greenbirds
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2008
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Let's say I need to increase the calcium content of my mash. My water has 25ppm Calcium and 30ppm sulfate. I'm brewing an IPA, so to boost the calcium I add a calculated amount of gypsum, raising my calcium level to about 95 ppm and sulfate to about 200 ppm. This calcium concentration is good for mashing, and the sulfate concentration is good from an IPA taste standpoint.
Anyone have an estimate of how much that water profile changes once I run-off and batch sparge? Obviously, even assuming 100% of the salts make it into the wort, I must account for dilution, since my ~4 gallons of mash water will become 5.5 gallons wort after sparging and boiling.
What I am curious about is how much of the mash salts are retained in the spent grains. If it's low to negligible %, no worries. But if I lost, say, half the salts (down to 100 ppm sulfate, and then even less given dilution), I would be interested in adding gypsum back to the boil to accentuate the hop bitterness for an IPA.
Anyone have an estimate of how much that water profile changes once I run-off and batch sparge? Obviously, even assuming 100% of the salts make it into the wort, I must account for dilution, since my ~4 gallons of mash water will become 5.5 gallons wort after sparging and boiling.
What I am curious about is how much of the mash salts are retained in the spent grains. If it's low to negligible %, no worries. But if I lost, say, half the salts (down to 100 ppm sulfate, and then even less given dilution), I would be interested in adding gypsum back to the boil to accentuate the hop bitterness for an IPA.