Water adjustments - pre-treating or add to mash?

[Jayjay1976]

I've noticed when adding salts to my RO strike water that some of the minerals will precipitate on the bottom of the kettle and stick there, stubbornly refusing to dissolve. I've tried mixing them in with a mash paddle, tried recirculating with a pump to aid dissolution, but if I wait a few minutes there they are again in the bottom of the kettle. Last time I think some of them were still stuck to the bottom at the end of the brew day when I was rinsing the kettle.

Yesterday I was about to add the salts to the kettle again but instead I mixed them into the crushed grain and mashed in as usual. This time I had no concerns about the minerals dropping out (I'm looking at you, gypsum) and no sign of undissolved minerals during cleanup.

Is this okay to do? Can it cause any problems?

 

[Vale71]

So you subscribe to the school of thought that if you don't see it then it's not there?
All you've actually achieved is trapping the undissolved salts in the spent grain. If you actually want gypsum to dissolve you should add it to the cold water as it's more soluble at lower temperatures.

 

[firerat]

I'll put all but 1/2 gallon of untreated water I need in my kettle and keep 1/2 in a jug. Add the salts to the jug and shake the bajeezus out of it. Then add that solution to your untreated water and stir. It's a lot easier to get everything to dissolve that way IME.

When I want to be lazy and use tap water I do the same thing with campden tabs.

 

[mabrungard]

At the concentrations we typically use in brewing, all the salts are completely soluble, regardless of the water temperature. If they aren't dissolving, YOU aren't stirring the water and salts long enough or hard enough. Keep going until they dissolve. It rarely takes more than 5 minutes for me. Adding salts to the mash, just means that they ended up in the mass of grain where you couldn't see them and that made you happy (it didn't mean they were all dissolved into the wort)

 

[Big Monk]

I always add my salts directly to the crushed grain. I recirculate throughout the entire mash and mash very thin so I’m not concerned with the added minerals not being dissolved fully into the wort.