Adam wrote:Fugglupagus wrote:Adam wrote:. . . . gas chromatograph mass spectrometer . . . .
That sounds sexy as hell. What does it do?
In layman terms, the gas chromatograph separates the chemical mixture of the sample into smaller groups of pure elements, sends them in pulses through an oven, then ionizes them and filters them. The mass spectrometer identifies the elements and the quantity of such, then displays them on the computer for interpretation. It's used a lot in forensic science where the lab is trying to identify an unknown substance or looking for a known substance. Say, a bomb investigation where they take a sample of the remnants of the destruction and try to identify what type of explosives were used in the bomb. With a water sample, we can test beyond the primary H2O molecule and pick out metal elements and other contaminants in the water.
At my job, we use it to test the waste water so we know how to treat it to make it legally compliant to release into the city water, since we utilize harsh chemicals such as sodium thiosulfate, ceric ammonium sulfate, sulfuric acid, muriatic acid, ammonium nitrate, nitric acid, formaldehyde, and other fun stuff. We have to add caustics and alkaline to get the pH of the water to a certain range as well as suspend certain molecules into solution and force others to drop out (such as copper which is very, very bad for human consumption) and recycled in a hazardous material center. The GCMS allows us to test what we are dealing with, then we can go from there and counteract what's happening to make the water safe to release to the general system for further water treatment at the plant. All in a day's work!
That is cool as hell. But I'm not smart enuf to make the leap from gas chromatography to steeping specialty grains. What can the tests tell you about making your beer?
