I can’t seem to find this anywhere. How much salt do I add to a gallon to achieve a concentration of 100 ppm?
You can use your favorite water program to plug numbers in. 100 of sodium or chloride?
1 gram/gallon salt gives 104 ppm sodium and 160 ppm chloride.
Well crap. I was afraid of that.
I use EZWater and there is no way to add salt and have it calculate the result. It will do it in a water report, but I use 100% RO water.
I’ve been thinking I should have some sodium in my darker/maltier beers.
Hmm? Maybe you should move UP to Bru’n Water?
Martin, since I started brewing last Fall, I have valued your inputs on this forum as well as HomeBrewTalk. Thank you for all you do for us pikers. I have read your website (https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge) multiple times… Yeah pretty sure I still couldn’t pass a test based on the material, but I keep trying.
So having said that, I have a copy of Bru’n Water on my computer which I open periodically. It is just too complex and intimidating for me at this stage of my understanding. The reason I use EZ Water is because it is easy.
Someone in my past said “Quadratic equations are easy if you know how to do them.” I am sure the complexity and detail are there for a reason and I’m equally sure it doesn’t seem like it should be intimidating in the least to you (or maybe even that it should be self-evident). But looking at your Bru’n water spreadsheet kind of reminds me of a political cartoon I saw once: The then current president was sitting in the pilot’s seat of a jumbo jet looking at the array of dials, controls, etc., and was saying, “No Sweat. Just show me where on is.”
BTW I voted for you for the AHA Governing Committee. Thanks for all you do.
Steve, do you use spreadsheets? That’s basically all Bru’nwater is. After you input the water you’re using, you play “what if” with mineral additions until you get close to what the profile you’ve selected says. It’s not too difficult and well worth some time spent learning it.
+1. Once you input your water profile, just follow the directions. Pop back to the forum for questions as many of us use Martin’s spreadsheet.
And I voted for you as well Martin! Good luck!
Dave
1 ppm = 1 mg/L, so 100 ppm = 100 mg/L
how much to add depends on the type of salt you are adding. remember that when you call calcium in the form of CaCl2, you are adding chloride too.
If you want to add 100 ppm calcium to 10 gallons of water using calcium chloride (anhydrous, not dihydrate)…
molecular weight of anhydrous calcium chloride is 110.9
mw of Ca = 40
mw of Cl = 35.45
40 + 2(35.34) = 110.9
therefore, each gram of CaCl2 is: 36% calcium and 64% chloride
to add 100 ppm calcium, you’d have to add 277 mg calcium chloride for each liter
X(0.36)=100 mg, X = 277 mg
10 gallons water = 37.85 liters
277 X 37.85 = 10,484 mg = 10.484 grams calcium chloride for 10 gallons of water
(you will also be adding 177 ppm chloride)
note beersmith versions 1 and 2 are wrong by assuming CaCl and not CaCl2.
- I flunked chemistry classes
- I get confused easily (I even had to label salt jars with +pH or -pH )
- I used Brewater and EZ Water for a long time with mixed results
- Martin’s spreadsheet has more stuff, but in the long run, is more accurate and has some built in double checks that tell you when things are wrong. (ie: the beer color - if it and your recipe don’t match, you’ve entered your grains wrong)
- It can be used whether you really understand water chemistry or not - using it will actually teach you and give you a pretty good understanding of what these ions are actually contributing as you tweak your beers.
I encourage you to start playing with it. It’s most useful for those of us who don’t know it all, and Martin seems always ready to answer your questions and help where necessary. Don’t be afraid of it.
don’t sweat it too much. I showed the math involved in case anyone wanted to know HOW the additions are figured out. Even if you understand the chemistry and math involved, we all lack the ability to accurately measure the salts that we add in addition to the volume of water. With the combination of the two measurements, you could be off as much as 25% or more.
Can you explain your error analysis in more detail?
I use 1 and 5 gallon jugs, and know the levels in my kettles. I have a 100 gram capacity scale with a 0.01 gram resolution. My water volume and salt mass additions should be pretty close.
I’m not sure what was specifically meant, but CaCl at least has a tendency to suck moisture from the atmosphere and weigh more than it should on a ppm basis. If you leave it open and live somewhere humid . . . well, there’s a reason it is used as a dehumidifier. 
And Epsom salt is MgSO4, is it MgSO4·7H2O?
I hope Martin can lend some knowledge here.
expensive laboratory graduated cylinders are +/- 5% accuracy. I’d expect your 1 or 5 gallon jug to be much worse. using a small vessel to measure volume multiple times increases your error even more.
have you ever calibrated your scale?
I have a 100 gram mass that goes on each time. Usually get one part in 10,000 error. Good enough for homebrew?
Typically I think it is 7H2O, but whatever form it is, it is not hygroscopic like the CaCl is. Most salts are fine I think, unless maybe you live somewhere ridiculously humid. Even table salt will pick up moisture in a really humid area, or at least that is the explanation given for the grains of rice in the salt shakers at the beach.
So I am doing the right thing with the airtight jars for the salts? The wife has a hard time getting the lids off of those.
I think so. I keep my CaCl in an old mayo jar, the CaSO4 just sits in the bag. I don’t even use the CaCO3 or MgSO4 anymore.
The chalk I have, is on the shelf. No longer used by me. Maybe a friend that still does some rock climbing will like that. For brewing pickling lime is where it is at if you want to raise the pH. But you know that.
I only use Epsom salts on rare occasions. I know you get the Mg the yeast need from the mash.