Are you tired of baby pictures? This should hit the spot then.
The water in Bancroft tastes fine, though it has a ton of temporary hardness (the kind that drops out when water is boiled). Since beer is 95% water, the hardness does affect it. My beers in Nebraska have been held back by this water hardness, I believe.
This experiment tested a way to reduce the temporary hardness, without boiling (which is expensive for ~10 gallons). I used slaked or pickling lime (Calcium Hydroxide) in the water to precipitate Calcium Carbonate, which eliminates temporary hardness as Calcium Bicarbonate (CaCO3) at the bottom of the vessel.
The white stuff at the bottom is the temporary hardness precipitated out, after settling out over night.
