Calcium Chloride

Hi guys, just wanting to know if you would add Calcium chloride to Stouts and Porters to get a more maltier profile when using RO water in the mash?


Cheers Andrew

Chloride is a thickener and sweetener in many food related industries including brewing. Thus it tends to make beer fuller bodied, rounder and sweeter (which many confuse with 'maltier' hence the chloride:sulfate ratio malty:hoppy misconception). Thus some chloride nearly always improves a beer. So I say yes, definitely add some calcium chloride to RO water for stouts (see the Primer) but certainly experiment with the amount. You do not want a dry Irish stout to be too sweet. Plus, of course, the calcium is good for the yeast.

Watch the mash pH. If it falls too low, the beer will lose smoothness in a few areas. The tartness will add an 'edge' and the extraction of color and flavor from the roast grains will suffer. The potential to experience too low a mash pH increases when using RO water with its inherent low alkalinity. Even AJ doesn't use straight RO for his stouts. Some alkalinity is needed.

mabrungard said:

Watch the mash pH. If it falls too low, the beer will lose smoothness in a few areas. The tartness will add an 'edge' and the extraction of color and flavor from the roast grains will suffer. The potential to experience too low a mash pH increases when using RO water with its inherent low alkalinity. Even AJ doesn't use straight RO for his stouts. Some alkalinity is needed.

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So I could get away with using RO water in the mash with a tiny amount of calcium chloride and then use tap water for the sparge.Or should I have a 50/50 ratio of tap and RO in the mash?

Andrew

Actually as we don't know what your tap water is like we can't comment on a blend which is the best way (IMO) to get a little alkalinity (which you may or may not need depending on the style of the stout and consequently the quantity of black malt and/or dark crystal malts being used) into RO water. The only problem with this approach is that it is necessary to know the composition of your tap water. If it stays constant over the seasons which, I gather, is not the case in and around Perth, it is sufficient to get one analysis done. Otherwise the situation must be tracked. In such cases one of the big advantages of RO is that the supply is constant (approximately) given that most of the minerals are supplied by the brewer. The Primer has some guidance on how to treat RO water and following it should work in most cases but Stouts and Porters can be tricky as some contain lots of dark malts and others not so much. In the former case some alkali may be required, in the latter some acid.The best advice is to monitor mash pH (with a meter) and make adjustments as necessary.

It is probably simplest to treat the entire volume of water to be used in the brew in the same way but if you don't do that it is better to add the calcium chloride to the mash water (see Primer) and sparge with RO water because the tap water may be high in alkalinity (causing potential extraction of phenols during the sparge) whereas the RO water definitely is not.

Thanks AJ

I might use just straight RO water and add 4gm of Calcium chloride just to enhance the malty profile.The recipie also says to add corn syrup to the boil and lactose, so hopefully that should hide any flaws and make for an award winning beer.lol

RO water is always excellent sparging water. Low alkalinity water is important for avoiding problems during the sparge. The tap water might not have low alkalinity, so it may not be ideal for that use.

If the tap water has elevated alkalinity, there MAY be a need to incorporate a portion of that water into the mash water to improve mash pH if the grist is really acidic. For other grists, the tap water addition may be unneeded and unwanted. You have to know what your tap water is to get the most out of it.

Most brewers find that modest additions of calcium containing minerals is helpful for good mash and fermentation performance. Do review the water chemistry primer if you are using RO as the primary water component. Do recognize that alkalinity might be needed for acidic grists like found with stouts and porters.

Dumb question: What is RO water again?


We should start an acroymn glossary to post as a sticky. I'm starting to use google way too much in here

reverse osmosis

mabrungard said:

Watch the mash pH. If it falls too low, the beer will lose smoothness in a few areas. The tartness will add an 'edge' and the extraction of color and flavor from the roast grains will suffer. The potential to experience too low a mash pH increases when using RO water with its inherent low alkalinity. Even AJ doesn't use straight RO for his stouts. Some alkalinity is needed.

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So how low is too low? As I was thinking of experimenting by having a multi-rest with 2 different pH, i.e. a pH of 5.0 at 40c and 58c (to better suit limit dextrin, beta-glucanase and proteinase) and then a pH of 5.7 at 70c by adding the remaining strike water.

In my opinion, getting below about 5.1 to 5.2 invites an over-enhancement of those various enzymes which tends to break too much of the body enhancing properties of those components. The beer tends to be 'thin' when the pH gets too low.

I would also caution against targeting a pH of 5.7 either. Many brewers have found that 5.6 is the upper end of benefit in darker styles. The flavor just gets harsher above that point. That may be due to a slight increase in tannin extraction as a result of the higher pH. Don't know though.

mabrungard said:

I would also caution against targeting a pH of 5.7 either. Many brewers have found that 5.6 is the upper end of benefit in darker styles. The flavor just gets harsher above that point. That may be due to a slight increase in tannin extraction as a result of the higher pH. Don't know though.

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And just to cap it off, what about a pH of 5.2 at 70c? I've read 5.3 is the lowest you should go so would 5.2 'destabilise' the alpha amylase or would it just take long to break down the starch?