In our quest to better understand water chemistry, Mike created this video that shows him using the LaMotte BrewLab Plus Kit. We’ve had this kit for a while and we finally got around to giving it a try. With a kit like this one, you can test your water chemistry at home to analyze your own tap water. With the results of the test, you can figure out how to manipulate your water to best suit a flavor profile for the beer you want to brew!

Kit Contents

The kit comes with a pH meter (I think that’s the “Plus” part of the kit) along with instructions on how to the use it. The bulk of the kit is the reagents in dropper bottles and blister packs that get added to your collected water to indicate the quantity levels of minerals and compounds present that are important to brewing beer like Calcium Chloride.

Sample Tests

Mike demonstrated how he performed a few of the tests by following the instructions that came with the kit. By adding different reagents to his tap water, he was able to figure out the presence of certain substances. This determination is made by the color changes the water makes. Comparing the color of the water to a chart or counting the number of drops added to the water to accomplish a color provided the data points he needed to understand the mineral makeup of his water.

Conclusion

Mike was pretty happy with the results as compared to the ones he received from Ward Labs a year ago. He thinks there is a cost benefit to the kit since you can conduct over 50 tests. The cost of the kit is much less expensive than the cost to pay a professional lab to conduct over 50 tests for you.

Check out the LaMotte Kits here.

Brew ON!