Thejiro

Recipes 

I'm sure this has been asked before. I understand the concept of changing water chemistry to enhance your brewing process. I am currently using ro/di water that is 0tds +/-4. I use a Ph stabilizer to help keep my mash close to the Ph of 5.2. My question is will I get better results from my beer if I add salts

TotemWolf

Recipes 

Yes by far.

The trace chemicals in the water contribute to overall flavor of the beer. One of the easiest ways to explaing this is to use Na for an example. Simply put higher sodium indicates saltier water. Even thoung the amounts are miniscule the effects can be big.
One of the things the made beer from one place another taste so different were the trace chemicals.

__________________
The best brew is the brew you brew.

Thejiro

Recipes 

I had that feeling because I've been feelingthat my beer is coming out good but its not quite where I want. Ive been kooking at my process and so far my technique is good I'm building solid recipes so that was really the only thin I could think of to bring my beers to that next level.

One more question. Where could I find a good resource that has the amount of ions different salts add to water when added

ajdelange

Recipes 

Adding salts won't necessarily improve your beer. Some beers contain salts which do contribute to the flavor profile. One could argue that those will be improved if salts are added to RO water but others might argue that they are not. Other beers are made with very soft (low mineral content) water and these are not improved by the addition of salts. But it really is a matter of personal taste. Some people like the taste imparted by minerals and some don't.

Unfortunately, the popular pH stabilizer sold at many home brew stores is ineffective at lowering mash pH into the desired range. It takes acid to do that in most cases.

To get started in understanding all this have a look at the Water Primer in the stickies section of the Brew Science topic.

mabrungard

Recipes 

There are plenty of water calculators available on the web that will tell you what the change in ion concentration is per mineral addition. Be careful though. They can easily lead you into adding too much ionic content and leaving you with an unpleasant 'mineral water' taste in your beer. Read the Water Primer that AJ mentions and after you have absorbed that, move on to Bru'n Water.

Less is more.

__________________
Martin Brungard, P.E. D.WRE
Carmel, IN
BJCP National
Foam Blowers of Indiana (FBI)

Brewing Water Information at:
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

Thejiro

Recipes 

I am pretty familiar with the concepts behind water chemistry in brewing. The information in the sticky you guys told me to look at was exactly what I was looking for. I have done a lot of reading on this and I was just looking for a resource that had the information condensed and easliy read