Potassium Chloride (KCl) for boosting chloride ion concentration?

Would be interested to know what the ppm contribution of KCl would be.

How much K & Cl ppm per gram? Or per level tsp/gallon?

Concerns: high potassium concentrations detrimental to yeast health.

 

Magnesium Chloride could also be used. Stay under the upper limit for Mg.

 

Any idea the upper limit for K?

 

You don't want more than 10 ppm of potassium in the mash, else it can inhibit mash enzymes. I suspect you'd have to go well above that before you'd start to really taste the potassium. So I'd be more concerned about the mash than I would be about off-flavors.

 

I said more than 10 ppm could inhibit mash enzymes. I don't know what (if anything) it would do to yeast. But if it does harm yeast, adding it to the sparge water wouldn't solve the problem.

OTOH, if you meant to ask if adding it to the sparge water would avoid inhibiting the mash enzymes, then (from a practical standpoint) yes. FWIW, I think it's better to add "sparge water" salts to the kettle rather than to the sparge water. Adding them to the sparge water means that some of them will be left behind in the grain bed.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong but I would imagine yeast health and productivity can be effected by too low or too high of ion concentration?

 

The upper limit for Mg is 30 ppm IIRC.

K? I had to look, and Briggs said the same as Vikeman did, 10ppm. Briggs states above that it can give a sour taste and a laxative effect.

 

Have you ever tasted potassium chloride!? Yuck!!!!!!! Keep that shit away from my beer.

 

Fertilizers have a rating on the bag that is something like 12-12-12, or 10-0-0. That is the NPK, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium proportions. So yes, you would be fertilizing your lawn.

 

We digress, but.... it depends on whether your soil is deficient in potassium. By the big Lake here in 'Sconsin, we have plenty of P and K, however nitrogen is extremely deficient. I could add a ton of potassium and it wouldn't help anything, we have plenty. But every place is different, and every plant's needs are different as well. But as I said, we digress.

 

Interesting. I suppose this is based on the difference between a concentration of pure KCl (1 million ppm) vs. "only" a few hundred ppm. Even so....... I'd be very squeamish about purposely adding any of this junk to my beer in any amount greater than, like Narziss recommends, 10 ppm. Or okay, maybe 20 or 30. But it's easy to overdo. Be careful with it.

David M. Taylor
Chemical Engineer
Michigan Tech, Class of 1997