DIY coffee water and Zerowater

Tanot

Hi all

I’ve dropped down the rabbit hole of making my own water after using Waitrose Lockhills for a while. My local water is terrible, enough to scale a kettle within a few uses and I’m looking to get a decent espresso machine in the next few months (a Bianca if I can talk myself and the missus into it!) so I want to start off from a good place.

I’ve read the various discussions about water on lots of different forums including the Barista Hustle recipes and I’ve looked at Rob1’s hardness spreadsheets and MWJB’s mixing spreadsheet (thanks very much both for your work on those). I’ve played around with the hardness spreadsheet and I’m not sure I completely understand it. If I put in 40.1 for Bicarbonate and 68.6 for Magnesium (the SCA recipe if I’m reading it right) I end up with an alkalinity of 32.88 but a hardness of 282.5 which seems like a big number. The LI is .16 but I have no idea if that is very high or “normal”? My Zerowater TDS reading from my tap water is 350 for what it is worth - probably very little I know.

The second and main question is, where do people get food grade Epsom Salts from? I can see it is available from Amazon but I’m leery of ordering anything “food grade” from there as I have no idea where is has been manufactured or whether there are any contaminants in it. Are there any shops on your average UK high street where you can buy it? Rightly or wrongly I presume that if I buy it down my local shop it is probably subject to some sort of regulation (I’m probably naïve!) whereas with Amazon who knows. I’ve read enough Amazon horror stories with toys etc. to put me off from buying food supplements from there.

Maybe I’m just better mixing it with my tap water (very hard, I live in Bucks) or diluting it with a particular bottled water? Sorry I’ve looked but haven’t come across a ZeroWater mixing chart, I appreciate it isn’t dissimilar to distilled though.

Thanks for any advice

Ollie

DavecUK

Tanot Welcome to the forum Bianca is a nice machine and hopefully @Rob1 our water expert will be along to advise.

MediumRoastSteam

Tanot - not answering your question directly, but, if you want to start easy, just add 0.1g of sodium bicarbonate - aka baking soda - available at any supermarket, to 1L of water. All you need is a scale precise to 2 decimal places.

If your scale is is precise to 1 decimal place, then add 1g to 100ml (100g) of Zero water. And that’s your concentrate. Then add 10ml (10.1g) of that concentrate to 1L of Zero Water or to 990ml if you want to be precise. I’m not 😊👍

CoyoteOldMan

Tanot where do people get food grade Epsom Salts from?

Most supermarkets store pharmaceutical-grade salts - meant for baths, but they should be pure enough for consumption (especially since MgSO₄ is still used as a laxative, which is a pharmaceutical use). If you want something that is specifically marked (and marketed) as ‘food grade’, this is what I bought.

Tanot I presume I’d be missing something if I go with no hardness at all?

If you polled this, you’d get at least two opinions per person… I personally prefer having a bit of magnesium (or calcium), but a lot of people go with bicarbonate or even pure de-ionised. Try different combinations, and see what you like.

Tanot I liked the Minima based mainly on Dave’s reviews and videos but it seems like they are problematic to get hold of now.

Order direct from ACS. Not problematic at all; what may be more problematic is that the warranty is going to be parts-only, but they are well built, and have been in production for quite a while, so not likely to go wrong soon after purchase.

MWJB

Tanot I’ve played around with the hardness spreadsheet and I’m not sure I completely understand it. If I put in 40.1 for Bicarbonate and 68.6 for Magnesium (the SCA recipe if I’m reading it right) I end up with an alkalinity of 32.88 but a hardness of 282.5 which seems like a big number.

The SCAA standard is 40mg/L total alkalinity and an ideal of 68mg/L total hardness (17-85mg/L range) as CaCO3.

Tanot

Thanks both, I do have a scale accurate to 2 decimal places (it is for baking occifer) so I’m heading to the supermarket tomorrow to get some baking soda. We tried a blind taste test with our tap water and the Zero earlier and my missus immediately identified the Zero and said it was very different and basically flat. Oddly my daughter preferred it but she is only 7!

I think I read somewhere during my over extensive research into this that the hardness “ions” give the coffee something to bind to (sorry if that is absolute horse s*&T, I could be making it up or completely misremembering something) so I presume I’d be missing something if I go with no hardness at all?

The Bianca is probably way over the top for me - a few coffees a day, mainly milk based. Have been getting along fine with a V60, Moka pot and Clever ever since I got into coffee during the first lockdown but the idea of a home machine appeals to me and I don’t want to have buyer’s remorse a year down the line if I go for a “lesser” machine. I liked the Minima based mainly on Dave’s reviews and videos but it seems like they are problematic to get hold of now.

LMSC

Tanot Welcome to the forum. You have got a plenty of great tips and recommendations.

You can’t go wrong with Minima and Bianca. If you are going to add a paddle to Minima, you may as well pay a little more and get the B. As Jake said, please look at our classifieds; you have got some cracking deals.

Re-water, I won’t bother about epsom salt. We have Osmio Zero. We feed straight as it comes with re-mineralisation kit. Touch wood, no issues so far.

Good luck with your purchases.

Rob1

Tanot I think I read somewhere during my over extensive research into this that the hardness “ions” give the coffee something to bind to (sorry if that is absolute horse s*&T"

@Tanot"#p22299 If I put in 40.1 for Bicarbonate and 68.6 for Magnesium (the SCA recipe if I’m reading it right) I end up with an alkalinity of 32.88 but a hardness of 282.5 which seems like a big nu

What is the recipe exactly?

You’ve definitely read that somewhere but probably haven’t seen any proof.

Cuprajake

Two for sale used should you wish

The Bianca is a fantastic machine and comes with everything bar a grinder to get you going

I use to water with potassium bicarbonate, this may not give the perfect recipe but it I’ll give zero scale in the machine, a compromise I’m happy to take.

That’s called the Dr pavlis water.

Cuprajake

I use intralabs for all my salts, used them from the days when I used to mix dosing salts for my marine tank.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301393907091?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=SKPT5Fq4T_i&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=8nPtpNt4SJC&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Newdent

I use 10000x concentrates in dropper bottles and mix up water as and when I need it from zero water jugs. I really liked jkim makes video for explaining water:

The EAF wiki he linked also has great info. https://espressoaf.com/guides/water.html

Jkim also has a new video out on water dialling with drops on top of the puck so that recipes that would be corrosive to the boiler can be used with minimal risk. Recommend giving this one a watch too.

DavecUK

Newdent small drops of concentrate on the puck is an interesting idea.

MediumRoastSteam

DavecUK - I watched the video too. But… why concentrate on the puck? Why not a drop into the cup of espresso instead?

CoyoteOldMan

MediumRoastSteam I’m making this up on the hoof, but if the “interesting” chemistry happens at the moment of solution/extraction from the coffee powder, adding the minerals in the finished product (in the cup) may not have the same effect at all.

DavecUK

MediumRoastSteam As has been said, the magic at extraction we are all told happens by experts.

Cuprajake

Yeah in the area it’s dropped

DavecUK

I could imagine some bright spark 🙂 inventing mineral infused filter papers, where’s MCD when you need him. Perhaps Webber’s next addition to their super expensive, but being taken seriously unifilter, or whatever it’s called.

LMSC

l am thinking if spraying all over the puck’s surface would be better than 3-4 drops. But, am not sure if this would be as good as the pre-mixed water.

DavecUK

LMSC A potential Weber product in the making🤣

LMSC

DavecUK potential Weber product in the making

We have too many good ideas here ! Hope they give a donation to the freeflarum! 😂😉

LMSC

DavecUK
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