RPavlis water bland? - Page 3

Water analysis, treatment, and mineral recipes for optimum taste and equipment health.
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homeburrero
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#21: Post by homeburrero »

Marcelnl wrote:I also recall using more and getting better taste, but keep in mind that RPavlis came up with the recipe to protect the boiler from the acidity of water.
It is true that the full strength recipe (100 mg/L KHCO3), with an alkalinity of 50 mg/L as CaCO3 was considered ideal from a corrosion perspective. But it's worth noting that the conventional wisdom for better taste is to use less bicarbonate, not more. Dr Pavlis preferred less when brewing dark roasts for taste reasons. The argument against using more is that the higher alkalinity will neutralize more acidity in the brew, dulling some acidity and brightness that might be desirable. Of course if you wanted a less acidic drink for a particular coffee, then using more bicarbonate might be the ticket. This effect would be expected to be much more noticeable in cupping and pourover than it would be in an espresso by a factor of 10 or so.
Pat
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Marcelnl
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#22: Post by Marcelnl »

then again, who drinks dark roasts these days ;-) I always thought I was doing dark-ish roasts but when I look at drop temperatures I'm well in the light roast scene. :shock:
LMWDP #483

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Chingachgook
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#23: Post by Chingachgook »

cmin wrote:So I decided to play around again and just did side by side. 1g distilled with .38mg potassium bicarb, just like before mehhh and bland, and super thin crema. Also like no fruit notes almost just like more of a generic brightness/acidity which is what I recall before, I really don't understand how so many people can rave about the recipe as is like that. The other gallon I did .5mg potassium bicarb, and .4mg epsom salt, much better. The acidity seemed to be tamed and fruit notes popping again like spring water. This is with a medium light Burundi. From Windmill by the way, absolutely declious, so much strawberry.

I'm going to play around further and increase potassium bicarb after this tank and see. Maybe do .8mg and keep epsom the same.
Perfect timing for you to revisit this thread as I've been struggling with the same exact issue. (Keep in mind, I only brew pour over and Moka Pot.) I went ahead and tried your latest recipe attempt and I'll let you know my impressions. I'm so tired of my coffee tasting bland even when grinding insanely fine or anything in between on the Niche.

cmin (original poster)
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#24: Post by cmin (original poster) replying to Chingachgook »

Yeah I haven't tried V60 yet again but when I did prior it was the most bland V60 ever had lol. Not even remotley close to just reg publix spring water.

For the epsom I'll pry pour some water out next time to heat up and help dissolve the salt. It was hard to see if it dissolved in the jug, I left it for a while and just kept shaking it up as I walked past the kitchen.

Milligan
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#25: Post by Milligan »

I poured 100g of distilled into a small vessel and microwaved it until it was warm. Added the epsom and it readily dissolved with a few stirs. I then added that to the concentrate and didn't have to stir it a lot or worry that it wasn't dissolved.

I had an issue over the last week with my tap water. My tap typically tests out fine for drip brew (too hard for my espresso machine.). Slowly my coffees were tasting really bad. I spent several days trying to dial in my grind, different coffees, cleaning the brewer, etc. Finally I was filling up a child's pool and I smelled chlorine. I tasted the tap water and it was horrific. I guess what was good one day can't necessarily be taken for granted that it will be good the next. Supposedly chlorine is boosted in my local tap water when the reservoir's thermocline mixes due to spring/summer heating.

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homeburrero
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#26: Post by homeburrero »

Milligan wrote:I poured 100g of distilled into a small vessel and microwaved it until it was warm.
Be careful -- it is possible to heat highly purified water above its boiling point in a microwave, then when adding the salt it would boil explosively. May be safer to add the salt right before microwaving.
Pat
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NelisB
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#27: Post by NelisB »

Is it necessary to heat water, when adding minerals to dissolve them? I use magnesiumchloridehexahydrate, calciumsulphatedihydrate and potassiumbicarb. (Not more than 1 grams of each directly in 10 liter of destilled water)

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homeburrero
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#28: Post by homeburrero »

NelisB wrote:Is it necessary to heat water, when adding minerals to dissolve them?
Not necessary - - stirring, shaking, and time will do the trick. Epsom salt does dissolve more quickly in warm water, but there are a few minerals, including calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, and calcium sulfate that become less soluble in hot water.

P.S. Your 0.1 g/L of MgCl2 * 6H20 will give you water with 50 mg/L CaCO3 equivalents of magnesium hardness, but also 35 mg/L chloride ion. OK for pourover but probably not advisable in an espresso machine because of chloride corrosion risk.
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NelisB
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#29: Post by NelisB »

Thanks Pat.

With those amounts I mean not more than 0,1g/liter relating to solvability. I don't make a strong base solution. My latest actual dose of mgclhexahydrate is 0,07mg/l. Together with 0.08 mg/l of calciumsulphatedihydrate and 0.075mg/l of KHCo3.
I get this with David Seng's calculator:

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