Water Salts...am I doing it right?

[Will_the-new-brewer]

I am curious if I am using enough salts in my brew...process below:

I don't own a RO system, so I brew with store bought, distilled water. Utilizing BeerSmith3, I add my distilled water to then match a profile that I either create or find within the software. It then tells me how much salts to use.

From reading online (not extensive research), I see a lot of brewers using way more salts (total amounts), that I do with a 5g batch. Should I be adding more salts?

Example: Let's assume an Amber Ale with Amber balanced water profile (loaded within beersmith3)
I do split my salts into Mash/Sparge, but total salts:
4.65g CaCl
3.67g Epsom
2.23g Gypsum
1.98g Baking Soda

Does that look right?

The beer tastes good as is, but (to be honest), I thought the beer tasted good before adding salts too. Now it tastes better. I am curious if it can taste even...more better.

Thanks!

 

[Coastalbrew]

Different styles have different mineral additions and different software make different suggestions of what to add. If you like the beer the way it is, then I'd say leave it alone. But if you want to play with it, try using one of the other water calculation software like brun' water and see how it compares with what you are getting from beer Smith.

Cheers!

 

[jdauria]

I use Bru'n Water to adjust my water (store bought RO) and then put the numbers from that into the Beersmith water profile so that they match. An amber ale I did earlier this year, 7.65 gallons of water for 5.5 gallon batch, since I do BIAB...was 3.8 grams gypsum, 2.6 grams calcium chloride, 1.9 grams Epsom Salt and 0.4 grams of salt. But while I used a balanced profile, I did bump sulfate up to like 90 ppm, so for balanced, I would probably have used only 2.5 grams of gypsum give or take.

As for your additions, I would have skipped the baking soda. Beersmith automatic addition calculations try to match the bicarbonate number for, in this case, amber balanced. But you really don't have to worry about bicarbonate numbers, when using distilled or RO water, unless doing dark beers, where roast malts can add a lot of alkalinity.

 

[Yooper]

Don't use baking soda, unless you KNOW why you're adding baking soda!

Those auto-calcs are convenient, but they cause all sorts of issues like this, adding alkalinity and acid in the same beer. In an amber, you shouldn't need to add any alkalinity at all, but the software only sees numbers for a target, and has you add the baking soda to hit sodium and bicarbonate, but you shouldn't need ANY bicarbonate at all in most cases.

 

[Yooper]

Incidentally, I almost never use epsom salts. The only reason I've used them is in the rare case when I'm making a huge IPA and I'm adding tons of sulfate and am over 100 ppm of calcium. Magnesium is ok in small amounts, but you don't really ever need to use it unless you like that hint of 'sour' flavor it may bring in amounts over about 25 ppm.

 

[mabrungard]

You’re always better off with under dosing your water than overdosing. You can add small doses to a glass of beer to test if a higher dose will taste better.

 

[AlexKay]

Don't use baking soda, unless you KNOW why you're adding baking soda!

This has stumped me. I understand adding baking soda will increase pH. But do you also add baking soda to increase sodium concentrations? If not, do you simply make do with lower sodium, or do you add table salt and make do with higher chloride? Also, why isn't sodium sulfate ever used?

On a related note, what do you do when you've got all the sulfate and chloride you want, and you want more calcium? Is the answer that you don't want more calcium in this case? Is there ever any reason to add calcium carbonate?

 

[Yooper]

This has stumped me. I understand adding baking soda will increase pH. But do you also add baking soda to increase sodium concentrations? If not, do you simply make do with lower sodium, or do you add table salt and make do with higher chloride? Also, why isn't sodium sulfate ever used?

On a related note, what do you do when you've got all the sulfate and chloride you want, and you want more calcium? Is the answer that you don't want more calcium in this case? Is there ever any reason to add calcium carbonate?

Well, if you want more sodium and don't want to add CaCl2, then you could use baking soda, and then add acid to neutralize that addition I guess. I can't think of any scenario where this would be the case, but I suppose it's possible.

Calcium in the amount of 100 ppm or so and less is fine. You just don't want to go too high in the calcium. I can't see adding CaCo3, as it won't dissolve properly, but I do know that there have been a few who have added pickling lime for that reason (but then have to add acid to neutralize the base). I think that would be wildly overcomplicating a relatively simple process, but it could be done.

 

[mabrungard]

Sodium can be a welcome flavor addition in some beer styles. When we were preparing the Water Book, John Palmer performed a series of taste tests with table salt and he found that it improved and rounded the flavor of the beer (I think he was using a pale ale). So don't be afraid of minor sodium additions. In the case of baking soda, it increases alkalinity and you do need to ask yourself if that particular mash pH is going to go too low if you don't add the alkalinity.

When brewing dark beers with RO or distilled water, the answer is probably that you do want and need that alkalinity in the mashing water. It helps mellow the roast flavors and avoids the sharp acrid roast flavors that could otherwise occur. I find that it makes a very pleasing addition in dark beers and the addition via baking soda adds sodium that goes well with the roast flavors.

Please notice that I only mention adding alkalinity to your mashing water. It's never added to sparging water. For that reason, the amount of sodium added to the overall brew is moderated since you're probably only adding baking soda to half the volume of water used for the batch and the actual increase of sodium is moderated. The supporter's version of Bru'n Water does account for that difference in baking soda additions and it properly reports the actual overall sodium content in your brew. I find that using baking soda with RO water to make a stout or porter typically results in the overall sodium content rising by about 40 ppm. That's well below the sodium level that I find distracting in a beer.