Head is spinning! Is there a very simple water recipe?

#1: Post by **slipchuck** » January 8th, 2020, 1:56 pm

Let's say I gave a 4 liter jug of distilled water.
Is there a way to put 1 ingredient in, shake it up and be done with it?
What is the recipe?

Thanks

Randy

#2: Post by **tom** » January 8th, 2020, 2:13 pm

I just posted a similar reply in a different thread, but you might be interested in my recent summary of the rpavlis recipe here. Baking soda + distilled water = done. The point of making the concentrate is because the alternative is to measure exceedingly small (and therefore difficult to accurately measure) quantities of baking soda to make 1 gallon of water. The 750ml quantity of concentrate is good for ~50 gal of prepared water, so you don't have to do it very often.

Edit: To answer your question directly, dissolve 1/3 gram of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) in your 4 liter jug of distilled water. It will get you very close to the desired alkalinity of 50mg/l as CaC03.

#3: Post by **RyanJE** » January 8th, 2020, 2:18 pm

The closest thing to what you are looking for is actually Third Wave Water.

#4: Post by **sweaner** » January 8th, 2020, 3:19 pm

400 mg potassium bicarbonate...
... Done!

#5: Post by **pcrussell50** » January 8th, 2020, 3:25 pm

slipchuck wrote:Let's say I gave a 4 liter jug of distilled water.
Is there a way to put 1 ingredient in, shake it up and be done with it?
What is the recipe?

Thanks

Randy

Or 300mg baking soda to your four liter bottle, shake it up. Done. Nothing easier. Scale not possible. Chloride corrosion not possible.

Alternately, you can install an espresso specific softening filter under your kitchen sink. It will leave sodium buffers like using baking soda. They can be had for about $100USD. You do have to replace the filter when it loses effectiveness. And that means you have to have a test kit to know when that happens. So there is some added PITA there. Pick your poison.

I use the filter for my plumbed machine and mix my own for my levers.

-Peter

January 8th, 2020, 6:10 pm

pcrussell50 wrote:Or 400-500mg baking soda, shake it up. Done. Nothing easier. Scale not possible. Chloride corrosion not possible.

Alternately, you can install an espresso specific softening filter under your kitchen sink. It will leave sodium buffers like using baking soda. They can be had for about $100USD. You do have to replace the filter when it loses effectiveness. And that means you have to have a test kit to know when that happens. So there is some added PITA there. Pick your poison.

I use the filter for my plumbed machine and mix my own for my levers.

-Peter

Thanks Peter
So 5 grams of baking soda can be used in 4 liters of water?

Thanks

Randy

#7: Post by **yakster** » January 8th, 2020, 6:12 pm

500 mg would be 0.5 grams, hence the need for a high precision scale or mixing a larger concentrate batch.

I used to make a concentrate and add 10 % of my concentrate to my water but I just ordered a new scale to try just adding the minerals on a per-batch basis. I ordered the same one @sweaner uses.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0736QWVT2/

January 8th, 2020, 6:21 pm

What a coincidence I already have that exact one!

Randy

#9: Post by **tom** » January 8th, 2020, 6:27 pm

pcrussell50 wrote:Or 400-500mg baking soda, shake it up.

slipchuck wrote:So 5 grams of baking soda can be used in 4 liters of water?

No, neither of these is correct (but the first is in the right ballpark). Assuming you aim for rpavlis water (alkalinity of 50mg/l as CaC03), you should use 1/3-gram of baking soda in 4 liters of water (336 mg to be exact, but +/- 10% won't make a difference). See the discussion at the conclusion of this thread regarding the conversion between NaHCO3 and KHCO3. If you don't have a scale with fine enough resolution, you can prepare a concentrate solution, as I noted and linked in my original comment. There, you only need to measure ~16g, which most of us have scales capable of doing with sufficient accuracy.

#10: Post by **thesharpener** » January 8th, 2020, 6:29 pm

I add 0.300 - 0.400 grams potassium bicarbonate powder per gallon of distilled water. I usually mix the water a day before I need it and give it a few vigorous swirls / inversions to make sure it's homogeneous.