could!
At the moment i am having 2x V60 and either a moka or an espresso after lunch. During the week. Probably four coffee drinks on Saturday and Sunday.
Thanks!
I think I will spend some time this weekend creating a spreadhseet and doing cost comparisons.
Ah I see, you wouldn’t need to use the bottled water for V60 and moka pot, unless you can taste a significant difference.
I find tap water is ok for brew methods so just use the bottled for the espresso machine.
Former Zerowater jug user here. I made up 5L at a time and mixed this with 320mg of sodium bicarbonate to bring alkalinity up to the desired level. I did this for a year.
Since getting my Skuma I’m feeding the machine with RO water. I haven’t checked alkalinity, but the coffee tastes good to me and I’m hoping I’m getting enough drainage from the service boiler daily (about ¾ cups of tea a day) to keep scale away
Is there much taste difference between Brita filtered tap water, and bottled water, when brewed as espresso ? We’re in a soft-water area, so no real need to use bottled but I’m curious how much taste difference people find when switching.
It was all too complicated for me so decided to use bottled, picking some 2 L bottles of Ashbeck in Tesco the label said Calcium 11mg, magnesium 3.5mg residue 85mg, looking at the 5 L bottle that said 17, 5 and 140. Curiously both were bottled at source in Armathwaite, so how does that work? Checking my Waitrose 2 L Lockhills the label exactly matches the Tesco 5L bottle. Does water change it’s composition according to the size of bottle and can water from two different sources have exactly the same composition.
SurreyAlan Drawn from different places/springs from the same aquifer? Maybe tested at different times?
No the water won’t change composition based on bottle size.
Doram TDS doesn’t indicate scaling potential, because it’s the calcium, magnesium (total hardness) and the alkalinity (temporary hardness - the ability for the total hardness to deposit) that are factors here.
TDS is everything in the water, a lot of which won’t affect scaling.
The parties mentioned are just using common parlance and units in their analysis, nothing unusual in what they are saying.
MWJB Doram TDS doesn’t indicate scaling potential, because it’s the calcium, magnesium (total hardness) and the alkalinity (temporary hardness - the ability for the total hardness to deposit) that are factors here.
TDS is everything in the water, a lot of which won’t affect scaling.
The parties mentioned are just using common parlance and units in their analysis, nothing unusual in what they are saying.
Thanks. This is beyond my understanding. Can you maybe explain in simple terms the difference in scaling potential between the new and older versions of Ashbeck?
Doram Old Ashbeck, low scaling potential but also low alkalinity & pH so erring more to corrosive (outside typical recommendations).
Latest Ashbeck still low scaling potential (but still able to scale in a steam boiler eventually) less tendency to be corrosive, due to slightly higher alkalinity & pH (lowest end of typical recommendation).
It’s always a trade off of scaling vs corrosiveness.
MWJB Doram Old Ashbeck, low scaling potential but also low alkalinity & pH so erring more to corrosive (outside typical recommendations).
Latest Ashbeck still low scaling potential (but still able to scale in a steam boiler eventually) less tendency to be corrosive, due to slightly higher alkalinity & pH (lowest end of typical recommendation).It’s always a trade off of scaling vs corrosiveness.
Thanks again. My boiler is stainless steel, so I believe corrosion isn’t an issue for me? Taste wise I don’t think I can tell the difference (from my own experimentation), so not too bothered about that either.
I’m left with scaling potential. Can you maybe put some numbers on the difference between old and new Ahsbeck? I know it’s not as simple and straight forward as two numbers or a percent point, but still - 85 vs 140 TDS is something that my mind is able to understand. Is there any other way to quantify the difference in scaling potential so I know what I’m facing if I continue to use Ashbeck compared to what I had before?
Doram As has been said, you’re looking at the mg/l figures for calcium and magnesium, together with the mg/l figures for alkalinity (sometimes derived from bicarbonate expressed as CaCO3 and sometimes helpfully expressed as simply alkalinity or bicarbonate alkalinity). These figures together with the temperature determine scaling potential. The spreadsheet in my signature allows you to specify either hardness an alkalinity if known, or calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate concentration in mg/l along with the temp of your boilers to see if the water will form scale or not.
Re corrosion: it’s not a simple matter. In terms of water purity there’s not too much to worry about, especially with good alkalinity. There are other issues like chloride and sulfate presence (depending on boiler material, with an increasing corrosion risk if scale will also form).
