rico567
Well-Known Member
{I guess this belongs here; mods feel free to move at your discretion}
After brewing with straight RO water since I started (about 5 years ago), I finally got experimental and decided to try some minerals. After perusing the more involved aids (spreadsheets, etc.), I just decided to brew some batches I'd made a number of times with a teaspoon each of Calcium Chloride and Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) thrown in the mash. What I observed in the batches I've sampled is a noticeable (but not huge) improvement in that ambiguous quality "mouthfeel" and the hoppy beers seeming a bit hoppier. I am willing to concede that there may be procedural drawbacks in doing it this way, but I was determined first of all in seeing whether adding minerals in line with my KISS philosophy would have any effect.
Beers involved were a Scottish 80/-, an amber, and a rye IPA. Naturally, I had some of these beers left from my previous rounds of brewing so that I could compare. I realize that the hops comparison could be simply from the hops fading in the older beers.
My conclusion: I will continue to add these minerals when I brew, since there is an apparent effect (at least to my taste) and the cost is negligible.
After brewing with straight RO water since I started (about 5 years ago), I finally got experimental and decided to try some minerals. After perusing the more involved aids (spreadsheets, etc.), I just decided to brew some batches I'd made a number of times with a teaspoon each of Calcium Chloride and Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) thrown in the mash. What I observed in the batches I've sampled is a noticeable (but not huge) improvement in that ambiguous quality "mouthfeel" and the hoppy beers seeming a bit hoppier. I am willing to concede that there may be procedural drawbacks in doing it this way, but I was determined first of all in seeing whether adding minerals in line with my KISS philosophy would have any effect.
Beers involved were a Scottish 80/-, an amber, and a rye IPA. Naturally, I had some of these beers left from my previous rounds of brewing so that I could compare. I realize that the hops comparison could be simply from the hops fading in the older beers.
My conclusion: I will continue to add these minerals when I brew, since there is an apparent effect (at least to my taste) and the cost is negligible.