Salt Additions

[Nil]

HI All,

I am in the process of fine-tuning a robust porter recipe. I want to make this recipe more flavorful and provide extra bitterness. Plan to use NaCl and a source of sulfate.

My experience with this recipe is that the room temperature pH is approx 5.5, which means that at mashing temperature, the pH is around 5.2. If I add calcium sulfate, the extra calcium will reduce the mash pH around 4.6 and then, I will have to add sodium bicarbonate to put the pH back in range. I don't want to go thru the hassle.

My option will be magnesium sulfate. The maximum amount of magnesium recommended is 30 ppm, which will provide 118.6 ppm of sulfate, that to me, is a good place to start.

I will use carbon filtered water. I know... the ion content will have impact yet, I don't want to mess with that for this first trial.

Any thoughts?
Thanks, Nil

 

[mabrungard]

Mg depresses mash pH too, just not as much. While I do encourage the use of table salt to supply sodium in darker beers since it really does improve their flavor, just be careful if you are also adding much sulfate. Sodium and sulfate do not play well together and their resulting flavor may be poor. You can have both ions in the wort, but not at high levels.

Personally, I shy away from adding much sulfate in black beers since their roastiness acts like a drying agent on the palate, similarly to the action of sulfate. So, its kind of a 1 + 1 = 2 situation where both are drying your palate and you might just end up with a too dry finish in the beer. Use caution.

 

[Nil]

Have a good point, so I may only use 15 ppm of Mg and see. Otherwise, I may use calcium sulfate and adjust pH with sodium bicarbonate.

Thanks,
Nil