Amount of sodium in baking soda mixed into distilled water

[Acavia]

Assuming the distilled water being used has no sodium:

Baking soda is 27.4% sodium. When it is mixed in distilled water, will 0.274 times the amount of baking soda added be how much sodium will then be in that water?

For example, if 1000mg of baking soda were added to distilled water, would that water then have 274mg of sodium in it?

Or does some of the baking soda sodium turned into something else when mixed into distilled water? If some of the sodium turns into something else, is how much dependent on other variables like temperature etc. or is it roughly a constant amount? And if a constant amount, what is the percentage?

Basically I am trying to calculate how much sodium would be in the water after adding X amount of baking soda to distilled water.

[homeburrero]

For example, if 1000mg of baking soda were added to distilled water, would that water then have 274mg of sodium in it?

Yes.

Or does some of the baking soda sodium turned into something else when mixed into distilled water? If some of the sodium turns into something else, is how much dependent on other variables like temperature etc. or is it roughly a constant amount? And if a constant amount, what is the percentage?

It stays as sodium ion. When you add a gram of baking soda, NaHCO₃, it dissolves to 247 mg sodium ion (Na⁺) and 753 mg bicarbonate ion (HCO₃⁻). The bicarbonate ion provides your alkalinity - it can react with acids in the water to form water and carbon dioxide (H⁺ + HCO₃⁻ ⇋ H₂O + CO₂).

[Acavia (original poster)]

Yes.

It stays as sodium ion. When you add a gram of baking soda, NaHCO₃, it dissolves to 247 mg sodium ion (Na⁺) and 753 mg bicarbonate ion (HCO₃⁻). The bicarbonate ion provides your alkalinity - it can react with acids in the water to form water and carbon dioxide (H⁺ + HCO₃⁻ ⇋ H₂O + CO₂).

Thanks again for this and help in other thread.

So it seems the amount of baking soda to make 40 mg/L alkalinity would almost double the SCA's target for sodium - still in its acceptable range but almost double its 10 mg/L target.

For example, the amount of baking soda to hit 40 mg/L alkalinity is ~.067g per liter of distilled water. That would be 24.7% x 67mg of sodium per liter or 16.55mg/L sodium which is ~65.5% above the target.

Whether potassium is better than sodium is subjective I guess, but if I wanted to hit closer to the 10 mg/L sodium mark, I could use the correct amount of potassium bicarbonate to hit 20 mg/L alkalinity and half the normal amount of baking soda, for 40 mg/L ,to hit an additional 20 mg/L, then that would half the sodium to ~8.3mg/L much closer to the 10 mg/L target, right - it would work like that? And I could make the ratio 60% baking soda and 40% potassium (both in amounts needed to hit their 60/40 portions of alkalinity) to hit right near 10 mg/L.

[homeburrero]

Whether potassium is better than sodium is subjective I guess, but if I wanted to hit near the 10 mg/L mark, if I used the correct amount of potassium bicarbonate to hit 20 mg/L alkalinity and halved the normal amount of baking soda to hit an additional 20 mg/L, then that would half the sodium to ~9.5mg/L right on the target, right?

Yes, and I've seen online DIY water recipes out there that use both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate in this way, which I'm sure is to meet that old SCAA target of 10 mg/L sodium ion. The late Dr Pavlis thought that he could taste a difference between sodium vs potassium bicarbonate and preferred potassium tor taste and theoretical reasons. The theoretical reason was that coffee itself is loaded with potassium, and any potassium that you add to the brew water will be insignificant compared to what comes from the coffee, and would not be expected to influence taste.

[Acavia (original poster)]

Yes, and I've seen online DIY water recipes out there that use both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate in this way, which I'm sure is to meet that old SCAA target of 10 mg/L sodium ion.

What is the current SCA sodium target, or overall water profile if you know it. I can only find the 10 mg/L sodium, so I do not know what the new target is.

[homeburrero]

What is the current SCA sodium target

There is no sodium target in the newer SCA specs.

When you search online you will find lots of references to the 2011 SCAA specification like this: http://www.scaa.org/?d=water-standards&page=resources

It does specify a 10 mg/L sodium target, although if you read the full handbook that it's based on you will see that they allow sodium < 30 mg/L for adequate brews. In this post you can find a table of both online and the 2011 handbook SCAA specifications.

If you read the 2018 SCA water quality handbook, https://store.sca.coffee/collections/bo ... y-handbook, you'll find a more nuanced recommendation, and it has no target or upper limit recommendation for sodium ion.

If you search hard for current online SCA standards you will find an 'SCA Heritage Water Standard' in this page - https://sca.coffee/heritage-coffee-standards. That one does have a simplified table, looks like this:



It roughly follows the old SCAA standard, including the specification of calcium hardness. But note that there's no sodium target. Note also no TDS target, even though they accidentally kept some verbiage from the old standard about TDS being measured with a 4-4-2 factor.