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sputnam

sputnam

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so i got some RO water, some gypsum (making IPA), calc. chloride and some acid malt. My plan:
according to my mash/sparge calc, i will be using 5.6 gallons total for a 3 gallon batch....

obviously crush acid malt with rest of grains (using 2.5 oz)
1 tsp calcium chloride
1 tsp gypsum

i have 2 (5 gallon) bottles of water. I am planning on using the .62 gallons from the tap. So, should i put the chemicals in the bottle of room temp water and try to stir it in? or put all of it in with my 2.5 gallons of mash water? or split it roughly equally between my mash and sparge water? or something else i have not thought of?
 
Do you know the mineral content, pH, or alkalinity of your tap water? If so, you can plug your numbers into one of the mash pH calculators to get a ballpark estimate of your mash pH and final water profile. I like the one on BrewersFriend:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/

If your tap water contains chloramine, you'll want to use something like Campden tablets to get rid of that. For only <1 gallon, you'd only need a fraction of a single tablet (<1/4).

Other than that, I'd say you have the right idea!
 
sputnam said:
so i got some RO water, some gypsum (making IPA), calc. chloride and some acid malt. My plan:
according to my mash/sparge calc, i will be using 5.6 gallons total for a 3 gallon batch....

obviously crush acid malt with rest of grains (using 2.5 oz)
1 tsp calcium chloride
1 tsp gypsum

I am planning on using the .62 gallons from the tap.

Why not use all Ro water even the .62 Gal?.
If u use all Ro water add the minerals all in the strike water.
Click to expand...
 
HomeDrewBrew said:
sputnam said:
so i got some RO water, some gypsum (making IPA), calc. chloride and some acid malt. My plan:
according to my mash/sparge calc, i will be using 5.6 gallons total for a 3 gallon batch....

obviously crush acid malt with rest of grains (using 2.5 oz)
1 tsp calcium chloride
1 tsp gypsum

I am planning on using the .62 gallons from the tap.

Why not use all Ro water even the .62 Gal?.
If u use all Ro water add the minerals all in the strike water.
Click to expand...


well, i have 2 (5 gallon) bottles of RO so if i use the 1/2 gallon of tap water, i'll have enough for 2 batches and won't have to go to the store again. My water isn't bad, i've made good beer with it, so I'm fine with the 1/2 gallon going in.

anyway, i heated up a cup of ro water, stirred the chem's in and dumped in the bottle so that takes care of the whole 5 gallons.
Click to expand...
 
Easiest way to add salts is to sprinkle on top of the milled grain while it's in your bucket or bag (before dough-in). When you dough in, stir well. Just a suggestion for future brew days.
 
Add chemicals to cold water....before heating.....never add to hot water (some you can add to hot water....but if you are making pH adjustments you need to add to cold water).....so it is safest to just add to cold water

Do search for brun water on google....download the spreadsheet and read all info on spreadsheet and site on water chemistry....best general advice I can give
 
McKnuckle said:
Easiest way to add salts is to sprinkle on top of the milled grain while it's in your bucket or bag (before dough-in). When you dough in, stir well. Just a suggestion for future brew days.
Click to expand...

Definitely not. This approach almost guarantees that you won't distribute those minerals through the mash and since they are calcium salts, they have an important effect on mash pH. In other words, the pH may be too low in some areas and too high in others. The only way this won't happen is if your system has wort recirculation (RIMS or HERMS), since that will eventually distribute all the mineral content in the wort and mash.

Always add salts to the water BEFORE adding any grain. Thoroughly stir those salts in the water until they are fully dissolved. It will take a minute or two to get them fully dissolved. Once dissolved, you are guaranteed that the salts and their pH effect will be uniform through the mash.
 
"Definitely" not... Ok, sure :) With full volume mashing/BIAB, which perhaps you don't practice, there is always water outside the bag. Putting the salts on top of the grain before it is immersed and thoroughly stirred seems to combine the minerals with the bulk of the mash where it belongs.

When stirring into many gallons of plain water, a lot of the salt particulate ends up at the bottom. So I began using the other method. Can't prove that it works because I don't do pH measurements, but the beers turn out as expected so I'll likely continue the practice since it is convenient (I get my grist ready in advance of brewing).
 
At the typical concentrations we use in brewing water, ALL brewing salts (excepting chalk) are fully soluble and they will fully dissolve when you spend the minute or so to stir them and enable their dissolution.

I'm just trying to help brewers avoid problems that can have real consequences. While I understand your observations and concerns, I'm just pointing out that you didn't give your water a chance to take up those salts. If those salts had been uniformly mixed with the dry grist prior to inundation, you might have some chance at producing a somewhat uniform distribution of the dissolved salts. But putting all the salts on top of the grist in the bag is less likely to get to that condition. Give yourself a chance, get those salts dissolved in the water before you add the bag of grain and you will be assured of a good distribution.
 
I always wonder, if im brewing 5gallons and treat 10gallons having for example 350ppm sulphate and 50ppm chloride, during the boil some of the water will be evaporated, does that make the concentration go up?
 
Rafaelliba said:
I always wonder, if im brewing 5gallons and treat 10gallons having for example 350ppm sulphate and 50ppm chloride, during the boil some of the water will be evaporated, does that make the concentration go up?
Click to expand...

Yes.

However, as far as I'm aware the guidelines for acceptable ion levels are designed for starting water concentration, not beer concentration. The malt provides a whole host of stuff too.

Unless you're starting with an already high level (350 ppm sulfate I would consider very high for, my own personal tastes at least) and having an abnormally high amount of boiloff (like 40-50% or something, say from a multi hour boil), I wouldn't worry about it.
 
First, treating your water before hand isnt ideal since you dont know how it will affect your mash pH. Therefore, it is wise to use a brewing program like Brun Water to aid calculating mash pH with your given grain bill and wanted mineral additions. If your overall mash pH with the acid malt gives you an ideal mash pH without the minerals, then you may want to reserve them for the boil addition (this will still contribute to the flavor of the beer without negatively impacting the mash pH).

Like stated earlier, you would be best to add minerals to the water for even distribution. I, for example, add my mash additions to the strike water when I transfer water from the HLT to the MLT. I transfer warmer than strike temp water to the MLT to aid in zeroing my thermal mass of the MLT. During this time, I add the mash mineral additions and stir the water until I hit my strike temp, then dough in. This had worked for many batches, getting me within 0.05 of my projected mash mash pH
 
If you're trying to make this simple (no having to really measure anything and something that's pretty much guaranteed to work), I'd start here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460

For something rather water-forward (ie an English style) you're on the right track already. Now, that's for 5 gallons treated, so if you're going smaller then you'd need to adjust accordingly. You'll want to treat both the mash AND the sparge water with the appropriate amount.

As far as going the more complicated route, I don't like to use acid malt precisely because I don't know what's going to happen with the pH. I adjust with gypsum, calcium chloride, or on semi-rare occasions canning salt, to reach +50ppm calcium and the sulfate/chloride/sodium concentrations that I want, and then hold off on adding acid or adding alkalinity (via baking soda) until I've actually measured the mash pH. I use Bru'N water to get an estimate of where the pH should be without acid/alkalinity, and then an estimate of how much acid/alkalinity I need to bring me where I want to be. Usually it works out about right, but since my starting water figures are based on monthly averages, sometimes it's off enough to get me 0.1 off or so, and I have to adjust the acid/alkalinity addition.

But if you don't want to go through all that, I would trust that primer to get you where you need to be.
 
If you have both hardness and alkalinity , which one you should work with, once most of the spreadsheet you have to select either one or other.
Alkalinity 120ppm and hardness 100ppm
 

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