New to Water... When do I salt?

[rramin]

I have recently been working on improving my water quality and adding brewing salts. I don’t always use the same sparge technique depending on what is recommended by the person who created the recipe on beersmith. However, I am having difficulty deciphering when to add my brewing salts.

My primary two methods of sparging are fly and batch…more often fly sparge.

Would I add the salts to all of the water and then part it out, just the mash water, or some salts in the mash, and some salts in the sparge???

[voodoo_donut]

I add salts to the mash: I do adjust the sparge water to ph 5.4 with lactic acid or citric acid.

[voltron]

I"m a fly sparger: In the mash water I use a combo of calcium chloride, gypsum, and pickling lime. I acidify the sparge water with calicium chloride and gypsum. I use Bru’n water to calculate all adjustments.

[loopie_beer]

I fly and treat both the mash and the sparge water. If you fly sparge it’s a good idea to treat it so it maintains its buffering capabilities.

[dmtaylo2]

I treat both mash and sparge. Use software to help calculate how much you need to hit your targets.

[old_dawg]

Following up on dm’s reply: Bru’nwater will list both sparge water and mash water treatment,

Bru’n water can appear intimidating at first, but the instructions (read them twice) will help you get comfortable with it very quickly.

[voltron]

The thing that finally made Bru’n water click for me was hovering over the cells that contained comments and reading how each value contributed to the profile. So easy now!

[sneezles61]

Now, I still can’t figure how to get that dag nab bugger to work… So, I had to experiment, and continue… I’ve found that adding salts/acid BEFORE you mash. I find that the pH of 5.8, usually ends up at 5.2-5.3 while I’m mashing with BIAB… With that, what style are you brewing depends on what you acidify with too… I enjoy the experiment… I’ve been too low a few times, thank goodness for baking soda… Sneezles61