Can I make aqueous solutions of brewing salts?

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dougdecinces

dougdecinces

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I use a kitchen scale to measure hops and malt extract, but it's not too accurate at very small measurements. This means when making water adjustments, I have had to use measuring spoons, which isn't the most accurate method for sure. I would much rather make a known solution of the brewing salts and that way I can use a graduated cylinder to measure out the amount of salts needed.

Does anyone see a problem with this?
 
No, no problem at all. I do it that way myself. I calculate the salt additions needed for a HLT full of water and dissolve them in a volume of water (mL) equal to the height of the HLT (inches). I do this twice. The first tube goes into the HLT. The second is on standby. If I add 4" water to the HLT during the brewing day I add 4 mL of the solution.

If you were to dissolve 28 grams of calcium chloride, for example, in water and make up to 100 mL each 1mL of solution would contain 0.28 gram CaCl2. This even works with things that won't dissolve like chalk (but you won't be using much of that). You just have to make sure it's in suspension (by shaking the container) before measuring out the volume you want.
 
ajdelange said:
No, no problem at all. I do it that way myself. I calculate the salt additions needed for a HLT full of water and dissolve them in a volume of water (mL) equal to the height of the HLT (inches). I do this twice. The first tube goes into the HLT. The second is on standby. If I add 4" water to the HLT during the brewing day I add 4 mL of the solution.

If you were to dissolve 28 grams of calcium chloride, for example, in water and make up to 100 mL each 1mL of solution would contain 0.28 gram CaCl2. This even works with things that won't dissolve like chalk (but you won't be using much of that). You just have to make sure it's in suspension (by shaking the container) before measuring out the volume you want.
Click to expand...

How long can the solution be stored? Could I do a month's worth at a time and store it in the fridge?
 
I don't think you'd even have to store it in the fridge. The only thing you might have to worry about is growth of mold but for a month I don't think that would be a problem - even at room temperature.

But the salts are one thing in brewing that is cheap. If you throw away 3/4 of the salts you buy that still shouldn't amount to much.
 
Alternative solution :)

I consider it a must for brewing as it is damn accurate and for $6.45 why not?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ajdelange said:
How accurate is it?
Click to expand...

Exactly! Just because it has a scale that reads 0.1 gms, that doesn't mean the accuracy is 0.1 gm.

If I had this scale I would want to check it's accuracy. Water make a pretty good standard if you have a way to measure that accurately as 1 ml = 1 gm.


I have the same problem with thermometers. I won't buy one unless it give me the +/- rating. I've seen some that say +/- 2F. That is not so good for brewing.
 
The ones I started carrying are accurate to .1g

I had considered going with the .01g version but for our purposes, it's insanely unrealistic.

Another feature you want to consider is the ability to put a 16oz Solo cup on the platform for measuring out whole leaf hops.
 
You can also make 10% stock solutions by adding 10 grams of salt to about 50ml of distilled water, then add water to bring the volume to 100ml. Let's say it's NaCl and you want to increase the NaCl in your water by 200ppm. The math is:

200 (desired ppm) X 23 Liters (assuming a 6 gal boil volume) / 100,000 (stock soln ppm) then multiply this by 1000 to get the quantity in ml's to add to your water. In this case, 46 ml's would be added.

Or you could convert your boil volume to ml's then you get the answer directly. This is a common practice for adding SO2 and doing SIY trials in winemaking.
 

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