Is Potassium Chloride powder hygroscopic?

[Silver_Is_Money]

Does KCl pick up water over time in a fashion akin to CaCl2?

I just purchased an 8 ounce bottle of 'NOW' brand food grade potassium chloride powder. I figured I would give it a spin in place of some percentage of calcium chloride and/or sodium chloride for my next few batches, as my source for chloride ions.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

As an aside, are there any potential off flavors I should be aware of as a consequence of adding KCl to my strike and/or sparge water?

 

[MaxStout]

I think it is hygroscopic, so best to keep it sealed in an airtight container when not in use. As for flavor, I know it has a slightly bitter taster when used as a table salt substitute. Not sure what it will do in small amounts in brewing water. I'm assuming your water already has adequate Ca, hence your use of KCl for chloride?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I think it is hygroscopic, so best to keep it sealed in an airtight container when not in use. As for flavor, I know it has a slightly bitter taster when used as a table salt substitute. Not sure what it will do in small amounts in brewing water. I'm assuming your water already has adequate Ca, hence your use of KCl for chloride?

Yes, it would be used to boost chloride ions for water which already has adequate calcium.

 

[mabrungard]

I've got a bag of KCl and its been sitting in the garage for several years. It's still at rocky and hard as it always was. It doesn't seem to be hygroscopic.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I've got a bag of KCl and its been sitting in the garage for several years. It's still at rocky and hard as it always was. It doesn't seem to be hygroscopic.

Thanks Martin!

On another forum it was brought up that at around 10 ppm or greater in the strike water, K will begin to negatively impact alpha and beta enzymatic activity during the mash. How high can the ppm of K go before enzymes begin to shut down and there is noticeably diminished conversion?

2 grams of KCl added to 5 gallons of water would yield 50.2 ppm Cl and 55.5 ppm K. Perhaps one solution would be to add it to the boil.

 

[mabrungard]

I haven't studied the negative effects of potassium in brewing. I've only heard wide-spread discussion that potassium doesn't really improve beer flavor and its not worth adding to water and wort.

 

[ajdelange]

If you look up the data on it you don't find (or at least a cursory search doesn't find) info on anything but KCl i.e. there i no data on a monohydrate, dihidrate etc. Since potassium is in the same group as sodium you would expect its salts to have similar properties. When the doc writes me a prescription for 20 mEq potassium tablets I toss it and take a quarter tsp of KCl from the supermarket instead (too cheap to shell out the co-pay for the tablets). Thus I have containers of KCl lying around that are years old. They still pour. Furthermore, the containers are cardboard tubes. All of this suggests that KCl is definitely not hygroscopic.

As for the taste, it is generally considered bitter to the point that the super market products apparently incorporate a sweetener to counteract that taste.

 

[cire]

Potassium chloride is frequently used to lower the sodium content of table salt. This one contains 28% KCl.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UKSA5D4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

By examination it would appear KCl is no more hygroscopic than NaCl.

KCl is likely to have less impact on beer flavor than NaCl at a similar level and it would be a rare beer that contains less than 200ppm potassium.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

According to this website, the ppm potassium content found in wort and/or finished beer is typically on the order of 7 to 10 times greater than that of typical ppm calcium content. Perhaps potassium's flavor contribution is not that much of a concern. Ditto its detrimental effect to enzyme action.

https://www.agilent.com/cs/library/applications/5110_ICP_OES_5991-8394EN-metals_beer.pdf

 

[mabrungard]

According to this website, the ppm potassium content found in wort and/or finished beer is typically on the order of 7 to 10 times greater than that of typical ppm calcium content.

Unfortunately, that K content is tied up in heavier molecules and is not really present in it's ionic form where we can taste it. Adding K salts is different. This goes for Mg too. Wort and beer have a lot of Mg, but when we add just a little bit too much of ionic Mg to the water, we can taste the negative effects.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Unfortunately, that K content is tied up in heavier molecules and is not really present in it's ionic form where we can taste it. Adding K salts is different. This goes for Mg too. Wort and beer have a lot of Mg, but when we add just a little bit too much of ionic Mg to the water, we can taste the negative effects.

Are some of the heavier molecules that may contain potassium classified as malt phosphates? Or are malt phosphates always acids? I'm just trying to get a better understanding of where the high levels of potassium in wort and/or finished beer are complexed.

 

[Azura]

KCl does not taste good as a salt substitute with food. It's slightly bitter and metallic. NaCl minus iodine tastes much better in equal amounts. Most people would say this is true, so why use KCl in beer?

 

[dmtaylor]

KCl tastes terrible. I hear Lithium chloride tastes wonderful though. Haven't tried that one yet.

 

[mabrungard]

I see that beekeepers are now adding lithium chloride to their hive's water supply. The lithium reportedly kills the Varoa mites that are killing bees.

I understand that lithium is helpful for people with depression. I'm not sure that its a wise additive for beer though.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I see that beekeepers are now adding lithium chloride to their hive's water supply. The lithium reportedly kills the Varoa mites that are killing bees.

I understand that lithium is helpful for people with depression. I'm not sure that its a wise additive for beer though.

Hopefully the lithium does not pass through to their honey.

 

[ajdelange]

I see that beekeepers are now adding lithium chloride to their hive's water supply. The lithium reportedly kills the Varoa mites that are killing bees.

Wish I knew about that when I was keeping bees!

I understand that lithium is helpful for people with depression. I'm not sure that its a wise additive for beer though.

Are the bees more laid back? My girls were always pretty good in that regard.[/QUOTE]

 

[Azura]

KCl tastes terrible. I hear Lithium chloride tastes wonderful though. Haven't tried that one yet.

Maybe you should add it to your next batch of award winning Jalapeno Porter for science?

 

[dmtaylor]

 

[Azura]

 

[dmtaylor]

Hi Betty.

 

[Azura]

Guess again. I have testicles..

 

[dmtaylor]

 

[Azura]

I understand that lithium is helpful for people with depression. I'm not sure that its a wise additive for beer though.

If adding lithium chloride to beer makes people less depressed, then who cares what it tastes like? Cough medicine tastes really bad, but it serves a purpose.

 

[Azura]

I suspect the KCl query has something to do with trying to duplicate the allegedly Calcium deficient and Chloride rich water of Treehouse based on water chemistry analysis of a finished beer reported by an attention seeking blogger that happens to be opening a small brewery soon.

 

[Azura]

I've pondered this semi controversial subject for precisely eight minutes. The assumption I made earlier ITT was KCl tastes like garbage as a salt substitute. Therefore, it must be a garbage mineral addition to beer. This assumption is patently bogus!

It was based on never actually using KCl in beer. Have you ever sprinkled epsom salt on your food? I have for science. It does not taste good, but a lot of people happily dose their beer with it anyway. Hmmm.

So I think the water experts here have a social responsibility to experiment with KCl before dissing it. It's probably not that bad.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I've pondered this semi controversial subject for precisely eight minutes. The assumption I made earlier ITT was KCl tastes like garbage as a salt substitute. Therefore, it must be a garbage mineral addition to beer. This assumption is patently bogus!

It was based on never actually using KCl in beer. Have you ever sprinkled epsom salt on your food? I have for science. It does not taste good, but a lot of people happily dose their beer with it anyway. Hmmm.

So I think the water experts here have a social responsibility to experiment with KCl before dissing it. It's probably not that bad.

An astute observation!!!

A few of the participants over on the currently popular "Isolated Yeast (Tree House): How to Identify and Characterize?" thread have mentioned that they have tried KCl, and one said that it contributed to the smoothest tasting cloning effort he has made to date. Another stated that he added on the order of 10 to 14 grams of KCl to a 5 gallon batch with no detrimental effects that he could identify. These guys are using it to get chloride ions up into the mid 200 ppm range.