Recently I used Morton's Canning and Pickling Salt in a recipe to accentuate malt flavor, sweetness and palate softness. Per communications with Mortons rep, "You asked how much salt would need to be added to 118 gallons of beer, so that the solution will contain 150 ppm chloride (Cl) and 75 ppm sodium (Na). The desired ratio is roughly 1/3 Na and 2/3 Cl. Salt is 39 % Na and 61 % Cl, so the elemental composition of salt is slightly different. I have calculated how much salt to add if you want to target the Na or Cl. For the 118 gallons to contain 150 ppm Cl, you would need to add 110.45 g of salt. This amount would provide 97.3 ppm Na. For the 118 gallons to contain 75 ppm Na, you would need to add 85.16 g of salt. This amount would provide 115.7 ppm Cl". Having said this, my learning lesson from first use is that this may be an appropriate method in recipes with low sulfate profile, having both high sodium and sulfate (150 ppm SO4) in a hoppy beer creates an astringent harsh aftertaste and bitterness. Next time, CaCl in hoppy beers and NaCl in low IBU, non-hoppy beer. I do think canning/pickling salt has its merits in brewing application, just have to find the proper place and amount for it.
When I add a small amount of NaCl to beer, it tastes like I added salt to the beer. Not a surprising result. The amount you used is twice as much as I have ever used.
The canning and pickling salt is just kosher salt with finer crystals so it will dissolve more quickly. This doesn't really apply to what you're trying to get across, I'm just throwing it out there so that folks aren't buying the pickling salt for water adjustment when they already have kosher salt in the cupboard. Gram for gram, its the same, though. But, yeah, chloride contributes fullness of flavor, sodium tastes salty.
I keep a green box of Morton's in my cupboard for all kinds of things, so the "already have kosher salt in the cupboard" part is irrelevant for me. But, in my neck of the woods, canning salt is cheaper than Kosher salt. No doubt due to marketing (Kosher salt is much more trendy, judging from its widespread use on the various cooking shows), but there it is.
