The label says it’s a blend of buffering phosphates.
I’ve been using a teaspoon/5 gal along with camden tabs for water that is high in alkalinity and hardness and getting good results with brewing dark beers.
I’ve wondered in anyone has more info on it though.
It’s a blend of ‘doesn’t work and makes your beer taste bad’. Total crap product.
THIS !!! I fell pray to this early on. I couldn’t identify the off flavor. I now know what it was. Find out what is your actual water makeup. Get it tested and blend, or build for what you brew. It isn’t the 5.2 that is giving you the good results with darker styles, it is the grain bill. My water is the same and the only suitable styles that I can make with unaltered water are dark styles. 5.2…just say NO!
I realize my taste is probably not as discriminating as others, but I like the beer I make with 5.2.
I took 3 bottles to a recent brew club meeting and asked some qualified tasters to tell me what they really thought of it i.e. not to tell me what I wanted to hear, and they said it was good beer.
One of the other members is the head brewer at a small craft brewery. He said other than the fact that it tasted as if the fermentation temp was on the high end of the range for the yeast i used, (true) it was fine.
What specifically are you tasting?
Thanks for your opinion.
I used it multiple times with RO water and got a lightly minerally character that I’d describe as ‘Alka Seltzer-y’. I also found that its ability to control pH was not an accurate claim.
IMO it isn’t the 5.2 that is making your beer good. It is more likely the other variables involved.
5.2 was created for a particular brewery with a particular water makeup. It works for them and anyone with more or less the same water as they have.
It’s just not chemically possible to create a product that can stabilize any water at 5.2.
Download Bru’n water and dig in a little. as you said, your dark beers are good with it. As others have said that’s largely because the dark roasted grain cancels out a lot of your alkalinity and leads your mash to be in a good range. The phosphates in the 5.2 might help a bit but you’d be way better off getting your water tested and blending/building to match your desired profile.
Your ‘good’ beer could be ‘great’. or at least ‘better’.
Primarily sodium phosphate from what I recall. If you’re adding it to RO water, it won’t necessarily hurt, but won’t really magically help stabilize your pH at 5.2 either. The catch is that Sodium can help beer flavor to a certain extent, but can easily hurt it at a certain point as well. Our tap water locally has around 80ppm sodium already, so I would be foolish to use it. You’re better off learning basic water chemistry and adjusting your water based on target flavor profile rather than seeking a single magic bullet.
A college analytical chemistry course will show you very clearly that this product makes a false claim regarding wort pH control. I am surprised LHBSs still stock it. As for mineral (taste) characteristics - that’s more subjective.
Indeed.
Kaiser made a solution and sent it to Ward Labs for an analysis.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=1125.0