Another Water discussion

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?

Rob1

Thanks! I will try to use the calculator and hopefully get a grasp of this.

Doram

Alkalinity
Minimum recommendation 40mg/L (ppm)
Old Ashbeck 20.5
Current Ashbeck 38

Total hardness
Minimum recommendation 50mg/L (ppm)
Old Ashbeck 42
Current Ashbeck 63

LSI at 95C
Old Ashbeck -1.46 to -1.64 mild to moderate corrosion, treatment may be needed.
Current Ashbeck -0.62 to -0.72 none to mild corrosion

I can’t comment as to whether your boilers are impervious to corrosion. How often do you check them?
Seem pretty moot anyway, how are you going to buy old Ashbeck going forward?

MWJB

Thanks. It doesn’t sound too bad when you put it this way. :-)

Last time I took out the mushroom I didn’t see any signs of scale. I will keep my eyes peeled and see how it goes.

I don’t check the boiler (don’t know how).

And I didn’t understand the question about how to buy Ashbeck going forward (is there more than one option?).

Doram I meant that if the water make up has changed in Ashbeck & you continue to buy it, you can only buy what’s currently on offer (once all the old batches run out).

Have a look at the link on this post it has a simple spreadsheet for direct dosing. Some £20 salesw and you can make your own TWW sachets. The volume of powder is tiny!!

That quantity is the 0.168g for a simple baking soda only water

The bicarbonate recipe is 0.1g or 0.08g (I.e.: 100mg or 80mg) per litre of pure water.

I make up a bicarb concentrate in a 1 litre bottle and then dilute that when I refill my Lelit E. I may well also use that concentrate to prepare a 1 gallon glass bottle to keep ready under the sink, for when I need a fast refill.

Question for folks: Do you use the same (espresso water) recipe for pour over? Why or why not?

JHCCoffee Do you use the same (espresso water) recipe for pour over? Why or why not?

Have you actually tried it? I have.

If/when toy do so, let me know what you think, and we can go from there.

dutchy101 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

Are you using the Skuma Coffee Infuser to add minerals to the RO water or just the RO water on its own? I’m doing the former and the extractions taste very clean.

I’m just using the RO water without any infusion.

Thanks for the reply. I don’t know much about these matters, but I thought that it was necessary to remineralise the RO water (to protect the boiler and pipes and to assist the extraction process).

depends, people confuse ro with rodi,

ro will have a tds to it,

rodi is like distilled nothing in it

My Skuma RO water certainly retains something. The TDS of my tap water, measured daily over the last two weeks, has ranged from 186 to 258, while the RO has ranged from 65 to 72. I make that a filter efficiency of no better than 75%. In the same period, the TDS of the coffee-minerals water has ranged from 94 to 107 (usually in the 90s).

Of course, what matters most is what’s in that TDS (whether from plain RO or coffee-minerals RO). I’ll have to measure that sometime or send it out to be professionally analysed. 

My TDS reading from the Skuma filter RO water tends to be in the 60s - my tap water is over 300 whenever I’ve checked (as high as 450 once - grim).

I use Sainsbury’s cheapest in 5 litre bottles in UK (about £1+- a bottle) which has very low Ca, Mg and TDS. In France I use Montagne (ex LeClerc) also 5L bottles (Ca4.7, Mg 1.8, TDS 74mg/L). As I use each machine for about 6 months a year I plan to descale every 2 years. The French bottles claim to use 25% recycled plastic.