26 replies to this topic

[Humperdink]

That would be cool, Zym. If you could weigh a gram of gypsum or CaCl and then see how that relates to "tsp", that would be helpful. I know you can't go directly from one to the other because it's apples & oranges, but we could at least get close so we know. I think I found something online that said that a tsp of sand is about 4 grams so that's where I got that number. Not scientific, but hopefully close. Cheers.

Heya ken, table 16 gives you approximate grams per level teaspoon of each brewing salt. Hope that helps. Zym, this would be a good way to cross check your scale too.Chris

[Big Nake]

Thanks Chris... that is handy.Okay, as a practical application of this information, tomorrow morning I'm going to make a beer that can be a little tricky. I'm going to brew a Cerveza Clara (Mexican Light Lager) with some WLP940 that is already up & running. I'm going to dilute my mash & sparge water 50% with distilled (the other half will be my filtered tap water). I have my water numbers entered into Palmer's spreadsheet and I have it showing that 50% of the water will be distilled. Then I have salt additions of 2 grams of gypsum (about 1/2 tsp) and another 2 grams of CaCl (a little less then 1/2 tsp) which brings my mash numbers to... Calcium 105, Magnesium 6, Alkalinity 57, Sodium 7, Chloride 95, Sulfate 103. The SRM range is 3 to 8 and the sulfate to chloride ratio is "balanced". The effective hardness number is 79 and the RA number is -22 which is in the range for a SRM 4 beer. I don't know if I'm putting too much faith into this spreadsheet or if I'm overthinking this or what... but I'm going to try this and see what happens. Here's the recipe...Verano Cerveza Clara6 lbs Pilsner Malt2 lbs Vienna1.5 lbs Flaked Corn½ oz Tradition 4.6% plus ½ oz Tettnanger 4.7% for 60½ oz Tettnanger 4.6% for 5White Labs 940OG: 1.050, FG: 1.012, SRM: 4, IBU: 22, ABV: 4.8%

[Humperdink]

Thanks Chris... that is handy.Okay, as a practical application of this information, tomorrow morning I'm going to make a beer that can be a little tricky. I'm going to brew a Cerveza Clara (Mexican Light Lager) with some WLP940 that is already up & running. I'm going to dilute my mash & sparge water 50% with distilled (the other half will be my filtered tap water). I have my water numbers entered into Palmer's spreadsheet and I have it showing that 50% of the water will be distilled. Then I have salt additions of 2 grams of gypsum (about 1/2 tsp) and another 2 grams of CaCl (a little less then 1/2 tsp) which brings my mash numbers to... Calcium 105, Magnesium 6, Alkalinity 57, Sodium 7, Chloride 95, Sulfate 103. The SRM range is 3 to 8 and the sulfate to chloride ratio is "balanced". The effective hardness number is 79 and the RA number is -22 which is in the range for a SRM 4 beer. I don't know if I'm putting too much faith into this spreadsheet or if I'm overthinking this or what... but I'm going to try this and see what happens. Here's the recipe...Verano Cerveza Clara6 lbs Pilsner Malt2 lbs Vienna1.5 lbs Flaked Corn½ oz Tradition 4.6% plus ½ oz Tettnanger 4.7% for 60½ oz Tettnanger 4.6% for 5White Labs 940OG: 1.050, FG: 1.012, SRM: 4, IBU: 22, ABV: 4.8%

Cool, do us all a favor and post your impressions of the resulting beer. Cheers ken

[Stout_fan]

Ken, the problem with adding a lot of Epsom salts to balance out the Cl/SO ratio is that Epsom is a diuretic. I am also plagued by high Cl in my water from road salts used in the winter. To do a true pilsner, I will have to use either RO or distilled water to make up about half of the brewing water.Then I can balance that mix out with additions.

[Big Nake]

Ken, the problem with adding a lot of Epsom salts to balance out the Cl/SO ratio is that Epsom is a diuretic. I am also plagued by high Cl in my water from road salts used in the winter. To do a true pilsner, I will have to use either RO or distilled water to make up about half of the brewing water.Then I can balance that mix out with additions.

Funny that you say this. I was PMing with another experienced brewer last night who suggested NOT adding any gypsum to a beer like this. He suggested going 3:1 distilled-to-tap and then adding back calcium chloride to get to around 60ppm. I used Palmer's spreadsheet, added the dilution (75%) and added CaCl to get to about 60. This other brewer I was talking with also suggested that the sulfate-to-calcium ratio (ranging from very malty to very bitter) has been oversimplified. So my boil is just about done and I will know the results when this beer hits the taps. Cheers.

[Joe]

Ken, the problem with adding a lot of Epsom salts to balance out the Cl/SO ratio is that Epsom is a diuretic. I am also plagued by high Cl in my water from road salts used in the winter. To do a true pilsner, I will have to use either RO or distilled water to make up about half of the brewing water.Then I can balance that mix out with additions.

Magnesium is a diuretic (epsom salt is Magnesium Sulfate). So while yes, it is a diuretic in high enough amounts, it only has this affect if Magnesium is over 125ppm. At least... that's what I have read.

[Stout_fan]

Ken, the worst that could happen is you get the Schlitz.