Add minerals or leave it be?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

beerkench

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2013
Messages
418
Reaction score
45
Hi,

First of all here's my water:
Calcium 21
Magnesium 9,5
Sodium 34
Chloride 27
Sulfate 24
Bicarbonate 110
Ph 8.1

For my next brew I will be making a stout using enough dark malts to get my mash PH in the top end of the right zone without the need of acids.
My question is however, should I add any minerals to get my calcium levels up?
I have both gypsum and calcium chloride at hand. I was thinking of adding 1 gr of both (for 6 gallon brew) to bump up the calcium and keep the chloride and sulfate at an equal level. If I do this, my PH according to Bru'nwater will still be in the right range.
I have good clean Swedish water by the way, so maybe I should leave it as it is.
 
The dark beers are difficult because one never really knows the amount of acidity of the dark grains beyond rough approximations based on their color unless he is willing to make measurements. For a typical stout brewed with modest alkalinity no additional acid is usually necessary. Your alkalinity is a little high at 1.85 mEq/L but that is probably still low enough without adding any. A pH meter would, of course, let you know exactly where you stand.

Assuming the pH is under control it then becomes a matter of taste and the question is really one of sulfate as you have enough chloride though more might be of benefit. I would suggest brewing the beer with the water as is and then experimenting with adding bits of extra calcium chloride and calcium sulfate as you taste it. If it is better with more chloride or more sulfate or both in these taste tests brew it with more of whichever or both of these salts in subsequent batches.
 
Thanks for the info. I didn't know that PH estimation for darker beers was difficult.
Do you think it's necessary to bump up the calcium levels?
 
It isn't really if you have the data but getting the data is laborious. There are a few base malts. There are dozens of specialty/colored/roast malts.

No, you don't need to increase the calcium. 20 mg/L is fine.
 
Think I'll leave it as it is thanks. Why do the books recommended minimum 50 mg/l calcium?


Sent from hell
using Home Brew
 
It is a rule of thumb and if authors pointed that out perhaps there wouldn't be such slavish adherence to it. Calcium does do good things for beer but it also makes them taste as if they have minerals in them. It is fairly recently that commercial brewers have started to move towards softer waters and home brewers have been slower still. Some very fine beers are brewed with low calcium water. Perhaps yours will be one. OTOH if you like the results you obtain with more calcium better then use more.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Ale yeasts seem to be much more tolerant of high calcium level and it can be useful in brewing ales since it speeds the post-fermentation flocculation. However, lager yeasts are less tolerant of high calcium level and it can produce undesirable fermentation problems.

It ultimately depends on the yeast, but a blind adherence to the mantra: "50+ ppm calcium required for good brewing", is not prudent. Something on the order of 20 ppm Ca is probably OK for some lager brewing. Be aware that there are probably some lager yeasts that are more acclimated and tolerant of high Ca levels, but there are certainly some lager yeasts that can have fermentation problems when exposed to excessive Ca.
 
Back
Top