Brewing Salts

Those are the main ones I use but phosphoric acid for PH adjustments

 

NaCl

 

I use my well water. Light color beers get 100% well water. If acid is needed to adjust ph I use lactic acid. Dark beers get the well water diluted up to 50% with distilled and pickling lime to adjust ph. Gypsum and CaCl are added as needed to fit a desired flavor profile.
I’ve never tried using acidulated malt. I’m comfortable with lactic acid so I stick with it.
For software I use Bru’nwater to figure all this out

 

That's what I typically use along with some Pickling Lime on some of my stouts and porters as I typically need to raise mash PH for those and I can use the increase in Calcium instead of increasing my Na (i do add some baking soda as well).

I like using acid malt on my lighter beers to lower my mash ph. I seem to get my expected PH more often then when I was adding lactic acid straight in. Pretty sure I just suck at water measurements. And use phosphoric for my sparge water.

 

A non-iodized salt is recommend. Add for flavor enhancement, if you want some Ana, but don’t want the HCO3 ion brought in by Baking Soda.

Pickling lime adds Ca, an two OH ions, again no Na.

Phosphoric acid is more flavor neutral than lactic.

Add those acids, salt and lime to you above list and you are pretty much complete. A few use MgCl2 to add Mg without the SO4.

 

Below is what Martin Brungard discussed on lactic acid in an AHA forum thread (with some emphasis in bold from me):

“The 400 ppm taste threshold for lactic in beer was presented in Malting and Brewing Science. The important things to remember is that this is the median response in humans, some may detect it at lower concentrations. In addition, malt and yeast also contribute lactic acid to the beer. Malting and Brewing Science indicates somewhere in the range of 200 to 300 ppm is contributed by those sources. Therefore you can't just add the equivalent of 400 ppm lactic acid to a beer or the water. The allowable amount will be less. I've suggested that limiting the lactic acid addition to produce 200 ppm or less concentration is wise.

Since lactic acid is a monovalent acid, for every 1 ppm of bicarbonate you neutralize with that acid, 1 ppm of lactate is added to the wort or water. So using the Bru'n Water calculator, you can quickly see what you are adding to the mash water since the acid addition shows up as a negative Bicarbonate addition. Keep that value below -200 ppm and you should be good. It turns out that for 88% lactic acid, that equates to about 1 to 1.1 mL acid per gallon of water. So 5 mL in 5 gal is safe. 10 mL is probably pushing it.

PS: Lactic flavor can be a pleasant component in some beer styles, so don't fret if you exceed this limit. For instance, doubling that safe 1 to 1.1 mL per gallon dose should produce a notable lactic taste. Good for Wits, Berliners, etc.”

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=14882.15

When I brew pale beers (e.g., a Kolsch that I brewed a couple of days ago) I need to acidify the mash and I use 1 ml per gallon. At this rate I am consistent with the guidance provided by Martin above. I do not detect flavor impacts of lactic acid in my beers.

Cheers!

 

Gypsum, CaCl, and lactic acid to lower ph.
Pickling lime (CaOH) to raise ph.

 

Gypsum
Calcium Chloride
Epsom Salt
Pink Sea Salt
Baking Soda for dark beers or if I want harder water profile, omit salt is so.

 

My well water is what I use. I have added salts, mostly CaCl and Gypsum, but honesty don't feel the beer was better with them added.

 

Calcium chloride
Calcium sulfate
Lactic acid
New to water adjustment so keeping it simpler.

 

Gypsum
Calcium Chloride
Pickling Lime
Baking Soda
Lactic Acid 88%
Phosphoric Acid 10%

 

Gypsum
Calcium Chloride
Sodium Chloride
Potassium Chloride (have it, but have yet to try it)
Baking Soda
88% Lactic Acid or Acidulated Malt

 

I use lactic acid rather than acidulated malt. My feeling is that I can measure the acid more precisely than a maltster can spray it homogenously onto pilsner malt. Though I can't really prove that.

 

another question for this thread: do you put all salts in the mash or split evenly between the mash and sparge?

 

It depends on the reason(s) for adding them. pH adjustment and/or flavor?

 

CaCl in mash, CaSO4/Gypsum/Burton Salts/MgSO4 in boil...depending

 

As a no sparger it's all in the mash