Screwed the water adjustment, now beer is super salty

[ReverseApacheMaster]

So I made a brown ale and based upon the available water profile and ezwatercalculator.com I added epsom salt, canning salt, and baking powder to get to the appropriate water profile for the SRM and taste.

Clearly something went wrong -- my mash pH was way over what it should have been and I didn't have anything available to lower it -- and the wort came out tasting slightly salty. We've had some weird weather so something might have happened that changed the water profile.

Now that it has fermented, it is incredibly salty. Like, one sip tastes like licking a salt lick followed by a drop of beer.

I know salt is water soluble, but is there any way to settle out the salt? Anything I can add, or will any amount of time settle out some of the salt?

I want to go ahead and bottle it to see how it turns out, but without any reduction in the salt, I can't believe it's going to be drinkable. I'd be willing to use it in cooking, but I think it might be too salty even for that.

 

[willynilly]

You said it...

Salt is SOLUBLE in water, it wont settle out, it will remain in solution. I dont think any amount of time will change the fact that there is salt in your beer.

 

[smizak]

If it makes you feel better I screwed up the salt additions with my oatmeal stout too. It's not salty, just really harsh tasting, not smooth and creamy like an oatmeal stout should be. My mash salts were fine, I just added WAY too much to my kettle additions. My ppm's were crazy high when I fixed my spreadsheet and found out how much I actually added. Oh well.

 

[homebrewer_99]

You know how to remove salt from soup? You add in a potato for about an hour. It will absorb the salt. Then you remove the potato.

I wonder it this would work with beer also?

 

[Bobby_M]

Just for the hell of it, post the tab 3 output of the EZ calc so we can see what you did.

 

[mightynintendo]

How much salt stuff did you use?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 116.5
Mg: 6.5
Na: 19
Cl: 21
SO4: 32
CaCO3: 119

Mash / Sparge Vol (gal): 2.66 / 4.62
Dilution Rate: 0%

Adjustments (grams) Mash / Boil Kettle:
CaCO3: 0 / 0
CaSO4: 0 / 0
CaCl2: 0 / 0
MgSO4: 2.5 / 0
NaHCO3: 2.5 / 0
NaCl: 2.5 / 0
HCL Acid: 0 / 0
Lactic Acid: 0 / 0

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):
Ca: 117 / 117
Mg: 30 / 15
Na: 185 / 80
Cl: 171 / 76
SO4: 129 / 67
CaCO3: 267 / 173

RA (mash only): 166 (19 to 24 SRM)
Cl to SO4 (total water): 1.13 (Balanced)

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

So, in short, I was trying to hit 23 SRM and a balanced water flavor. I added 2.5 grams each of epsom salt, canning salt, and baking soda.

 

[mightynintendo]

Huh that's odd because it doesn't seem like you added too much of anything.

 

[willynilly]

Incorrect measurement....?

 

[Frodo]

So, in short, I was trying to hit 23 SRM and a balanced water flavor. I added 2.5 grams each of epsom salt, canning salt, and baking soda.

I'm no water mod expert, but 2.5 grams of each of those shouldn't do too much... could it have been 2.5 ounces of each?

 

[willynilly]

2.5g of each would make a glass of water taste salty, not a batch. I had to buy a jewelers scale to measure my salt accurately.

 

[Zen_Brew]

It looks like based on your total readings you added to the mash and another addition to the boil of 2.5 grams each of each salt. Is that correct?

If so, then the table salt in conjunction with the baking soda does put your sodium up a bit. I think you are supposed to keep the sodium on the low side. I can't remember, but I think it is at 100 ppm where it starts to become a flavor component. You are at almost double that. I'm still not certain that would give you the "salt lick" taste you describe, but you will definitely taste it. How did you do your measurements?

You would have been better off with using calcium chloride to balance your chlorides out instead of the salt.

 

[Reelale]

It looks like based on your total readings you added to the mash and another addition to the boil of 2.5 grams each of each salt. Is that correct?

If so, then the table salt in conjunction with the baking soda does put your sodium up a bit. I think you are supposed to keep the sodium on the low side. I can't remember, but I think it is at 100 ppm where it starts to become a flavor component. You are at almost double that. I'm still not certain that would give you the "salt lick" taste you describe, but you will definitely taste it. How did you do your measurements?

You would have been better off with using calcium chloride to balance your chlorides out instead of the salt.

Zero additions to the boil, it's in the output. Your numbers all add up to fall within the recommended brewing ranges. If I were to make a bet, somehow your measurements are off.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Zero additions to the boil, it's in the output. Your numbers all add up to fall within the recommended brewing ranges. If I were to make a bet, somehow your measurements are off.

OK I see. I use different calculators and was misreading the data he posted. I thought the mash ppm was the total ppm.

Yep, nothing there should be overly salty assuming the measurements are correct and there is not a salt based water softener involved.

 

[Reelale]

and there is not a salt based water softener involved.

hadn't thought of that, that definitely would add Na.

 

[mightynintendo]

If he was using a water softener then it is obviously not working with the calcium being 117 ppm.

 

[Reelale]

This is true.....

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

No water softening -- it came right out of the tap.

I measured with an electronic food scale, so even if I was off by a bit, it seems to me that I couldn't possibly be this much off.

It is possible I forgot to flip the measurements from ounces to grams. ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

Damn damn damn.

I will have to check the scale and see if I was wrong.

 

[Reelale]

Yep, that would do it for sure

 

[mightynintendo]

Now THAT would make sense!

 

[willynilly]

For example, 2.5g would fit on the tip of a knife in the case of baking soda.

 

[Bobby_M]

I don't have it in front of me but I'm pretty sure a gram of baking soda is 1/8 teaspoon approximately. 2.5 ounces would practically fill a shot glass. I'm sure you can remember which of those your additions looked like.

I don't think I would have adding ANY canning salt and would have reduced the epsom addition to 1 gram. Less is more when in comes to water mods in my humble opinion.

 

[Beerrific]

I screwed up a salt addition once by adding the correct amount for 24 gallons instead of 24 quarts. Four times too much. Luckily the salts I was using (no Na) have high flavor thresholds. But, that doesn't look like what happened here. I should have known that 10g was too much for 6 gallons, but I had been drinking, a lot.

Only thing I can think is that you might have the bags/containers of salts screwed up and double added one. Depending on the salt this could screw up the pH and the taste.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Nah I went back and replicated what I should have done. I definitely left the scale set to ounces rather than grams, so I ended up adding 7.5 ounces of crap into 5 gallons of water.

=/

 

[Reelale]

so I ended up adding 7.5 ounces of crap into 5 gallons of water.
=/

That's about what I do every morning, maybe a little more but..... Seriously though, live and learn. We all make mistakes. It's a bummer you have to throw that stuff in the crapper though....sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[ChshreCat]

Sounds like you have some good bratwurst boil to use this summer!

 

[Reelale]

Sounds like you have some good bratwurst boil to use this summer!

That is a great idea....

 

[elkdog]

Sounds like you have some good bratwurst boil to use this summer!

BRILLIANT SAVE.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Ahhh, that is a bummer, but it was certainly looking like that was going to be the answer.

Here is an idea that may help in the future.

I have a digital kitchen scale that I use to measure hops and sometimes DME or sugar. It is almost always set to ounces.

I picked up a small pocket gram scale on EBAY for under $10. I use this pretty much exclusively to measure salt additions, and keep it set to grams. It's gonna be a bit more accurate in grams than a kitchen scale. Using the two scales will help prevent you from making a similiar mistake in the future, and $10 and better accuracy is pretty cheap insurance in my book.

 

[mightynintendo]

+100 on the bratwurst boils. definitely worth a shot before tossing.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I went ahead and bottled it uncarbed for future use in food. I've boiled up some hot dogs in it, it came out pretty good.

It's really disappointing because I can tell it came out really well except for the salt. Oh well, better to learn the lesson on a cheap brown ale than a more expense brew...

 

[Reelale]

Good for ya'. At least it wasn't a total waste. And I'm sure you'll be very aware of your process next time, so you did learn something. Good luck.

 

[Jmurm]

any time i mess up a batch or dont like the way it turns out i distill it
I use my MT to do it in works well, someday i will post a video of it, but i need to get a licence for it first.

 

[hammacks]

Just for fun, I put your actual additions into the spreadsheet. Sorry I had to

Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 116.5
Mg: 6.5
Na: 19
Cl: 21
SO4: 32
CaCO3: 119

Mash / Sparge Vol (gal): 2.66 / 4.62
Dilution Rate: 0%

Adjustments (grams) Mash / Boil Kettle:
CaCO3: 0 / 0
CaSO4: 0 / 0
CaCl2: 0 / 0
MgSO4: 70 / 0
NaHCO3: 70 / 0
NaCl: 70 / 0
HCL Acid: 0 / 0
Lactic Acid: 0 / 0

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):
Ca: 117 / 117
Mg: 654 / 243
Na: 4658 / 1714
Cl: 4232 / 1559
SO4: 2743 / 1022
CaCO3: 4251 / 1629

RA (mash only): 3783 (315 to 320 SRM)
Cl to SO4 (total water): 1.53 (Malty)