Adding SALT to Kegged Beer

[johnnybrew]

The water profile for my area has a sulfate to chloride ratio that is on the bitter side of the spectrum. I just made a Northern English Brown (SRM = 16) that came out great from a flavor, malt and style perspective, but the finish is bitter - which isn't what I wanted. This is the second time I had a beer with a low SRM have this bitter finish (the first was a Saison). The end of the run of the sparge on the northern brown was at 1.017, so I don't think the bitterness came from tannins. If I could do it over again, I would have added some salts to the mash to get my RA more in the range and have a ratio that would be more on the malty side (definitely not on the bitter side).

Given that the beer is already kegged, I wonder if anyone has added salt directly to the keg? I plan to try and run a test by adding some salt to a pint to see how it will change the profile of the beer.

Thoughts?

 

[starman]

Completely unhelpful and mostly OT, but my in-laws have been known to add table salt to their light beer. Odd.

I would think the salts that change water profile would need to be present pre-mash/ boil since they affect the process... not the flavor directly. Well, unless youre adding Morton's to cover a lack of malt , hops, and yeast flavor in that american lager.

 

[ajdelange]

A lot of people think that a beer with 1 mg/L chloride and 1 mg/L sulfate will taste the same as one with 100 mg/L each because the ratio is the same. The two aren't antipodal i.e. you can't make the coarse, harsh bitterness of too much sulfate go away by adding more chloride. OTOH by adding chloride you enhance the positive qualities of the beer such as smoothness, sweetness, and mouthfeel. It is possible that adding chloride at this point might improve the beer by distracting the drinker from the harsh bitterness to some extent. Starman's comment is hardly unhelpful and right on topic IMO. Put some of the problem beer in a glass, add in some salt and taste. If you find you can fix the beer by doing this then scale up and add to the keg.

 

[ajdelange]

Further to the above: my local brewpub just released its 'Praha Pils' yesterday so I went over there this evening to check it out. All Saaz but the first thing that hit was harsh bitterness. They didn't do anything about the sulfate in the water which runs about 55 mg/L. With this discussion in mind I tried putting in a little table salt. The maltiness definitely zoomed out to the point that one was, I suppose, distracted from the harsh bitterness to some extent but the harsh bitterness was still there.