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Date: 07 Jan 2007 20:53:47
From: Heat + Beans
Subject: Add calcite filter to harden my water?
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I've plumbed in Chris Coffee's double cansiter: softener then carbon
filters. I used these with my previous pour-over and added enough
unsoftened water to stay "around" 5 grain.
Now my water is super soft (0-1g) and shots are flat. Chris sells a
calcite filter and specifically recommends it for R.O. systems. Will
the calcite remineralize? Or is it strictly a ph thing? That is,
would I gain any useful hardness from switching out the carbon or even
adding a calcite filter? Other ideas?
tin
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Date: 08 Jan 2007 12:42:51
From: Dan Bollinger
Subject: Re: Add calcite filter to harden my water?
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I'll leave the chemistry to Ken and Jim. :) I'll just be pedantic and say
that, although the cartridge drops into a standard filter canister, calcite
treatment cartridges are not a 'filter' since nothing is being filtered out. It
is an additive, not subtractive, process. Dan
> I've plumbed in Chris Coffee's double cansiter: softener then carbon
> filters. I used these with my previous pour-over and added enough
> unsoftened water to stay "around" 5 grain.
>
> Now my water is super soft (0-1g) and shots are flat. Chris sells a
> calcite filter and specifically recommends it for R.O. systems. Will
> the calcite remineralize? Or is it strictly a ph thing? That is,
> would I gain any useful hardness from switching out the carbon or even
> adding a calcite filter? Other ideas?
>
> tin
>
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Date: 07 Jan 2007 23:58:20
From: jim schulman
Subject: Re: Add calcite filter to harden my water?
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On 7 Jan 2007 20:53:47 -0800, "Heat + Beans" <heatgunroast@gmail.com >
wrote:
>Now my water is super soft (0-1g) and shots are flat. Chris sells a
>calcite filter and specifically recommends it for R.O. systems. Will
>the calcite remineralize? Or is it strictly a ph thing? That is,
>would I gain any useful hardness from switching out the carbon or even
>adding a calcite filter? Other ideas?
Ken's note is roughly right, but there's some additions. The water
from a cation filter is a variable animal. Ken's is good, because he
has very hard water coming in. The filter replaces the calcium, but
not the carbonates (temporary hardness). These seem to work well if
high enough. Italy in general has hugely hard water and the ion
exchange tanks remain the standard; whereas most places here have only
moderately hard water, and RO systems are preferred. Moreover, if the
water is very hard, and the softened water has a lot of carbonate,
even a little calcium will cause it to scale.
If the input to the ion exchanger is only moderately hard, 5 to 8
grains, there may be some benefit to using calcite. It will not put
the combined hardness over the scaling limit and may improve the
taste.
However, this is is unknown territory for me. I have seen no data on
how much calcium a calcite filter adds, and I don't know how it
affects the taste of cation softened water. In your position, I would
try it; if the taste is better, I would measure it to see what sort of
scale hit you're taking.
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Date: 07 Jan 2007 22:18:21
From: Ken Fox
Subject: Re: Add calcite filter to harden my water?
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"Heat + Beans" <heatgunroast@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1168232027.093003.325530@38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I've plumbed in Chris Coffee's double cansiter: softener then carbon
> filters. I used these with my previous pour-over and added enough
> unsoftened water to stay "around" 5 grain.
>
> Now my water is super soft (0-1g) and shots are flat. Chris sells a
> calcite filter and specifically recommends it for R.O. systems. Will
> the calcite remineralize? Or is it strictly a ph thing? That is,
> would I gain any useful hardness from switching out the carbon or even
> adding a calcite filter? Other ideas?
>
> tin
>
tin,
You can't use Calcite filters with cation softened water if your goal is to
get a good result. Calcite filters are intended for use with RO water.
Unlike RO or distilled water, which everyone can agree makes terrible brewed
or espresso shots, cation softened water makes very good if not necessarily
excellent shots. My discussions with people whose taste is better than mine
has convinced me to just use the Cation softened water as I have it and not
to bother with RO and calcite or other approaches since the incremental
improvement is apt to be slight.
It is possible that if your water has a bad taste to it, that softening out
the hardness might bring out other elements you find distasteful. Starting
out with LA water, i would not find that too surprising. The hard water
here in the northern Rockies tastes good, so at least we don't have to deal
with anything other than the hardness, but your water is different and I
think, worse.
Cation softened water has the same PPM as the unsoftened water from which it
was made. It is a strange animal and you might not like it. I'm reasonably
happy with it and think I get better shots using it than I did with the
untreated 11 grains hardness water, perhaps effected by a hose end softener,
that I used before.
ken
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