water salts

mediumsk · 09-16-2007, 11:19 PM

when i treat my water i will usually get a large water salt residue on the bottom of my liquor kettle. does boiling the water when you add treatments help the salts fully dissolve?

also
what would be the pro's and cons of just mashing with regular water ( for a stable PH) and then adding the appropriate treatments post run off?

thank you

desertbronze · 09-16-2007, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mediumsk

when i treat my water i will usually get a large water salt residue on the bottom of my liquor kettle. does boiling the water when you add treatments help the salts fully dissolve?

I always add the salts to the mash - I have never seen residue in the kettle.

Quote:

also
what would be the pro's and cons of just mashing with regular water ( for a stable PH) and then adding the appropriate treatments post run off?

thank you

The salts are usually added to adjust the pH of the mash. Adding the salts after mashing would not address the pH issues.

mediumsk · 09-16-2007, 11:42 PM

im not interested in adjusting mash ph. its easy to fix and the water here in portland is already perfect for brewing. my goal is to re create water from elsewhere, so as to accentuate certain parts of the beer. i just wonder how it would work after the mash

FlyGuy · 09-16-2007, 11:48 PM

OK, but the major reason to treat your water to match water from other parts of the world is so that your mash behaves like theirs. Salt additions don't really change the taste of the water. But they will change the taste of the brew if they impact the mash.

Or are you referring to something else?

mediumsk · 09-17-2007, 12:06 AM

to the best of my knowledge ( and taste buds) the mineral and salt content will change the taste of a beer. gypsum for instance will lower your mashes and AND in large amounts it will accentuate hope bitterness ( as in Burton on Trent water)

basically heres my problem.
i have a read out of my city's water and ive figured out the correct amounts of salts to add to " burtonize" per gallon. usually this is no problem when brewing. but if i choose to brew something that doesnt have alot of specialty malts to drop the ph i will sometimes have to treat the already treated water.
i could be completely confused about this whole procedure. it wouldnt be the first time.

FlyGuy · 09-17-2007, 12:10 AM

Yeah, sorry man -- I am just not getting your question. But now it sounds like you want to modify the water for your mash, right? Not post-mash, like I thought you meant in the earlier post?

mediumsk · 09-17-2007, 12:19 AM

yeah post mash is what i ultimately want changed. i would rather not modify my mash. my tap water is great. i just want to modify the end taste of the beer. namely the mineral levels. but does adding the salts post mash work well?

FlyGuy · 09-17-2007, 12:23 AM

No, the salts/minerals are almost tasteless. But they do affect the mash, which has a big impact on flavour. Some things, like sulphates, also affect hops in the boil. So typically, people add salts to their water, not the finished wort. Hope that answered your question!

**Yooper** · 09-17-2007, 12:23 AM

No, you have to modify the mash water not post mash, to get the results you're looking for. I'm no chemist, but it has to do with the salts, ph, etc and water chemistry. It's not like adding table salt to taste in cooking, rather it's a chemistry matter. Hard water, soft water, ph, etc all affect the beer's end result by affecting the mash.

**Bearcat Brewmeister** · 09-17-2007, 04:20 AM

Can you post the results of your water report? There will be some beer styles that will be optimal based on the results and those might be the styles that you make the most.

There is really no water that is "perfect" brewing water as is - meaning optimal for all beers. If it is great for certain styles of beer and pretty good for others, there will be some that it will not be as good for and the water should be treated. Not that you can't make the beer any way without treating it, it just wouldn't be optimal.

As previously stated, you get the most bang for the buck treating your mash water. Post mash, the ion that matters most is sulfate since it accentuates hop bitterness, so adding gypsum to the boil would help if that is what you are going for. Other than that, the other minerals do not do much for the taste, just correcting water to match a stlye better.