Water additions lead to cloudy brew?

The last two brews I tinkered wither my water profile and added 1/2 tsp each of calcium sulfate (gypsum) and baking soda. However, the fermentations are cloudier than I have ever seen! I'm curious if this is normal for brews with added minerals and if it'll all settle out, or if I should gelatin them (one is for an organic comp though, so I'm not sure if I can put gelatin in it). Also, I want to known if this one isn't salvageable because I might be able to rebrew it in time for the comp.

Anyone have any experience with water additions making their brew cloudy? Any insight would be appreciated.

My water doctoring has never resulted in cloudy beers. I always add the "salts" to the water at room temperature though. A lot of them dissolve better in room temp water than hot water. If they are not dissolved in yours, then I'm sure they will settle out, especially with a good cold crash. It may just be that your beer is cloudy due to something in your recipe or your brewing method.

millaj92 said:

My water doctoring has never resulted in cloudy beers. I always add the "salts" to the water at room temperature though. A lot of them dissolve better in room temp water than hot water. If they are not dissolved in yours, then I'm sure they will settle out, especially with a good cold crash. It may just be that your beer is cloudy due to something in your recipe or your brewing method.

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Good to know about the temp! I definitely added them as I poured the hot water into the MLT.

Water chem is something I've probably spent too much time on considering how new to brewing I am. I don't know what water you started with but 1/2 teaspoon of gypsum or baking soda in a 5gal batch should have no problem dissolving. Chalk seems to be the only salt with any solubility issues but I'd think even that would end up on the bottom of the carboy when the yeast floc and not cause any clarity issues.

Why are you adding baking soda? Is your water very low in alkalinity and you are brewing dark beers? If this is not the case, the cloudiness could easily be a result of adding alkalinity via the baking soda. I trust you have your water report and make your decisions based on sound brewing chemistry.

Don't add minerals without a valid reason.

mabrungard said:

Why are you adding baking soda? Is your water very low in alkalinity and you are brewing dark beers? If this is not the case, the cloudiness could easily be a result of adding alkalinity via the baking soda. I trust you have your water report and make your decisions based on sound brewing chemistry.

Don't add minerals without a valid reason.

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Yes, I was working off of my water report and working in Beersmith.

Beersmith strikes again!

There is a substantial difference between a mineral calculator and a brewing water calculator. Recognize that Beersmith only includes a mineral calculator.

Before I knew any better I used baking soda and all the other minerals to get my water profiles. I now just use a bit of Chloride & Gypsum in RO water. I still don't know much more than I did but it's enough to have good beer.

I have to say that the cloudiness of the fermentation is meaningless, only the end products clarity/taste count. Whatever the adjustments are may have just helped you get a better break of the proteins and that is what you see.

Post your water profile in the Brew Science section if you need help if you haven't done so.

millaj92 said:

Beersmith strikes again!

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mabrungard said:

There is a substantial difference between a mineral calculator and a brewing water calculator. Recognize that Beersmith only includes a mineral calculator.

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Such is the nature of "tinkering" and the experimental aspect of the hobby (or at least what I enjoy it for).

So I went back to Palmer's nomograph and did some calculations. It said that for the color beers I was brewing I need 180 ppm of Calcium to achieve a decent mash pH.

My water is super low in Calcium (~23ppm) and I have been having some haze that I determined through process of elimination was not chill haze. Having heard from multiple sources that calcium helps the yeast drop out better, I decided to start tinkering with my low calcium reading. Hence what triggered this whole thing. The baking soda? Yeah, I'm not sure why I decided to add that, chalk it up to drinking while formulating recipes

Anyway, I'd like to thank the first guy for suggesting adding the minerals (which I wont be adding until the next non-competition batch) to the mash water prior to heating. For the record, this thread wasn't a "Dear Lord, please save my beer or I'll be miserable forever!" thread, but simply a "I'm observing this effect, anyone else ever see that? What was your end result?" type of question. Also, I stuck the FG sample in the fridge over night, and quite a bit of whatever is in there did drop out, so that makes me happy.


Green is base water
Red is calculating Ca required for desired SRM range

Try using Martin's water spreadsheet. The URL is listed in his signature. I find it much more comprehensive and accurate than John's.

Denny said:

Try using Martin's water spreadsheet. The URL is listed in his signature. I find it much more comprehensive and accurate than John's.

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Cool, I'll check it out. I think I went with the nomograph over the various spreadsheets and calculations because I'm more of a visual person rather than analytical.