Adding salts to distilled water

[ericinthewoods]

In adding buton salts to distilled water, am I supposed to add 1 tsp per gallon used in the mash (which will be the total volume of my boil + expected grain absorption) or the total volume I expect to get when I'm done boiling.

My concern is that evaporation would cause a concentration of the minerals that may be higher than I want -by around 20%- and I don't know if the salts are formulated to account for this.

 

[BrewCrewKevin]

I think most calculators do account for grain absorption. I think if you got 1 tsp / gallon, it would refer to your strike water. So the full amount.

Not positive i guess though.

 

[schematix]

This question is better answered in the brew science forum.

Adding 1 tsp/gallon is a very rough estimate, and may not be right for what you're trying to do depending upon your source water.

 

[ArcLight]

In adding buton salts to distilled water, am I supposed to add 1 tsp per gallon used in the mash (which will be the total volume of my boil + expected grain absorption) or the total volume I expect to get when I'm done boiling.

My concern is that evaporation would cause a concentration of the minerals that may be higher than I want -by around 20%- and I don't know if the salts are formulated to account for this.

There is a lot of material on this in the Brew Science folder.

But adding 5 TSP of salts for 5 gallons will likely make unpleasant beer.
Use a spreadsheet (BrunWater) or online calculator (Brewers Friend) along with a water report and a target profile to decide how much to add.

Roughly 4 grams of Gypsum in a teaspoon
Roughly 3.4 grams of Calcium Chloride in a teaspoon


You don't want 10 grams of Calcium Chloride and 10 grams of Gypsum in a 5 gallon beer. Unless you like mineral water.

The general advice I can offer is make a batch, take a 12 ounce sample, and start adding small amounts of salts to get to a level you like, so that next time you have a better idea of your preferred target.

 

[ericinthewoods]

Ok, thanks for the quick tips. I'll read up on it in the right forum.