Mash water additions

[Firestorm159]

I'm new to treating my brewing water this will be my first time. I'm using Primo water witch I sent a sample to ward laboratory. I will be using Bruin water to calculate my additions. I will be adding 8.3g of gypsum, 2.4g of epsom salt, 1.2 of baking soda, and 2 grams of calcium chloride to my mash. My question is when do I add them?

 

[Yooper]

I'm new to treating my brewing water this will be my first time. I'm using Primo water witch I sent a sample to ward laboratory. I will be using Bruin water to calculate my additions. I will be adding 8.3g of gypsum, 2.4g of epsom salt, 1.2 of baking soda, and 2 grams of calcium chloride to my mash. My question is when do I add them?

That seems like a strange bunch of additions. Are you making something that needs a lot of sulfate, as well as something to raise the pH?

 

[Firestorm159]

no it's a smash. Grain bill is is 13 pounds of Marris Otter. The Primo water has a PH of 7.1. It says my projected room temp ph should be 5.4.

 

[Yooper]

no it's a smash. Grain bill is is 13 pounds of Marris Otter. The Primo water has a PH of 7.1. It says my projected room temp ph should be 5.4.

I'd definitely use a less is more approach here. Cut out the Epsom salts, reduce the gypsum, and consider leaving out the baking soda completely.

You've got too much sulfate for many beers there, and you don't need to supplement magnesium at all. A mash pH of 5.4 is great. A calcium level of 50-90 would be great, and keep both the sulfate and chloride modest. That should give you the best results.

 

[Firestorm159]

I was following a pale ale profile on bruin water. Cal 140, mag 18, sodium 25, sulfate 300, chloride 55, and bicarbinate 110. after the additions the finished profile is cal 133.2, mag 6.5, sodium 24.1, sul 278.4, chloride 51, and bicarbinate 48. Is this profile not right for an ipa? 60 ibu's.

 

[McKnuckle]

The profile might work, but it's pretty extreme in terms of the sulfate value. That's what the large gypsum addition is mostly affecting. There's a thought that higher SO4 in water is crisp, dry, and hop-enhancing. But 300 ppm can be unpleasant to some palates. I'd half that to 150 ppm for your first try and see how you like that.

Less gypsum will result in a higher pH, so you might have to slightly increase something else (Epsom or CaCl) to get the 5.4.

Edit: or reduce/remove the baking soda, which raises pH. You won't need as much (or any) baking soda with less gypsum in the mix. Water amelioration is a balancing act.

 

[Firestorm159]

Thank you for your help

 

[Firestorm159]

OK so I have another question, after I figure out how to treat my water when in the process do I add my additions?

 

[BobBailey]

I'm not familiar with Primo water, but assume it is something other than distilled, de-ionized or RO. If this is the case, there may be big variations in mineral content, as well as PH seasonally. I would recommend RO water if your going to build your own. Most major super markets have it available for $.40/gal. or less, out of a dispenser, and it doesn't vary much as long as the system is properly maintained.

 

[bobo31]

I usually mix my mash water in one pot and my sparge water in another pot. I use RO water and I mix the minerals and water 1-2 days before brew day in those pots. That way the minerals have time to dissolve. At first I did it on brew day and realized that they were not dissolving all the way by the time I was reaching mash in and sparge temp.
HTH.

 

[JonM]

I'm still puzzled by that predicted mash pH. I assume you plugged in the baking soda in Bru'n Water. If that's the case, and you're using nothing but Maris Otter, I'd think your predicted pH would be way, way higher than that. Usually when using nothing but a light base grain, you'd need to add acid, not alkali.

Are you sure you have the spreadsheet filled in right? And do you have the right Lovibond number for the grain? And is it set as "Base malt" rather than maybe as a "Roast Malt?"

 

[mabrungard]

The large amount of Ca and Mg salts push the pH down in this case. You do have to add a bit of alkalinity to keep the pH from dropping too low.

 

[Roadie]

Your targeted profile seems good to me. There's some dude named Mosher who said the ideal pale ale/ipa water is around 110/18/16/50/280 (Ca/Mg/Na/Cl/SO4) which is the starting point we used when working with RO water. Some folks are more sensitive to sulfate than others so as always brew what tastes good to you!

We mix our mineral additions into our mash water before we dough-in.

 

[Firestorm159]

Well after reading everyone replies and reading some other posts I came up with 115.4c/0 mag/24.1s/149.5 sulfate/
35.6 chloride/48.00 Bicarbonate. I'll add 4.9 gypsum, 1.2 baking soda, 3.7 calcium chloride. 5.5 mash ph. Hopefully it will turn out alright. Thanks for the help.

 

[Natdavis777]

We mix our mineral additions into our mash water before we dough-in.

I do the same. Mix the "Mash" mineral additions in the water before doughing in.

As for my "sparge" additions, I add them to the boil (to achieve the overall water profile) instead of my sparge water since I use 100% RO

 

[Yooper]

Well after reading everyone replies and reading some other posts I came up with 115.4c/0 mag/24.1s/149.5 sulfate/
35.6 chloride/48.00 Bicarbonate. I'll add 4.9 gypsum, 1.2 baking soda, 3.7 calcium chloride. 5.5 mash ph. Hopefully it will turn out alright. Thanks for the help.

It's too late now, but for lighter colored beers I like a mash pH of 5.3-5.4. The flavor is "brighter". You could have left out the baking soda for sure.