Jul 12th, '11, 20:38
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by Luthier » Jul 12th, '11, 20:38
Tatter wrote:About tetsubin and iron/silver -- to MarshalN and others: when you refer to silver kettles are you talking about pure silver? Or about the silver-looking tetsubin (which I believe are iron, not silver, the "satetsu" kettles shown on hojo's website)?
I'm going round and round right now about what kind of water kettle to get. Should i go with a good quality tetsubin? spring for one of those satetsu's maybe?? (and do they really show a difference from a good tetsubin?) search out a true silver kettle if I'm really going to spend that kind of money??? (a big IF there) or should i bypass the metal (iron/silver) kettle road and look into clay kettles instead? (thinking Lin's here) OOORRRR.. just pick up a heat-resistant glass one so i can practice learning about the crab-eyes and such?
decisions...
Cast iron and clay kettles does make a difference somehow changing the water. Glass just makes water hard similar to stainless steel. You forgot about Brass and Bronze kettles?
So far I'm pleased with both cast iron and clay kettles
Jul 12th, '11, 20:54
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by Tatter » Jul 12th, '11, 20:54
brass and bronze kettles, too?? don't even get me started..
being both an iron kettle and a clay kettle user, what do you think are the differences? do you use each for specific kinds of teas?
also, this may be a silly question but when boiling water in a clay kettle does it go through the same progression of sounds as in a metal one? I'm wondering if the porosity of the clay deadens the sounds a bit?
Jul 12th, '11, 21:16
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by Luthier » Jul 12th, '11, 21:16
Cast iron to me fares better than clay in terms of texture. Its a little tough to get bitter or nasty aftertaste from cast iron. Especially brewing oolongs or sheng puer. For Japanese greens I prefer cast iron.
Jul 13th, '11, 02:12
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by wyardley » Jul 13th, '11, 02:12
To me, glass is pretty neutral - it doesn't improve the water, but doesn't seem to harm it either. Also, it doesn't hold in heat as much, and cools down quicker than some heavier materials, which makes more of a difference than you'd think - for some teas, this actually seems like an advantage; for others more of a disadvantage.
Jul 13th, '11, 12:24
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by bearsbearsbears » Jul 13th, '11, 12:24
wyardley wrote:To me, glass is pretty neutral
+1
The idea that boiling water in glass would make it hard is silly.
If Luthier has before & after TDS numbers, I'd be curious to see them.
Jul 13th, '11, 16:50
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by brandon » Jul 13th, '11, 16:50
bearsbearsbears wrote:wyardley wrote:To me, glass is pretty neutral
+1
The idea that boiling water in glass would make it hard is silly.
If Luthier has before & after TDS numbers, I'd be curious to see them.
The TDS before and after are exactly the same in glass. Sitting in glass for days, no change.
I no longer register any change from the maifan stones from BTH after a year or 18 months of use, either. I suppose the easily dissolved minerals are pretty close to the surface.
The TDS delta from a fast boil in a purion kettle is only 10-15 (in use about 2-2.5 years)
Haven't tested in awhile, but my old tetsubin is the most dramatic. My old tester did not adjust to temperature, so it was hard to take good samples against a control - this new one seems to produce the same results at all temperatures.
Jul 13th, '11, 17:27
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by Drax » Jul 13th, '11, 17:27
brandon wrote:bearsbearsbears wrote:wyardley wrote:To me, glass is pretty neutral
+1
The idea that boiling water in glass would make it hard is silly.
If Luthier has before & after TDS numbers, I'd be curious to see them.
The TDS before and after are exactly the same in glass. Sitting in glass for days, no change.
I no longer register any change from the maifan stones from BTH after a year or 18 months of use, either. I suppose the easily dissolved minerals are pretty close to the surface.
The TDS delta from a fast boil in a purion kettle is only 10-15 (in use about 2-2.5 years)
Haven't tested in awhile, but my old tetsubin is the most dramatic. My old tester did not adjust to temperature, so it was hard to take good samples against a control - this new one seems to produce the same results at all temperatures.
Very interesting! I think I've missed previous discussions on this topic. I assume TDS is total dissolved solids -- what are you using to measure it, and what's the units of the number? (e.g., mol/L, etc)
Jul 13th, '11, 18:46
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by brandon » Jul 13th, '11, 18:46
drax wrote:
Very interesting! I think I've missed previous discussions on this topic. I assume TDS is total dissolved solids -- what are you using to measure it, and what's the units of the number? (e.g., mol/L, etc)
You can and should buy a tds tester on amazon for pretty cheap. Ive used two different ones and they both seem pretty accurate, with the caveat that two samples need to be at the same temperature or it will throw off the reading of some. The measurement is parts per million, based on electrical conductivity of the water. For bottled brands, you can supplement this data with mineralwaters.org, or sometimes, info from your municipal water carrier.
