tasty's water

[ajdelange]

I have been playing around with the ez water calcultor
and adding
2 g of gypsum
1g calc chloride
3g of epsom salt
2g baking soda
2g non iodized salt
2 g of chalk

Chalk and baking soda add carbonate and bicarbonate to the water which a)taste bad and b) increase mash pH. Baking soda and non iodized salt add sodium which doesn't contrbute anything positive (except in styles which should be salty) but isn't that detrimental either. So definitely skip the baking soda and chalk an preferrably skip NaCl. Malt contains plenty of magnesium so you don't need the epsom salts which also contribute sulfate which is not desirable in many styles of beer. If you are brewing a style of beer which traditionally contains a lot of magnesium then you can, of course, use epsom salts. Some people also like sulfate's effects on hops especially in UK style beers. If you want high sulfate I'd get it first from gypsum which increases calcium but some could come from epsom salts.

Then just adjusting sour malt to keep ph in balance

Having added alkalai (baking soda, chalk) means you must use more sauermalz than you would otherwise. Much above 3% you get into the region where the taste of the sauermalz may start to come through. OTOH 3% is probably not enough to offset the effects of as much carbonate and bicarbonate as have been added.

81 Ca
15Mg
71Na
89Cl
121 SO4
alkalinity 115
residual alk 48
Unless I am missing something here this would not be to bad of a baseline?

It's a workable baseline but you have taken action to increase the RA and alkalinity of your water. Most people strive to reduce these. You have also gotten the sulfate up pretty high which is fine if you like that but I always recommend brewing a particular beer first without sulfate and then with to see which you prefer.

As for mixing these salts together for future brews I can jiust measureout the salts mix together and throw in a small container and adjust if I choose to from there? SOme salts dont dissolve well in water so best to add all right to the mashtun?

You can certainly pre-mix the salts but you are then constrained by your predetermined mix. Suppose you change your mind?

The way I do it is to fill my HLT to 35" depth and add the salts (actually after years of researching this I only add calcium chloride). Then I dissolve the same dose of calcium chloride in 35 mL of water. If I later have to replenish water in the HLT I add 1 cc for each inch. No though whatever required during the brew session. This tells you that the salts should be added to the water - not the mash tun. If you are adding salts to the mash tun becuase they won't dissolve in the water you are doing something wrong (adding chalk). The only time salts should be added to the mash is if you have miscalculated an acid addition and wound up with a low pH.

[grainbelt]

I have been playing around with the ez water calcultor
and adding
2 g of gypsum
1g calc chloride
3g of epsom salt
2g baking soda
2g non iodized salt
2 g of chalk

Chalk and baking soda add carbonate and bicarbonate to the water which a)taste bad and b) increase mash pH. Baking soda and non iodized salt add sodium which doesn't contrbute anything positive (except in styles which should be salty) but isn't that detrimental either. So definitely skip the baking soda and chalk an preferrably skip NaCl. Malt contains plenty of magnesium so you don't need the epsom salts which also contribute sulfate which is not desirable in many styles of beer. If you are brewing a style of beer which traditionally contains a lot of magnesium then you can, of course, use epsom salts. Some people also like sulfate's effects on hops especially in UK style beers. If you want high sulfate I'd get it first from gypsum which increases calcium but some could come from epsom salts.

Then just adjusting sour malt to keep ph in balance

Having added alkalai (baking soda, chalk) means you must use more sauermalz than you would otherwise. Much above 3% you get into the region where the taste of the sauermalz may start to come through. OTOH 3% is probably not enough to offset the effects of as much carbonate and bicarbonate as have been added.

81 Ca
15Mg
71Na
89Cl
121 SO4
alkalinity 115
residual alk 48
Unless I am missing something here this would not be to bad of a baseline?

It's a workable baseline but you have taken action to increase the RA and alkalinity of your water. Most people strive to reduce these. You have also gotten the sulfate up pretty high which is fine if you like that but I always recommend brewing a particular beer first without sulfate and then with to see which you prefer.

As for mixing these salts together for future brews I can jiust measureout the salts mix together and throw in a small container and adjust if I choose to from there? SOme salts dont dissolve well in water so best to add all right to the mashtun?

You can certainly pre-mix the salts but you are then constrained by your predetermined mix. Suppose you change your mind?

The way I do it is to fill my HLT to 35" depth and add the salts (actually after years of researching this I only add calcium chloride). Then I dissolve the same dose of calcium chloride in 35 mL of water. If I later have to replenish water in the HLT I add 1 cc for each inch. No though whatever required during the brew session. This tells you that the salts should be added to the water - not the mash tun. If you are adding salts to the mash tun becuase they won't dissolve in the water you are doing something wrong (adding chalk). The only time salts should be added to the mash is if you have miscalculated an acid addition and wound up with a low pH.

that makes sense thanks for your help