Home Brew

[wotavidone]

Re: Home Brew

Limestone = Calcium carbonate =CaCO3
Limestone is calcined in a lime kiln to make Quicklime = Calcium Oxide = CaO
Quicklime is slaked with water to make Hydrated Lime, builder's lime, slaked lime = Calcium hydroxide = Ca(OH)2

It's usual to use the hydrated lime in mortar, the quicklime could be used but the initial reaction with water can be nasty, and the old timers would slake it for weeks or months.

Agricultural lime, as spread on a farmer's paddock, is crushed limestone or gypsum here in Australia, and would be no use in building ovens. The gypsum would soften every time it got damp (think drywall/plasterboard/sheetrock), and the crushed limestone would not undergo any reactions that would help it harden.

Sodium metasilicate is IUPAC nomenclature for sodium silicate. Sodium silicate (also known as water glass) is used as a binder in some refractories. I think it would need to dry to set. Apparently it's used to bind perlite or vermiculite to make insulating boards.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Home Brew

I wouldn't use gypsum, but the plain old lime will probably be fine. It is probably single-hydrated lime, i.e. @^*%-house lime, but it will work.

[v12spirit]

Re: Home Brew

Just get hydrated lime. You won't be able to calcine it yourself. To calcine it you would have to mix it with carbon in the correct proportions and heat it to 1000 C.

Sure. The supplier told me that he had sold me the quick lime by mistake.. I took a sample of the claimed hydrated lime. He asked me what I wanted it for, and told me that it is bought by farmers to smear the legs of trees in order to protect them from insects or something, and to be mixed with some kinds of paints, and was used in the past by adobe owners to underlay their houses with. When I told him that I wanted it for making refractory, he suggested to me to take a sample of gypsum too and try the two mixes. One with the claimed hydrated lime and the other with gypsum. He said: Just give it a try; gypsum gets quite tough when mixed with cement!!
The bag he took the hydrated lime sample from reads: "LIME". Just lime, without any long chemical names. It is a white fine powder contrary to the granules I had.
Will any of these two complement my lime-less homebrew?

[david s]

Re: Home Brew

The lime may be the wrong thing in my homebrew weakening it, isn't it? So can I use the available quick lime in my homebrew after soaking it in water for a couple of weeks? and how can I calcine it so long as it should be?

Just get hydrated lime. You won't be able to calcine it yourself. To calcine it you would have to mix it with carbon in the correct proportions and heat it to 1000 C.

[v12spirit]

Re: Home Brew

Crushed, calcined, slaked then dried actually. The calcining process is most important for our purposes as it's what makes the stuff react and go hard like cement once water is added to it.

The lime may be the wrong thing in my homebrew weakening it, isn't it? So can I use the available quick lime in my homebrew after soaking it in water for a couple of weeks? and how can I calcine it so long as it should be?

[david s]

Re: Home Brew

That is not building lime, it is a chemical process material. Hydrated lime is slaked then dried. Quicklime is not yet slaked.

Crushed, calcined, slaked then dried actually. The calcining process is most important for our purposes as it's what makes the stuff react and go hard like cement once water is added to it.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Home Brew

That is not building lime, it is a chemical process material. Hydrated lime is slaked then dried. Quicklime is not yet slaked.

[v12spirit]

Re: Home Brew

You can use quick lime, you have to prepare it by slaking, i.e. covering with water and keeping it covered for a couple of weeks up to a couple of years. Hydrated lime can be used as is.

Am confused. The hydrated one is sold as the (sodium metasilicate pentahydrate granular). That is the available lime in addition to the quick one. May I use either?

[Tscarborough]

Re: Home Brew

You can use quick lime, you have to prepare it by slaking, i.e. covering with water and keeping it covered for a couple of weeks up to a couple of years. Hydrated lime can be used as is.

[Ilfornaio]

Re: Home Brew

Hi AJR! What part of NY are you from?

[v12spirit]

Re: Home Brew

No, it isn't what you want. You want one like this (PDF):

http://ahisupply.accountsupport.com/...Lime_TypeS.pdf

Thanks for the link. Actually there are only two types of lime available in my region; "Quick lime" which dries fast and gets hot when mixed with water, and "hydrated lime" which is the one I pointed to. May the "quick lime" be what I want?

[Tscarborough]

Re: Home Brew

No, it isn't what you want. You want one like this (PDF):

http://ahisupply.accountsupport.com/Data/Image-Library/cements/data_Chemstar_Lime_TypeS.pdf

[v12spirit]

Re: Home Brew

The lime I bought was (sodium metasilicate pentahydrate granular). This doesn't look to be the right one is it?

[Tscarborough]

Re: Home Brew

Portland type "S" is not portland cement, although it may have some in it. Portland is Type "I", Type S is masonry cement, and may contain masonry cement, portland and lime, or portland and other plasticizers. Type I is a type designation, Type S is a strength designation. Confusing, but there it is.

Also, home brew is better at 1-1-1-6.

[Yucateko]

Re: Home Brew

Thanks to all who have replied. I have been waiting on our HOA to give me the go ahead. I got it last Friday. I can now officially start my build.