using adjunts/salts while mashing and boiling

[Mark Kessell]

i've read some of the "how to brew" site about adding salts/chalks to alter the mineral composition of the mash water.

HOW TO BREW goes on about chalk being used to "harden" the mash water. what does that mean, and does it mean that i can use it in most brews? or am o best to keep that to dark brews only? and if so, why? do i need to do it at all?

i also understand that in some cases, the extra mineral content (of certain compounds) accentuates the flavours of the beer. but if the PH of the water is neutral, and the mash PH is between 5.2 and 5.4, why use it at all?

also, which salts etc, modify the PH of the mash?

[martin w]

my understanding is that you add the sparge additions directly to the boil, at this point its just for flavour enhancement rather than adjusting the ph, several of the salts are not very soluble in water but will dissolve in the wort,i think its the ph which affects the solubility.
unless you have very high ph water the ph of the sparge should be ok,if its on the high side you can add some tartaric or other acid to bring it down.

when i first started i added them directly to the sparge water until i listened to the brewstrong podcasts then i realised they were doing nothing apart from hanging out in the bottom of the hlt!

[denimglen]

You've got it Martin.

I don't add mine to my HLT because I'd then have to adjust for the deadspace in the HLT. Also if there's any amount of chalk in there it'd be a drama getting it all dissolved.

[studio1]

Cheers Glen - you nailed it for me .... and now makes a lot more sense (as well as listening to part 3 of the danza). ta for the heads up on Beersmith. I've got some of your profiles loaded in there eg: Tasty APA - must have come in when I imported your malt and hop profiles.

[Nick T]

For what it is worth (for the Cantabrians), the attached pdf is the water profiles for both 'typical Christchurch' from the CCC website, three wells that feed into the Cashmere area water supply (plus their average), and some of the more famous world iconic water supplies (from Palmer's book).

[Nick T]

Got it from the CCC water people, after a couple of calls and emails through contacts there. Apparently the wells over this way (and some in the NW of the city) are shallower than normal (here because of proximity to the volcanic cone of the Port Hills, in the NW because of different standards in the old Waimairi County Council) and therefore we pick up more minerals (I suspect also some influence from the buried volcanics). The deeper wells in the rest of the city tend to have softer water. I think I will get some water from the office in town for the next attempt at a pilsner. I'll bet JamesP(ilsner) is sitting on the softest water supply in town!

[Nick T]

I have a sheet at work of test costs I think, from Hills Labs - will try and fish it out tomorrow if it is there. Your own well???

[Nick T]

From the price list I have for Hills Laboratories, adding up each of the individual tests (Ca, Mg, HCO3, Na, Cl, SO4 plus a 'filtration') I get $70 - $84 + GST, depending on where in the list you get the price from (the list is huge, about 30 pages!).

[JoKing]

Hey Nick - that profile for Burton (on your spreadsheet) isn't quite correct. It should look a bit more like this:

Calcium (ppm):
294

Sulfates (ppm):
800

Magnesium (ppm):
24

Sodium (ppm):
24

Chloride (ppm):
36

Carbonates (ppm):
200

[Nick T]

Hmm, it seems everyone has a different water report from Burton on Trent - I just checked Beersmith and it says something slightly different to both of ours! So the current crop: (order of: Palmer, Liberty Brewing, BeerSmith)

Calcium
352 294 295
Sulphates
820 800 725
Magnesium
24 24 45
Sodium
54 24 55
Chloride
16 36 25
Carbonates
320 200 300

[JoKing]

I think on the sheet you posted, the Na, the Cl and the SO4 are a bit jumbled up. Just trying to straighten the info up - as a few people might use the info as posted and mess a few things up... no big deal though. Good on you for posting the local supply for Chch - priceless info for a vast many brewers in your area. I'm sure that there are many on here who can put that to great use.

I'm suprised how soft Chch water is though.

[Nick T]

Ah bugger, I'm an idiot. I see it now, "my bad" - did it in a bit of a hurry with a nipper hanging off one leg, have redone as attached, apologies to everyone out there!

[Nick T]

Updated numbers attached here (as well as in another post nearby in response to Jo's), I have deleted original. Apologies for the stuff up, I haven't even had a beer yet so no excuse! I wonder if a part of the Library could be dedicated to water profiles from around the country?