Water additions

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JerD

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Below are the additions I plan to make when I mash in. I'm doing a protein rest with 2.2 gallons of water and adding 1.95 gallons for the saccrification. Normally I do a single infusion, throw the salts in with the grains and add the water. So far so good.
Should I divide up the salts between the two infusions or just add the salts as shown when I make my second infusion
I'm brewing an Alt with an SRM of 16 (Beersmith) and the starting water profile is 8 parts Chicago and 2 parts home water
Thanks alot
EZ Water Adjustment Spreadsheet

Starting Water:
Ca: 45.2 ppm
Mg: 22.8 ppm
Na: 21.2 ppm
Cl: 11.8 ppm
SO4: 35.2 ppm
CaCO3: 160 ppm

Mash Vol: 4.15 gal
Dilution Rate: 0%

Adjustments:
CaCO3: 0 grams
CaSO4: 0.6 grams
CaCl2: 0.7 grams
MgSO4: 0 grams
NaHCO3: 0 grams
NaCl: 0 grams
HCL Acid: 0 ml
Lactic Acid: 0 ml

Results:
Ca: 66 ppm
Mg: 23 ppm
Na: 21 ppm
Cl: 33 ppm
SO4: 57 ppm
CaCO3: 160 ppm

RA: 99 (13 to 18 SRM)
Cl to SO4: 0.59 (Bitter)
 
I have actually been trying to figure out this same scenario for quite some time now. I am currently planning to brew soon and also plan on using a step infusion mash. Starting with a 50C protein rest and infusing up to a 65C saccrification rest.

As of right now, I'm tempted to say do what you normally would do and add all your salts into the mash. I'm not sure how this will affect the mash pH during the first step, but from what I have read the protein rest (95-113F) seem to have a wider working pH range (4.5-5.5). I assume the pH may be lower than anticipated, which may be a good thing.

You may also want start out with a thick mash (0.95-1qt/lb), which should also benefit your protein rest.

I'm no expert, so you may want to wait for someone else to answer.

Let me know what you do and how it turns out.
 
I don’t know if I am right or wrong but I add my mash salts to all the mash water first then split the water once dissolved if I am doing a step mash. That way all the water is treated in equal amounts.
 
That was my original plan, but I kept reading about some salts not dissolving and just winding up sitting at the bottom of the HLT.
 
Yea I should have said that I also heat all the water to the first strike temp before adding the salts then I split the water off. The salts dissolve in seconds in hot water. Then I already have the correct amount of water for the second infusion already warm and treated. And just a few minutes on the burner and its ready to go for the 2nd infusion.
 
I don’t know if I am right or wrong but I add my mash salts to all the mash water first then split the water once dissolved if I am doing a step mash. That way all the water is treated in equal amounts.

That was my original plan, but I kept reading about some salts not dissolving and just winding up sitting at the bottom of the HLT.

Yea I should have said that I also heat all the water to the first strike temp before adding the salts then I split the water off. The salts dissolve in seconds in hot water. Then I already have the correct amount of water for the second infusion already warm and treated. And just a few minutes on the burner and its ready to go for the 2nd infusion.

FWIW, I recently brewed with some RO water that I built, and from what I understand, chalk in particular will not dissolve in water with around a pH of 6.

I added all of my salts to my 5 gallon water bottles, I noticed that some of the salts were resting on the bottom of my containers, so I shook them up before adding them to my kettle for heating my strike and sparge additions. Even heating the water did not dissolve the chalk.

I use a single pot method, so any salts left behind in the kettle would end up total in the final pre-boil volume.

Regardless, chalk will not dissolve, and that seemed to be the only salt addition that went undissolved.

Having said all of that, if you brew no-sparge and recirculate with a pump, then it would be very simple, since your entire volume is already accounted for in the kettle.

I think that because of the chalk it is best to add salts to the mash, and then the BK.
 
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