Salt in the wert????

[esauerkraut60]

I just read a Brown ale recipe where the chick added "non-iodized salt" to the wert after it boiled. It was a straight forward Crystal steep with 6 lbs of LME and a few oz's of hops....sooooo, what gives with the salt? Is this some sort of water conditioning thing or is it a communist plot?

Ever heard of this?

 

[jaycount]

I vote commie plot.

 

[Hermit]

Read the water primer stickied in the brew science forum. You may be able to accomplish the same thing with calcium chloride and it will be better for the yeast. One possible theory is that salt cuts down on bitterness.

 

[vespoli]

Typically, if you're going AG, you need to keep an eye on water chemistry (Na+ and Ca++ concentrations), as those levels can affect efficiency and conversion in the mash, both at the protein rest step and starch conversion step. With extracts, the extract manufacturer has already taken care of this step for you, and since the LME or DME has been already converted (duh), you don't need to really watch it, unless your water is really, really wacky.

Hope this helps.