Kamikaze knitting club water salt additions

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Bland. Sodium and chloride are flavour and fullness enhancers.

Country matters, if you've grown up drinking and become accustomed to the beer there. British beer has high mineral content. Check the table at the end of this piece, from a company that supplies and assists the british brewing industry, including water analysis.

Chloride200 ppm Bitter200 ppm Mild300 ppm Porter10 ppm Lager

https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/resources/technical-articles/water-water-everywhere/
Too much chloride? ya need to grow some minerals, lad.wink...
300ppm chlorides..... I would be curious if any UK Brewers are actually using that and would love to try it out.
 
Surely the pH would be in the 4
How acidic do you think roasted grains are? We're looking at a 0.3 point swing at best. They're probably only 4-5ph themselves without being c6% of the grist and c2% of the entire mash, water and all. Even Acidulated malt only drops ph by 0.1 for every 1% of the grist, and that's pH 3.4-3.6.
 
How acidic do you think roasted grains are? We're looking at a 0.3 point swing at best. They're probably only 4-5ph themselves without being c6% of the grist and c2% of the entire mash, water and all. Even Acidulated malt only drops ph by 0.1 for every 1% of the grist, and that's pH 3.4-3.6.
Probably an exaggeration but my pH drops from 7.8 to about 5.6 with just pale malt, roast malt will take it further, a stout using chocolate malt less.
For me a calculator which takes into consideration of the actual buffer of grain bill is surely better than one which speculates.
 
That's about right. 4-5 gram addition in a mash volume. Huge difference to adding 19 gram!
19g CaCl and 6g of Salt will get 365ppm of Cl, 67ppm of Na and 148ppm of Ca with 35l of ro water.

It still seems way too high on Cl, I see that some recommend up to 300 for imperial stouts but I see this as completely unnecessary. I like to keep Cl under 100 for my taste.

Also reading sadfields comment over 300ppm can lead to medicinal off flavours. I did not know that and again see no reason to risk that.
 
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How acidic do you think roasted grains are? We're looking at a 0.3 point swing at best. They're probably only 4-5ph themselves without being c6% of the grist and c2% of the entire mash, water and all. Even Acidulated malt only drops ph by 0.1 for every 1% of the grist, and that's pH 3.4-3.6.
Just had another look at an article by Noonan pretty much in line with this article. It is a significant drop in pH even with dark crystal.
https://grainfather.com/dark-malts-and-their-effects-on-mash-ph/
 
Just had another look at an article by Noonan pretty much in line with this article. It is a significant drop in pH even with dark crystal.
https://grainfather.com/dark-malts-and-their-effects-on-mash-ph/
So 20% concentration of just dark malt drops ph by 2.8, and only 0.5 out of ideal mash range. In the real world where you more likely have just 2% of roasted grains in the entire mash volume, what would the effect be? 10% of that 2.8% drop? 0.28 points?

'My car averages 50mpg'

'Not if you drive at 500mph'
 
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So 20% concentration of just dark malt drops ph by 2.8, and only 0.5 out of ideal mash range. In the real world where you more likely have just 2% of roasted grains in the entire mash volume, what would the effect be? 10% of that 2.8% drop? 0.28 points?

'My car averages 50mpg'

'Not if you drive at 500mph'
It isn't a percentage of the grain bill, but of the water. The mash water at 18 litres with 820 gram of dark grain plus the base malt will take the pH below 5, even without 19 gram of chloride.
 
300ppm chlorides..... I would be curious if any UK Brewers are actually using that and would love to try it out.
I am.

Given that Burton water was revered and emulated for its high mineral content. I can't see why a high mineral mindset wouldn't exist in brewers today.
 
It isn't a percentage of the grain bill, but of the water. The mash water at 18 litres with 820 gram of dark grain plus the base malt will take the pH below 5, even without 19 gram of chloride.
I've used those water profiles since 2015. As much as you
postulate that it would, my experience is that it doesn't. Happy to be getting it wrong.
 
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But the Burton Brewers removed the carbonates by boiling the water prior to mashing.
The chloride and sulphate remained though, right? Boiling precipitates calcium carbonate.

I wonder if this would even be a conversation if RO systems hadn't become available in the last 10-20 years. Too many conservative water profiles created by people reluctant to put back what they've removed?
 
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Ha ha, good job you got the beer in the FV first. How's it going after the heater incident?
Well I lobbed a hydrometer in there at about 36hrs after pitching and it’s gone down to 6% already lol! I sampled a bit too but it tasted **** and I wish I hadn’t, serves me right I guess for hoping for something that’s tasting like beer after 36hrs! 😂
I’ve got some dark maple syrup to add (about 75ml) at 5 days before bottling so will keep an eye on the hydrometer. I’m guessing just empty some in straight from the bottle?
 
If it tasted horrible in a yeasty, not fully fermented way, then that's possibly a good sign. And not harsh like solvent or paint thinners.

I’m guessing just empty some in straight from the bottle?
That, or dissolve it in 100ml of boiling water to thin it down a little, it'll help it mix in better.
 
I am.

Given that Burton water was revered and emulated for its high mineral content. I can't see why a high mineral mindset wouldn't exist in brewers today.
I would also use the water if I had it, but I don't think I would purposefully try to emulate the extreme.

Sorry about the confusion @Monkhouse but I still stand by my recommendation. A small amount goes a long way in water treatment, I would start small and increase it over time. Lackluster taste is often a complaint from not controlling pH in the mash.
 
The chloride and sulphate remained though, right? Boiling precipitates calcium carbonate.

I wonder if this would even be a conversation if RO systems hadn't become available in the last 10-20 years. Too many conservative water profiles created by people reluctant to put back what they've removed?
What kind of sulphate levels do you brew with? I always get a rotten eggs sulphur when I go 150 or above and am curious if you experience the same?
 
I would also use the water if I had it, but I don't think I would purposefully try to emulate the extreme.

Sorry about the confusion @Monkhouse but I still stand by my recommendation. A small amount goes a long way in water treatment, I would start small and increase it over time. Lackluster taste is often a complaint from not controlling pH in the mash.
Appreciate that. Tbh the beer I produce is always really good, I don’t want to go full blown geek into water treatment as it will stress me out. All I’d like to try is a very very basic level of additions, that’s why I was happy to try the calculator results in a stout but now I’m concerned that I’ll impact the beer in a negative way.
I hear guys on here all the time say they just throw a tsp of this in and half a tsp of that in every brew and it works for them so was hoping for something like that. Wanting Thicker mouthfeel in my stouts is what spurred me on to look into my water Chem.
 

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