In a recent article I read (BYO), the author mentioned umami in describing various flavors in beer. Umami is the “5th taste”, along with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. It is often described as “savory”. I have often wondered about trying to introduce some of that umami flavor to my beer. What I am wondering is how the addition of mono-sodium glutamate (MSG) would affect the water chemistry if I add it to my water adjustments. Or maybe, I should just make sure my sodium levels are low and then add the MSG to the boil. Anybody have any ideas about this?
BTW, I am of the opinion that MSG gets a bad rap in the media, and is not much (if at all) worse than sodium chloride. You might want to watch your intake, but it is not poison.
MSG + Water = SOUP!
Isn’t msg already in beer due to fermentation byproducts?
Glutamic acid, which is what you get when you add water to MSG (you get sodium too) is an amino acid found in all cells. The yeast will make what they need. There won’t be much floating free in the beer though, it will generally remain in the cell. And there won’t be much that is in the amino acid form either. Most of it will be bound up in various peptides and proteins.
I don’t know enough about water chemistry to answer the original question.
I have no idea if MSG will affect the pH of your mash.
It may make your beer taste like meaty broth, though…
Doug, I can’t answer your question, but I’ve got to say you come up with some of the most interesting and original ideas for beers that I’ve run across! Why not try it in a split batch so you’ll have a control to taste it against? You could do your mash, split the wort, and add MSG to one boil.
If you want your beer to taste like glutamate, just leave it on the yeast in a warm place for an extended time.
We like to call it ‘autolysis’.
Hmmmmm…I take that to mean you don’t think it’s a good idea? 
No, I don’t. But it’s exactly what it tastes like.
Have you added MSG to beer? I could see similarities from the flavor descriptions. Maybe try it in the glass before you do it in 5 gallons.
[quote]Have you added MSG to beer?
[/quote]
No. Haven’t added chloroseptic or grape tannin either.
Yeah, but those two are on the list for doctoring beers to mimic flaws. Autolysis will release some glutamate, but it’s not clear to me that glutamate is the main cause of autolysis off-flavors. Do you have a reference I can read through?
I think you probably need to talk to a chemist in the food sciences industry. I don’t follow their scientific research, so I don’t have handy references. I just know what it tastes like.
I googled and found this article http://www.livestrong.com/article/71755-autolyzed-yeast-extract/ but I’m not sure it qualifies as a “reference” in the journal sense.
Joe Formanek might be able to answer it for you. I learned about it from Gary Spedding. He has some cred: http://www.alcbevtesting.com/
All I’m trying to say is that while glutamate may be a component of off flavors caused by autolysis, it’s probably not the entirety of it. The BJCP study guide lists autolysis as a possible cause for sulfury/yeasty flavors, which I don’t think would increase if you added straight MSG. I could be wrong though.
If MSG is a good additive for doctoring beers to mimic autolysis though, maybe we should add it to the BJCP Study Guide. I don’t have that kind of power though . . . 
MSG does not capture the full horror of yeast autolysis. Umami plays a role, but there are other sulfury things going on there as well. I don’t think I’d want to add MSG to my beer, but to each his own. But I don’t think anyone really craves autolysis flavors in their beer, whether they know it or not. Yuck.
Doug (the OP) once made a beetweizen. I swore I wouldn’t drink it, but I did and it wasn’t half bad…who knows, maybe this is crazy enough to work. And maybe it’s just crazy! 
I say go for it. A friend and I brewed a wee heavy that had a small amount of peat malt in it. The combination of the slight smokey flavor and the final gravity being on the high side was a noticeable umami flavor. It was delicious and paired really well with bbq. We still lovingly refer to it as the beer that tasted like meat.
I think I’ll go with Denny’s idea of having two separate 5 gallon boils to compare. Just need to decide what style might benefit most or what style might yield the most experimental info.
Let us know how it goes, I’m interested in what kind of flavors you get out of it.
Although I still think you could sprinkle some in a glass of beer and get some clue what it will taste like.
Did it once a while back after reading some of the first reports about umami for the same reason’s the OP is thinking.
Didn’t really notice much of a difference in the beer except a sour salty thing. Never saw the need to repeat the trick.
That sounds about right… I don’t even like the effect MSG has in most prepared foods (and I can always tell when it’s in there). I think both the frenzy over the healthfulness of it and supposed allergic sensitivity to it (which is in reality very rare despite people’s paranoia) is overblown… but by and large I still think it is a totally dispensable ingredient for any food, and the contribution to beer flavor would likely be akin to a salted meat broth. It may be naturally derived, but I don’t consider it a natural ingredient and probably wouldn’t want it in my beer anyway.
Then again, on the other hand maybe I should follow the advice I’m always dishing out and just try it before I make a judgement… I guess one could add some to a single serving of a finished beer to assess the affect.
Still, it seems to me that MSG in beer would be just as bad as putting saccharine or other artificial sweeteners into it.