Am I the only one that uses epsom salt (MgSO4) in my water profile?

[okiedog]

1. The waters of Vienna and Burton-on-Trent both have high magnesium levels. So does Milwaukee. I do not like the taste of Epsom salt, nor do I care for the taste of gypsum. With the combined mix of minerals from water and grain, if you add gypsum, you will have magnesium and sulfate in the mash. I guess everyone has different taste thresholds. For me, I like a bit (but not a lot) of MgSO4 in IPAs and also in some darker or heavier styles.

 

[Jayjay1976]

If I add epsom salt to my beer, will it make a soothing foot bath as well?

 

[okiedog]

If I add epsom salt to my beer, will it make a soothing foot bath as well?

Sure. The more you drink, the more soothing it will be.

 

[okiedog]

Now you guys have me thinking. I'm going to delete the Epsom salt from the brews I use it in, and see if I notice a difference. The truth is, I realize that I've been so busy with other things the last few months, that I have not devoted enough time and attention to my brewing. Thanks for bringing me back to consciousness!

 

[sjfischr]

Hi all,

First time using a combination of Epsom salt, Kosher salt, and calcium carbonate to my NE IPA—was instead using mostly gypsum. The Washington, DC (Northern VA) area has moderately hard water. I wanted more Mg but not too much, and more SO4 but not too much, and this was the ticket. The malt flavor is quite distinct this time—accentuates the sweetness, and the fermentation was wayyy cleaner (no yeast burn this time).

All I’m saying is there’s something to Epsom salt—I used just 1.8g for the entire batch.

 

[Yooper]

Hi all,

First time using a combination of Epsom salt, Kosher salt, and calcium carbonate to my NE IPA—was instead using mostly gypsum. The Washington, DC (Northern VA) area has moderately hard water. I wanted more Mg but not too much, and more SO4 but not too much, and this was the ticket. The malt flavor is quite distinct this time—accentuates the sweetness, and the fermentation was wayyy cleaner (no yeast burn this time).

All I’m saying is there’s something to Epsom salt—I used just 1.8g for the entire batch.

Well using calcium carbonate (chalk) is an error- but it probably didn't do anything anyway if you didn't do extraneous measures to dissolve it.

If 1.8 grams of epsom salt made your beer better, that's great. (But I think it's something else- no way magnesium sulfate accentuated any sweetness! That would be the NaCl- table salt, with the cloride ion.)

 

[okiedog]

If you change more than one ingredient at a time, it is more difficult to tell what is responsible for any change in flavor.

 

[dmtaylor]

If you don't do a blind triangle, you might just be kidding yourself.

 

[ajdelange]

A triangle test, especially a double blind one, is not the trivial exercise most people seem to think it is. People often think they are doing meaningful triangle tests when they are not. Infamous for this are the Brulosophy experiments. For starters you need a facility in which the tasters can be completely isolated from one another. For another, as an example, if the goal is to determine whether extra magnesium benefits or detriments a beer you must brew two beers, one with the extra magnesium and one without. If, for whatever reason, including an effect of the magnesium, one of the beers should be lighter or darker than the other, the triangle test will report a significant difference - that's all a triangle test can do - because panelists will see the color difference right away, before they even taste or smell the beer. Unless the color change is masked.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a triangle test is a test of the panel - not the beer. Thus a triangle test done with panelists drawn from BJCP Master Judges may give a different result from one drawn from the general public.

As what you really care about is whether augmented magnesium improves your enjoyment of your beer a much easier and more meaningful test is to take samples of your beer brewed with normal magnesium (my well water in McLean runs about 15mg/L IIRC) and taste them after adding in a few drops of an epsom salts solution. This should give you some indication as to whether magnesium with the accompanying sulfate improves or degrades the beer in your opinion. So include you SO, drinking buddy... in these experiments. If the result is that MgSO4 makes a better tasting beer then augment the MgSO4 addition next time you brew. Keep adjusting until you hit the sweet spot.

Yes, it takes time and effort but all I am asking you to do is brew and drink more beer. How onerous is that?

 

[okiedog]

Sounds good to me. Especially the part about brew and drink more beer.