To prepare water with temporary hardness (alkalinity and calcium hardness) is needed a piece of chalk  (CaCO 3). However, the chalk does not dissolve too well in water and most of the added chalk falls to the bottom in the form of sediment or floats in undissolved form. This article will tell how you can dissolve the right amount of chalk.

About chalk and carbonate system

If you are too lazy to deal with the chemical principles of chalk dissolution, you can safely skip the theoretical part.

Step 3

Look at the resulting water profile. If you compare it with the profile of Düsseldorf, which we talked about above, you will see that they are very similar. So not always lucky, because the brewer does not have the full range of combinations of cations and anions, that is, various salts. In this case, you should focus on the appropriate residual alkalinity and the content of calcium, sulfate and chlorine in the water.

Step 4

Now it is time to introduce the total volume of water and the volume of water in the mash. The calculator will calculate the volume of wash water based on this data. Also, you will need to enter the weight of the grain bill, which will allow you to calculate the density of the mash.

As soon as you enter the color of the beer in SRM and indicate how much roast malt is used, it will be possible to calculate the pH of the mash. In our case, this is 5.5, which fits perfectly into the allowable range of 5.2 - 5.7. At the bottom right, the pH table of the mash also displays the calculated amount of residual alkalinity (RA), which will be needed to achieve a pH of 5.2, 5.4 and 5.6. The wide range of required additional CaCO 3: from -100 to 200, demonstrates how different water can be used to brew beer with a color of 20 SRM and a mash density of 4 l / kg.

Step 5

The required amount of salts is calculated based on the volume of water determined earlier. Since I do not have the opportunity to immediately prepare all the water I need at once, I have to prepare the mash and wash water separately. But for those who can afford to do all the water at once, the calculator counts the salt for the whole volume as well.

Since we are talking about the dissolution of chalk, for us the most interesting is the section “dissolving chalk”. You enter in it a volume of water in which you plan to dissolve the chalk, and the calculator calculates the CO 2 pressure you need to dissolve the right amount of chalk. The nonlinearity of the relationship between the chalk concentration and the pressure, which grows with great speed, as soon as the chalk concentration reaches 750-800 ppm, is striking. In practice, this concentration is the upper limit of the solubility of chalk, and in order to dissolve more chalk, you will have to dissolve it in a larger volume of water.

Whenever possible, I prefer to dissolve chalk in 2 liters. bottled them under carbonated water, which I did in this case. I used 1.9 l. for dissolving chalk under mash water and 1.6 l. for washing water and it took me a pressure of just 1.55 bar (23psi) and 1.38 bar (20 psi), respectively. These are absolute values, which means that atmospheric pressure also goes into these numbers, in other words, when I put carbon dioxide in bottles, my gauge should show\u003e 0.55 bar (\u003e 8 psi) and\u003e 0.38 bar (\u003e 6 psi), as it measures pressure that exceeds atmospheric.

Brewing water

	Figure 5. The necessary things: 2 liters. bottles, aerated cap, funnel, a measured amount of salt and water. I wrote on the bottles the cooking number for which I was preparing the water, as well as marked for the wash or mash water I was preparing a “pickle”.
	Figure 6. Insert the funnel into the bottle and pour salt through it into the bottle.
	Figure 7. Pour in water. Water will wash away in the bottle all residues of salts that are stuck on the funnel. Even when the required volume of water is close to 2 liters, do not fill the bottle under the neck, leave space to facilitate the dissolution of carbon dioxide in water.
	Figure 8. Install the carbonation cap, open it and squeeze out all the excess air from the bottle. Removing air and replacing it with CO 2 will allow carbon dioxide to dissolve much more efficiently, since all the free space will be filled with CO 2.
	Figure 9. Put CO 2 into the bottle through the regulator and shake the bottle carefully to get a better solution. Continue shaking the bottle until gas enters it. After the water is carbonated, top up if necessary, and gas again. Do the same with another bottle.
	Figure 10. After the water has stood for a while, it should become transparent. Some turbidity is permissible, but no sediment of chalk on the bottom, which again makes the water turbid when shaken, should not be observed. If the water does not lighten, pour half the bottle into the other, doubling the amount of water, and gas again. Perhaps the concentration of chalk is too high to dissolve it all at the CO 2 pressure available to you.

Figure 11. The day before or directly on the day of cooking, I mix the brine with the rest of the water filtered by reverse osmosis to get the desired volume of mash water, and after a while I do the same for the wash water. Despite the fact that CO 2 is now able to leave the solution, the chalk will not precipitate too quickly. Since it is now dissolved in a very large volume, it will take a long time for it to leave sufficient amount of CO 2 for precipitation of chalk to leave the solution. You will see that when heated, CO 2 comes out more intensively, but as long as the water does not boil, enough CO 2 is stored in it to keep the chalk in a dissolved form.

Figure 12. If you measure the pH of the resulting water, then you will see that it is higher than you would expect from enough alkaline water. Such a low pH is the result of the presence of a large amount of carbonic acid; however, this does not affect the alkalinity of the water. I checked the alkalinity and hardness of the water with a set of "GH & KH test kit

16 hours ago by 24medok April 3, 2011. The winter was cold and snowless. Spring came quickly. Wintering went well. 2 families were killed (last year's swarm) of 250 hives. The same number was an intense fly-through. Bees eat honey throughout the winter, there are years when bees do not fly out of the hive for more than 200 days, during which time their intestines are full and they really want to go to the toilet. These stains on the roof are the "poop" of bees, bee diarrhea is the right way to say. And propolis, which buyers often consider to be a poop of a bee, will be shown in the next message :) # diarrhea # bees # circling # spring

Honey is not recommended for children under the age of one due to the content of spores taken from pollen bee plants, which can cause botulism. On the shelves in the supermarket we find numerous companies that seem to produce the same type of honey. After which we must look when choosing a honey jar. Honey has no taste, can be divided into layers and transparent, without impurities. Natural honey has a specific aroma, it spreads and has natural impurities.

Natural honey also crystallizes. If you bought honey, and after 2-3 months it does not have crystals, it can be a fake. You can make a simple test to find out if honey is fake: mix honey in cold water. If it is natural, it should fall to the bottom of the glass, because it has a density of 1, 4 times more water and does not dissolve immediately. If honey spreads quickly in water, then it is fake.

2 days ago by 24medok Gift set number 1 in a wooden box In this set there are three types of honey and a bar of dark chocolate. All products are in-house. Cornflower-taiga honey, 370g. Honey from raznotravya "Flooded Meadows", 370g Donniki honey, 370g. Home-made chocolate on honey (cocoa butter, cocoa mass, natural 70%, natural honey from our apiary), 50g. # honey # medsibiri # ng # gift # tree # white fair # white # krasnoyarsk # gifts # donate # Siberia

Is sweet honey a weak honey in terms of quality?

Over time, honey can lose its original color. Due to its natural character, polyfill honey crystallizes after a while, but does not lose its properties. More specifically, the crystallization of any honey range is the ultimate proof of its natural origin. The idea that crystallized honey is a sign that sugar has been added to it is a myth, because artificially added sugar no longer forms crystals.

4 days ago by 24medok Yesterday all day I washed the buckets from under the honey. He drank the wax into beautiful molds and still cooked a new batch of bright mead. By the way, the previous batch is almost lightened, will be available in a couple of days. So who wants to come to the New Year’s table of natural and healthy alcohol come .... Addresses of stores in Krasnoyarsk: - Novosibirsk, 5. - Paris Commune, 9. - TSUM (base). # buckets # ng # history # work # sale # shop # nursibiri

There are disputes that persist among mothers: honey can be subjected to heat treatment or, conversely, at high temperatures it becomes toxic. To benefit from useful properties  honey, do not heat it to a temperature above 40 degrees Celsius, because the enzymes in it are destroyed and lose their healing properties.

For an experienced beekeeper, it is not difficult to determine which forged honey and what constitutes 100% natural honey. It is about the density of honey for water. Taste Honey tasting is like wine. A disposable tray is used, then honey flows into the mouth to feel all the tastes. If we cannot immediately see the taste before trying again, we can eat a piece of apple or we can drink some water to relax our taste buds.

6 days ago by 24medok Photos of our boxes from different sides. Separately, it is not for sale. Only with content that can be any. Honey, tea, jams of cones, chocolate, honeycomb. The average cost of a set of 1200-1500r. The box is universal, suitable for any occasion. # gift # ng # new year # medpodarok # gifts # krasnoyarsk # medsibiri # siberian honey

Unfortunately, honey tasting is a technique that only those who have experience or a sense of well-developed taste can master. Sometimes, however, counterfeiters turn to flavors, dyes, sugars or preservatives that taste so that they feel instantly in the dough to taste.

If the taste of honey is caramelized, it can be warmed honey, which must be revived or mixed with burnt sugar. There are some jerks with sugar decoctions, without pollen. Traces of honey pollen are a definite indicator of the plants from which honey comes, but only specialists with their technique can find that honey is falsified.

1 week ago by 24medok Gift box for honey present. The composition can be any. For example, a chest with three jars of honey at 370g.: Cornflower-taiga, flood meadows, sostovy will cost 1300r. Instead of honey can be honey with nuts or any tea of ​​your choice. # gifts # honey # box # new year # apacebiriri # apacestarchevsky

Crystallization It is important to know: honey crystallizes. If there are large crystals, such as rough salt, honey is good, but it has too much water, so the bees do not move it enough in the cage in the cage, so they do not add enough enzymes. Hunting honey is more honest, with smaller crystals.

Do not buy honey on a stall in the sun. Honey created by bees in the dark, it should not be exposed to sunlight, but only when illuminated indoors and at a constant temperature that does not exceed 40 degrees. Some stupas know that people are afraid of sweet honey, because they suspect that it is made with sugar. However, in order to better sell their product, they boil it at an angle of 90 degrees, so it does not crystallize. As a taste, it gets a little better, but loses in quality.

Summarizing the data of analyzes of honey samples for the past period of 2012, we are forced to state a catastrophic increase in cases of falsification of honey.

Unfortunately, by the weight of counterfeit trade, we are very close to the situation described in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron, published in the late 19th century: “In Moscow, according to Villaret, cheap honey varieties (up to 20 kopecks a pound) turned out to be all consisting of a mixture of molasses and potato flour; some samples were added chalk and sawdust. Honey, priced from 30 to 45 kopecks. per pound, was falsified mainly by potato molasses, cane sugar and flour. Natural, without impurities, honey could only be bought for 50-90 kopecks. per pound. "

At this temperature, all enzymes are destroyed, and honey remains only liquid sugar. That is why honey is not even in hot tea. All good bonuses are sugar in a few months, so if you want to be sure that you are taking natural honey, buy sweet.

Return cans. The method of testing honey is to turn the jar upside down. Inside should be created an air bubble in the form of a breeze. If the bubble quickly rises to the bottom of the jar, it means that it is honey with a lot of water in it, so this is not enough. Bula should slowly rise, which indicates that the honey is ripe, ripe, good for consumption and, naturally, released by bees, therefore it chose when the honeycombs were laid by three quarters.

New technologies in the manufacture of artificial honey

However, it is not even the amount of counterfeits that causes particular concern, but the application of new technologies and substances used in the manufacture of counterfeits. Honey falsifiers who worked in the 19th and 20th centuries look like timid elementary school students in comparison with the scammers armed with modern technology — real professors of falsification. If, as follows from the above quotation, mostly cheap types of honey have been falsified before, then the falsification is being sold as an exclusive, as special, higher quality honey at exorbitant prices.

Sometimes, to speed up production, the ladies collect honey before they become a container, and take it to the sun in barrels to evaporate from the water in order to quickly release the honey for the new honey. The honey thus obtained is more liquid and very bad in enzymes.

Nevertheless, this jerk technique “fights” with counterfeiters with a trick: banks are filled to refuse, leaving no room for the formation of this air bubble! Three tests to detect fake honey. Another method of checking honey can also “spoil” a white mini-kitchen with a spoonful of honey. Genuine ones do not stain, while most types of artificial honey leave yellow spots.

The taste, color, aroma and texture of modern forgery meet the requirements of the most demanding customers who consider themselves to be experts in honey.

Treacle, potato flour, chalk, sawdust, cane sugar are substances from old-time gypsy entertainments. Biotechnology, various types of thickeners and gelling agents, enzymes - this is what modern falsifiers operate with. Taste, color, aroma and texture of modern forgery meet the requirements of the most demanding customers who consider themselves to be experts in honey. Bragging about their neighbors with purchased honey and telling about where and from whom you can buy such a miracle, they are unaware that they have acquired counterfeit, which, at best, can be called a confectionery product, but not natural honey.

Examples of counterfeit (fake) honey

Let us give some examples of falsifications that were transferred for testing to the independent accredited laboratory of Apis Analytical Center LLC by buyers and the Apigard Beekeeping Consumer Protection Society.

In natural honey should be pollen grains

Consider a sample of a typical counterfeit - crystallized honey of excellent oily consistency, excellent taste, white color. The content of OMF 18 mg / kg. honey, a diastatic number of 7.0 units. Gotho, total acidity 0.8 cm3. It seems that everything corresponds to the current standard for natural honey. However, no pollen grains were found. What is it, not honey or the so-called ultrafiltration, which removes all the pollen grains? Ultrafiltration is expensive and pays off when processing hundreds of tons of honey, moreover, in Russia, according to our information, there are no installations for honey ultrafiltration.

In natural honey, fructose is always more glucose.

Further, the mass fraction of reducing sugars is 75.1%. This is a clear inconsistency with the current standard for natural honey, according to which the minimum limit for this indicator is 82%. Suppose that the mass fraction of reducing sugars is not an indicator of the naturalness of honey. The composition of reducing sugars, more precisely, the ratio of glucose and fructose, can clarify the question of the naturalness of honey. In natural honey, fructose always contains more than glucose. In the sample under study, the content of fructose is 35.6%, and that of glucose is 39.5%, i.e. glucose contains much more, and this is a clear sign of unnatural.

Natural honey is completely dissolved in water

It is known that natural honey, liquid or crystallized, must be completely dissolved in water, and the resulting solution must be clear. The test honey is not completely dissolved in water, and the resulting solution turns turbid. This indicates the presence of impurities in the honey. In the photo (Fig. 1): on the left is a clear solution of natural crystallized honey, on the right is a cloudy solution of falsified crystallized honey.

After filtration, the solution of the falsified honey becomes transparent, and mechanical impurities in the amount of more than 1% remain on the filter. The presence of water-insoluble impurities in such an amount is a violation of the current standard for honey. An analysis of the impurity has shown that it is a gelling agent used by scammers as a thickener of honey and to give it an oily consistency.

We deliberately do not call this substance, as well as other substances found in the samples described below, in order not to introduce into the temptation of dishonest businessmen and not to expand the production of falsification.

Natural honey at a temperature of 30 degrees begins to bloom

The sample does not dissolve when heated to 60 ° C. This explains the fact that such counterfeit easily tolerates summer temperature: no stratification, while natural crystallized honey begins to dissolve at 30 ° C. This circumstance also indicates the unnatural product.

The following photograph (Fig. 2) shows a number of samples of counterfeit honey studied.



ABC Honey - Counterfeit Honey Store

Dietary honey from the ABC of honey

The first on the left is the inscription on the label: “The ABC of Honey” (obviously a trademark), “Esparcetovy” - crystallized honey, of dazzling white color, excellent oily consistency. The sucrose content of 1.2%, reducing sugars - 87.8%, OMV - 3.0 mg / kg of honey, a diastatic number of 8.2 units. Gotho, total acidity 0,5sm3. These indicators satisfy the requirements of the current standard. Despite the name "Esparcetov", pollen of sainfoin was not found, but there are pollen grains of linden. Doubts about the naturalness of the product causes the opacity of the solution (flask on a container of honey) and the ratio of glucose and fructose. In the sample under study, the fructose content is 41.7%, and that of glucose is 46.1%, i.e. glucose contains more, and this is a clear sign of unnatural. The content of insoluble impurities is more than 1%. At 60C honey is not dissolved. The same signs of artificiality as in the previous sample.

The photograph (Fig. 3) shows the solutions of the studied samples (top row) and the same solutions treated with iodine. The first sample from the left is a solution of natural crystallized honey. After treatment with iodine acquired a yellowish color. The second from the left - a muddy solution of “esparceti honey”, after processing iodine turned red-brown, which revealed the presence of a certain type of gelling agent in it.

Honey With propolis from the ABC of honey

In the photo (Fig. 2) the second sample on the left is the inscription on the label: “ABC of honey”, “With propolis”. Product green. Again, there is an excess of glucose over the fructose content (47.2% and 44.3%), as well as all the signs of unnatural product described in the previous case. The aqueous solution is turbid and has a pronounced green ring in the upper layer of a substance lighter than water of clearly non-bee origin.

Clover honey from the ABC of honey

In the same photo, the third sample on the left was sold as crystallized clover honey, and the fourth sample on the left is the foam of the same honey, which had to be removed from the container before it was possible to reach the bulk of the honey. Clover pollen grains are present. There is an excess of glucose over the fructose content (47.2% and 43.7%). A solution of this honey in the water is cloudy, the content of water-insoluble impurities is more than 1%. After exposure to iodine, the solution acquired a reddish-brown color, which indicates the presence of a gelling agent. At 60C honey is not dissolved.

Linden honey from the alphabet of honey

In the photo (fig.2) the fifth sample without a name contains linden pollen grains. With a mass fraction of water of 20.2%, it has an oily structure and a solid texture, which indicates the presence of a gelling agent. Natural honey creamy consistency with room temperature  and the mass fraction of water of 20.2% becomes so soft that it cannot retain its shape and spreads. The honey solution is cloudy, the content of insoluble impurities is more than 1%. A substance that does not react with iodine is used as a gelling agent.

Studies have shown the possibility of detecting falsification in simple ways available to consumers, even at home.


Checking honey at home:

To check the naturalness of honey consumers can recommend the following steps:

1. Dissolve honey in water (if natural honey, the solution should be clear);
2. Filter the solution (the presence of a residue on the filter indicates unnatural product);
3. Add iodine to the honey solution (any color change, except yellowing, will indicate the presence of impurities of non-beekeeping origin);
4. Keep the container with the breakdown of honey in a water bath at a temperature of 40 ° C for 1 hour (if the honey does not dissolve, you will have a fake).

Cream honey counterfeit more often

As noted above, all samples of adulterated honey were crystallized honey with the softest consistency, i.e. cream honey Getting natural cream honey - is the highest aerobatics in the technology of processing of honey. Stable production of high-quality natural cream honey requires knowledge of all the intricacies of the crystallization process, compliance with technological, temperature regimes, special equipment and laboratory monitoring.

Discredit the whole direction of processing natural honey  causes outrage.

The article describes only samples of falsified crystallized honey, because this is a new direction in falsification. However, among liquid honey, fraud cases are also becoming more and more.

Fake liquid honey

Orange honey

An example of counterfeit liquid honey is Pomeranziy honey. Pollen analysis showed an absolute absence of orange pollen. Pollen of chestnut, linden and sunflower was found. Mass fraction of reducing sugars is 55.8%, against the regulatory 82%. Such a shortage of reducing sugars is not talking about the poor quality of honey, but about falsification. The glucose content is more than the fructose content: 28.7% versus 27.1. Both absolute values ​​of indicators, and their ratio speak of counterfeit. If you add to this the content of OMF - 36% and the value of the diastatic number of 3.2 units. Gota, then a picture of a product that does not have the right to be called natural honey appears.

Stop the counterfeit can only the consumer!

To stop falsifiers in the conditions of legal powerlessness in matters of quality that prevail now in the state, is possible only with the help of consumers who will refuse to acquire falsification. To do this, you need to inform consumers, using all possible means, about the signs of counterfeit honey and how to detect it.