Sunday will brew a British style Pale Ale, Burton salts added in the mash, or the boil? Thanks in advance. Cheers
As I understand it, you need to calculate the salts for the mash for optimum PH and clarity (or "paleness") of the wort. Salt additions to boost sulfate content can be added to the boil to enhance bitterness. I'm not really an expert though.
If you know the water you are starting with, then CACL in the mash and Burton salts in the boil. The Burton "salts" contain a fair amount of Mg...so go easy unless you are constipated...I'm not an expert/chemist either and I'm using 1/2 RO water so my margin of error might be a little better than yours.
Burton salts I've seen are just gypsum and papain, a clarifier. You really, really need to know your starting level of calcium and especially sulfate. If they're low, Burton salts can be quite beneficial. If they're already high, especially sulfate, you could end up with a beer that is minerally with a very harsh and unpleasant bitterness. Much like a road map, with water salts you cannot accurately figure out how to get where you're going unless you are sure where you're starting from. Get a local water report. Your water company should provide you one for free. Guessing at additions can lead to accidental improvements, and unmitigated disasters.
