salt additions, when and how much

So I have read through howtobrew.com and gotten a water test from ward labs. From readings palmer's section about water chemistry it sounds like I should only add salts to the mash. But the water used for the mash is only a portion of the total volume of the brew. Should I be adding enough salts for the entire brew to all the water I will be using? Should i only add it to my mash water?

Also, I know pH matters for the mash but should I adjust the pH of the sparge water to match the ideal pH of the mash before sparging?

Thanks for any help you guys can give!

I'm no expert on water chemistry, but if I determine that I want to add something to adjust my water I add it to the mash water before doughing in. I will also add it to my sparge water. If I add acid to my mash water, I won't add it to the sparge water though. I did this once and ended up with a very bad beer from pulling tannins out of the husks. I probably added to much, but I'm like a wounded dog on this one. I won't make that mistake again.

Now I use the 5.2 buffer and have had great success.

I was told by my local brewmaster to not worry about the mash or sparge, just make sure the wort is correct.

If you are going to try to make amendments to the wort, you should know for sure what you start with and what you adjust to, ACCURATELY, or don't try.

Henry Hill said:

I was told by my local brewmaster to not worry about the mash or sparge, just make sure the wort is correct.

If you are going to try to make amendments to the wort, you should know for sure what you start with and what you adjust to, ACCURATELY, or don't try.

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Wow that's some advice!

If the mash PH is off you risk the pulling of tannins from the husk
or a very slow/imcomplete conversion among other things.

I agree you shouldn't add anything to your wort without knowing what
the results will be.